Sarah Ferraro and I (Cole Dowsley), both commercial litigation attorneys with Thompson Burton PLLC, recently successfully defended a well-known multi-level marketing (MLM) company in an arbitration proceeding brought by a distributor of the company. The MLM company, a leading provider of nutritional supplements and health products, faced claims from one of its distributors that the […]
The “meatball sundae” analogy comes from my favorite Seth Godin book. The premise: simply because someone likes ice cream and meatballs does not mean it’s a good idea to mix the two. Is it a good idea to mix energy drinks and alcohol, steak and donuts, diamond rings and young wives? Maybe, but not always. […]
Network marketing opportunities and income claims go hand in hand. It’s just a fact. Ours is an industry that provides financial opportunity, which naturally leads prospects to ask the very basic question: “what’s in it for me?” It’s human nature. Regulators know this better than anyone. This leaves companies in a tricky position. Does the […]
Income and/or earnings claims have been a recurring topic of conversation on this blog for the last seven years. Time and time again we’ve addressed the regulatory risk of income claims that go unmonitored. Why? Because income claims represent one of the most consistent challenges faced by every single company in the direct selling industry. […]
The FTC’s ability to regulate consumer markets is largely created and limited by Section 5 of the FTC Act. The FTC’s power comes from US, you and I legislatively, by way of our chosen representatives. There’s a specific provision in the Act that pertains to the sorts of remedies the FTC can obtain in its […]
TLDR; There is zero gray here. THE FIELD CANNOT COMMINGLE ANY CONTENT WITH COVID. Companies need to increase their efforts to police content referencing COVID; educate the field to avoid referencing COVID; leverage every online tool available to blast the message as far and wide as possible i.e. email newsletters, splash disclaimers on the homepage, […]
