The Direct Selling – Self Regulatory Council (DSSRC) is a good first step towards meaningful self regulation. Without question, the industry needs additional oversight. The FTC got heavily involved during the Herbalife / Vemma years, much to the chagrin of industry insiders. The results were messy, imprecise, and predictable. It was predictable because absent meaningful […]
As reported in Social Selling News, the Direct Selling Association is preparing to launch a third-party (independent) entity that’s responsible for policing the network marketing channel. Taken from the DSA chairman’s speech, Joe Mariano said, “With a new mission, the yet-to-be-named entity will serve as an independent compliance enforcement group and will respond to compliance […]
In its current form, HR 3409 is better than nothing. The current draft codifies case law where it can. The “True North” of critics has landed them in a swamp. The current draft of HR 3409 could be improved to protect more consumers. Summary of the Bill HR 3409, named the Anti-Pyramid Promotional Scheme Act […]
Edith Ramirez, chairwoman of the Federal Trade Commission, gave a powerful speech at the DSA’s Business and Policy Conference in Washington on October 25th. While some in attendance were expecting a non-substantive speech, the kind one would expect from a high-ranking government official, Ramirez was anything but boring. She gracefully navigated some very controversial terrain […]
Congressman Marsha Blackburn, House Representative of the 7th District of Tennessee, has proposed the Anti-Pyramid Bill Federal that aims to clarify the differences between pyramid schemes and legitimate network marketing companies. If you’re connected to the network marketing industry, whether as a distributor, executive, vendor or owner, the importance of this bill (or a modified […]
Beyond just ringing in a new year, January 1, 2016, also signified the enactment of the Direct Selling Association’s (“DSA”) latest Code of Ethics. Before breaking down the differences that exist between the new and previous versions, my commentary on the subject remains the same: the DSA has a long way to go before providing a Code […]
