Thread: Penn and Teller scheduled to "expose" MLMs?

As originally posted (and amended) at Quatloos!

I've never seen their show, "Bulls**t!", but according to tv.com:

Everyone wants to get rich quick, but are multilevel marketing schemes really the answer? Penn & Teller reveal the truth about direct-sales companies that market everything from sausages to sex toys.

Air Date: Thursday July 8, 2010

Tracy Coenen and some ex-Mary Kay reps were filmed, but they ended up on the cutting room floor.

A newbie over at the The MLM forums, a former Zrii rep, was filmed and wrote:

I knew they were gonna give me a hard time and try to make fun, but I had a good time with it. I ended up making more from participating in that show than I did from selling bottles of their juice.

I hear the show is....titillating.

That should be a blast! I will make sure to catch that! How come I wasn't filmed stalking MLMers on my broomstick?

Soapboxmom

Here's the preview of tonight's show:

Showtime: Penn & Teller: Bullshit! Official Site

Darn, that show is on Showtime, I don't get that channel. Will have to wait until someone posts a summary, *sigh*.

Originally Posted by Lightbulb

Darn, that show is on Showtime, I don't get that channel. Will have to wait until someone posts a summary, *sigh*.

Exactly...Showtimes exposure is minimal and P&T marketshare for their show is quite low...

They'll get more viewers on Youtube than on the show...

hi all! my first post.

from what i see in the preview, the show might not be "mlm" per say, more like direct marketting, aka not focusing on recruiting, but selling products at parties.

havent seen it so i could be wrong.

Originally Posted by iamwil

Exactly...Showtimes exposure is minimal and P&T marketshare for their show is quite low...

They'll get more viewers on Youtube than on the show...

Then I guess it's time to start downplaying youtube.

Robert FitzPatrick Rocked!



Penn and Teller were...Penn and Teller.

Quite a good show...

It was what I thought it would be.

All bottom of the chain people trying to make it in the world of recruiting. All of them not making money. All of them saying that it's their fault if they fail, not the unsustainable scheme. All of them brainwashed.

All of them victims.

Originally Posted by King

All of them victims.

Which was the final word on the show.
At the risk of being taken out to the cybershed again (elsewhere), I dislike when people refer to them as "suckers". Dictionary definitions aside (a person easily cheated or deceived), it is commonly used pejoratively.
I continue to feel compassion and empathy for those taken in.

I don't know much about the site, bluexeal.com. But right now, the entire unedited version of the show is available.
(There's a PG rated dating ad that you can close to play the video-at least when I found the site)
(The episode contains profanity and full frontal nudity)

BLueXeaL®™ TV: Watch Penn & Teller: Bullshit! Season 8 Episode 5 - Easy Money

Originally Posted by Emet

I don't know much about the site, bluexeal.com. But right now, the entire unedited version of the show is available.
(There's a PG rated dating ad that you can close to play the video-at least when I found the site)
(The episode contains profanity and full frontal nudity)

BLueXeaL®™ TV: Watch Penn & Teller: Bullshit! Season 8 Episode 5 - Easy Money

Thanks for posting the link! It was even more fun than I expected!

yabbut, they could have done a better job on why the math makes the MLM impossible.

Originally Posted by CynicalSkeptic

yabbut, they could have done a better job on why the math makes the MLM impossible.

Considering the format of the show, I think they got the point across very nicely. If it had been 60 Minutes or Dateline, a detailed analysis may have ben more forthcoming.

Mr. FitzPatrick came across as very credible, knowledgeable, and made multiple comments on why the MLM model is corrupt.

The allusions to Pyramid schemes on two separate occasions honed in that point quite nicely, IMO.

An old Forbes.com article from 1997 was more direct (some choice excerpts):

In a pyramid selling scheme, the mass of salespeople at the bottom line up a handful of customers to buy the product or service. Many of the salespeople will bring in only a small volume of business, but if you have enough of them the business will mushroom. Typical products: cosmetics (Mary Kay), household goods (Amway), vitamins (Shaklee).

The folks who make money aren't the ones who move the goods. The big money goes to the people who recruit the salespeople and to the people who recruit the people who recruit the salespeople. If you convince a customer to become a sales rep, you get not just a commission on his phone bill but also an override on any customers he recruits, and so on down the pyramid.

In the manner of a chain-letter scheme, the pyramid relies on a stream of new recruits for its prosperity.

Million-man sales force - Forbes.com