WHY AND HOW MLM COMPANIES TARGET MOMS
MLMs have been targeting moms for a very long time. During my consumer protection/anti mlm advocacy, I’ve heard so many pitches targeting moms on these opportunity calls. If you’ve never seen any they are available to watch on YouTube. I’ll link a few. The answer to why MLMs target moms is because they’re an easy target. I say this as a mom by the way. In this post I’ll go over some key points when it comes to MLMs targeting moms. I could probably write so much more, but these are the basics.
MLM Reps targeting moms video example.
FROM EXPERIENCE, I CAN UNDERSTAND
I’m a new mom and currently 9 months into this whole motherhood journey. I can only speak from my experience because each mother and child is different. It hasn’t been an easy transition for me. If this is your first post of mine, my husband and I didn’t plan on having children, but we did say if it happens, it happens. I was always the type of person who was very career driven. Being a stay at home/work from home mom was not something that was appealing to me. It’s great if it is to you, but I’m sure what I want might not be appealing to you. Anyway, this is the first time since I started working (I babysat when I was younger and then legally started working when I was 15) that I’m not working a typical job. I do work from home but it’s not as demanding and I’m not going through the routine of going to the office, or in my case the auto shop.
In addition, I don’t talk to very many people since I’m busy being a mom so I miss adult interaction. Not being able to lose my pregnancy weight makes me a target for weight loss MLMs. Some reps specifically seek out postpartum moms to pitch their opportunity or products. MLMs aren’t the only companies that do this, I recently did a video on All In by Teddi that has a postpartum program, but MLMs are known for this.
With all of that said, missing my old life is a thought that has crossed my mind on multiple occasions. That brings me to move onto our next few topics.
Related: How to say no to a friend of family member’s MLM pitch.
WANTING A COMMUNITY
When you become a mom, it’s possible you’ll lose some friends or your bond with someone isn’t meant to go into this next stage of life. And that’s ok. We drift apart from people, it’s part of human nature. Ever since becoming a mom I don’t talk to my friends a lot because I’m really busy. Sometimes I’ll ask my mom friends for advice if I can’t figure something out when it comes to my daughter. Now I’m not saying this is the case for everyone. I’m just speaking from my own experience and experience of people who have confided in me. This makes people like me, a very easy target. If a mom is yearning for friends or a community so if they hear an MLM rep talking about a community of women empowering women, this may entice them to join.
Related: How MLMs ruin relationships and friendships.
FEELING OF NEEDING TO CONTRIBUTE
One thing that MLMers might talk about is the feeling like moms have to contribute to the household. In this case I’m talking monetarily. Maybe this mom feels like she’s not “pulling her weight.” Which in reality, yes sge is because a mom alone is a hard job. Or maybe the mom needs validation that she too is needed to help the household in this way. I know as someone who was and still is very career driven, I get it.
Related: Why MLMs are predatory.
MAYBE YOU DREAM OF BEING A SAHM
For working moms that work outside of the home, maybe they have dreams to be able to stay home or at least work from home. Which, just fyi working for an mlm company is still working. You’re still on your phone constantly. So you’re still working a lot but now you’re working in front of your kids and they see you with your face buried in your phone. With an mlm you work more than regular 9-5 hours. However, mlm reps will still pitch the opportunity as a chance to be with your kids. If you’re part of the anti mlm movement and consume this type of content, how many times have we heard reps talk about their why being that they want to stay home with their kids? A lot.
Related: How to spot an MLM from a mile away.
YOUR IDENTITY HAS BECOME MOM
Once you become a mom, your entire identity can change. All of the sudden your hygiene can take a back seat. For example the day that I’m writing this I had a long night with the baby abd I forgot to brush my teeth until a few hours later and showers nowadays are super quick. All of the things that you once did can change. For some moms losing their identity might be just the right amount of vulnerable for mlm reps to combine a mom to join.
Related: How to combat the “pyramid schemes are illegal” MLM rep narrative.
DO YOU WANT TO LOSE THAT BABY WEIGHT?
This is something I’ve been terrified of. I’ve been very open about my postpartum body and not losing my pregnancy weight. What I’m terrified of is getting a rep in my dms pretty much telling me I’m fat and need to lose weight. It’s been a roller coaster of emotions when it comes to my postpartum body. One day I’m ok with someone calling me big or whatever and the next day I’ll see an old picture of myself and bawl my eyes out. Anyway, any mom that is postpartum is a target. It’s bad enough that some of us postpartum moms are vulnerable enough with society standards, but now we have other women and moms calling us fat (they might not actually call you fat but it’s implied) under the guise of woman empowerment.
Related: I was targeted by an MLM rep for my hair loss.
WHAT IS THE SOLUTION?
Honestly, your guess is as good as mine. I would say to continue reporting to the FTC and educating people about mlms, but there will always be those that don’t see anything wrong with this kind of behavior. There will be those that think calling this behavior predatory is being over dramatic. There are so many reasons why the anti mlm movement exists and this is one of them.
Related: More anti MLM information.
Disclaimer: This is all based on my opinion and research I have done. Please do your own research and fact checking. Section 107 of the Copyright Act provides the statutory framework for determining whether something is a fair use and identifies certain types of uses—such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research—as examples of activities that may qualify as fair use. Second Disclaimer: Anything said in this post is for entertainment purposes, and my opinions.
Great resources to further your research and education:
Jon M Taylor’s (MBA, PhD) Study: The Case for and against Multi Level Marketing
AARP’s Study of Multi Level Marketing: Profiling Participants and their Experiences in Direct Sales
Steven Hassan’s BITE Model
FTC’s article of a Pyramid Scheme vs MLM
The rest of my anti MLM Mondays posts can be found by clicking this link.
My Anti MLM Educational & Commentary content on Youtube.
Great post, Monica! I freaking love you!
Shelbee