MLM and Charity?

Today's blog post is about the trickery used to validate MLM by suggesting they are charitable. There are a few main issues with this logic, such as, not being able to verify the accuracy of their philanthropy, not knowing whether they are doing it because they are noble or getting a benefit (most likely the latter), sometimes not being able to verify the legitimacy of the charity, and finally there is no actual correlation between businesses being legitimate and giving to charity. With all of these reasons to ignore the idea of an MLM being legitimate because they are charitable, it still doesn't stop MLMers from espousing this as some sort of irrefutable fact. This should be regarded as a red flag instead of a means of proof to secure credibility, especially if this logic is not supported by other better forms of evidence, or worse yet a stand alone form of credibility.

I was recently watching television when an odd commercial came on the air. I remembered seeing it before, and not putting much thought into it, but this time it was different. As the commercial played I started to feel my blood boil, especially after John Oliver ripped it to shreds on one of his segments. Without further ado, here is the commercial.



On first glance the commercial seems innocent, but after further inspection it becomes clear something very shady is happening. Not only is it a bizarre premise to have "Kars 4 Kids" that are clearly not able to drive, but they don't explicitly say what the money for the donated cars will be contributed toward. After watching this commercial you are left with a bad jingle that will not leave your head for the next million years, and the idea that some weird charity is trying to get free cars to give to children.

The Wikipedia entry for 1877Kars4Kids is particularly scathing. The organization is run by an orthodox Jew and their mission statement is to utilize the funds for bringing education to secular Jews. Basically, they are taking your money and putting it toward an unverifiable purpose of re-educating bad Jews to try and turn them into good Jews. They have never been able to verify how much of the proceeds have actually gone to this endeavor, and the other causes they have helped with are pennies in the bucket compared to how much they have raised. They have even been fined by two states for showing this commercial without explicitly saying what the charity is about. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kars4Kids

Here is the brief moment John Oliver decided to go on a tangent and vilify 1877Kars4Kids.



While this is only one example of a bad charity, it is far from unique. Charities are one of the least regulated types of organizations and they are able to file tax exempt on account of them being non-profit organizations. They are one of the best vehicles for running a scam and they are one of the worst vehicles for verifying authenticity of another organization. It is far from surprising that MLMs would be involved in charities, and the insidious nature of MLMs suggest that they aren't using charities because they want to give to their respective communities.

If you have a story involving abuses from your upline and would like me to share it on this blog as a guest post, then please e-mail me and I will be more than happy to post it! Your stories are not as unique as you may think, and your stories are some of the most impactful resources we have to fight MLMs. I will keep your anonymity upon request.