MonaVie vs. Sambazon |
52 Comments |
(…or How a Distributor Fixes the Competition)
I just finished reading this “side by side” comparison of MonaVie and Sambazon. After comparing the process behind the products, he concludes they are similar. He then states that a bottle of Sambazon is $2.99 while a bottle of MonaVie is $39.99 or more. Sounds like the MonaVie distributor is going to go with the sane choice and say that MonaVie is out-matched.
Of course the author doesn’t do this. He compares the cost per serving. There is where the logic falls apart. A true side by side comparison would be to compare the cost of MonaVie per ounce vs. the cost of Sambazon per ounce. You end up getting just an ounce of MonaVie for the $1.80/serving… but you get nearly the whole bottle in Sambazon’s $2.30/serving. So rather than congratulate Sambazon for using serving sizes that people actually drink, he twists it into some kind of negative. When you break it down ounce for ounce, the Sambazon becomes $0.29/ounce vs. MonaVie’s $1.80/ounce (plus shipping). It’s not close is it?
He then goes on to say:
No matter how much Sambazon I drink and no matter how many people I tell about Sambazon, I will never get paid to drink it.
That’s one of the very odd statements you’ll hear MonaVie distributors say. When you look at the MonaVie Income Disclosure Statement, you’ll note that 82% of the people (Distributor and Star level) who are actively trying to sell the juice, end up having to work 500 hours a year to break even on the $1500 of juice they drink. Do if you actively working the business, and you better than 82% of the people also working the business, you may get free juice for a year by donating 500 hours of your time. By the way, 500 hours is 31 days at 16 hours each. Yes, it’s a month of your life working 16 hour days for “free” juice. Another way to look at it is two months of your life working standard 8 hours of your life for “free” juice. That’s spending 1/6th of your yearly work life for “free” juice.
The other factor that I liked about MonaVie is the fact that you can have it automatically delivered to your doorstep every month.
MonaVie offers free shipping? Of course not. You have to pay for that, but with Sambazon, I just put it in my cart as I’m already at the store buying milk and other staples. The shipping cost of MonaVie is another negative.
MonaVie is 100% juice, there is no water and the juice in MonaVie Active and Pulse is not from concentrate. Only 1 of Sambazon’s drinks is 100% juice and they all contain water and juice from concentrate.
It’s completely unclear how MonaVie can add something freeze-dried without reconstituting it with water. It simply doesn’t make sense. Also since Sambazon is 1/6th the price of MonaVie, as long as it has more than 16.6% juice, you are getting more juice for your money. It’s simple math… You can get one ounce of 100% juice at $1.80 with MonaVie – or 6 ounces of Sambazon’s 80% juice (equal to 4.8 ounces of MonaVie’s 100%) for the same price. You still get nearly 5 times more for your dollar. That was the lowest amount of juice as Sambazon also had a 95% juice and a 100% juice option.
The sugar per serving for Sambazon is: 20g for Supergreens Revolution, 21g for Antioxidant Trinity and 30g for Strawberry Samba. The sugar per serving for MonaVie is: 3g for MonaVie Original, 3g for MonaVie Active and 7g for MonaVie Pulse.
More “serving size” trickery. Sambazon’s serving size is 8 ounces, so it’s sugar is actually less than MonaVie’s. It’s another example of false – “side by side” comparison. There’s more to it though as he goes into calories a serving and fat a serving. Again, you are getting 1/8th the amount of juice with MonaVie, so you should expect 1/8th the calories and 1/8 the fat.
My favorite source of lies was this one though…
Q: What is the ORAC score for your product?
A: Sambazon.com: One of our Acai smoothies or juices (10.4 fl oz.) have anywhere from 5,000- 15,000 ORAC units.
Monavie.com: Four ounces of MonaVie has an approximate ORAC value of 4,000 to 5,000 units. This is the approximate ORAC value of 5 to 13 commonly eaten fruits and vegetables. Health experts currently recommend consuming 5,000 ORAC units per day for optimal antioxidant protection.
***SIDE-BY-SIDE COMPARISON*** If you break down the ORAC unit scores per oz. Sambazon smoothies or juices have between 481 to 1442 units per ounce and MonaVie has between 1000 to 1250 units per ounce.
We already determined that MonaVie is clearly lying when it says it’s approximately 4000-5000 ORAC units. This is a big advantage for Sambazon.
So the real side-by-side comparison:
Sambazon: 481 to 1442 ORAC units/ounce (average is 961.5 ORAC)
MonaVie: 672.6 ORAC units/ounce
Sambazon Cost/ounce: $0.29
MonaVie Cost/ounce: $1.80
So for 1/6th the price, you can get what is likely to be 30% more ORAC.
Originally posted 2009-09-23 16:47:10.
Related Posts Related Websites This post involves:açai, monavie, sambazon
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Propeller
September 24th, 2009 at 10:15 am
I find it amusing that Monavie distributors often point to the fact that they get paid to drink it as a positive thing, apparently unaware of how it looks to the rest of us.
See, we can’t exactly take your glowing praise of the product at face value, given the glaring conflict of interest involved in being both a distributor and a drinker of Monavie. That sort isn’t exactly the most trustworthy, you know?
January 8th, 2010 at 9:28 pm
how come you don’t comment his and link to yours or at least let him know his errors in his computations?
January 9th, 2010 at 12:58 pm
I don’t like to promote my articles on other websites. I don’t want people to think that I’m trying to spam his “pro-MonaVie” site with my “anti-MonaVie” stance.
He didn’t have a contact form or button that I could see either.
March 8th, 2010 at 10:06 am
There’s always someone out there trying to bash the (per Inc. 500) #18 fastest growing privately held company in the United States. #1 in the Food and Beverage Category, and #3 in overall revenue.
No network marketing compant has ever even been on the Inc. 500 list.
The product is legit, the company is legit, and no other “Acai” beverage can touch it right now. It’s not even close.
Those are the facts.
Let me know when Sambazon shows up at the Academy Awards VIP Lounge or on The Doctors Show, or in the clubhouses/locker rooms of professional sports teams, etc….
Not everyone gets paid to drink it. In fact, a majority of the people who sign up as distributors or preferred customers aren’t even doing the business. That must mean the PRODUCT IS LEGIT. HELLO!!!!!
I’m guessing most people in the US spend way more than “500 hours” per year WATCHING TV or doing some other unproductive activity. Turn off your TV people. Stop watching the BS! Get healthy and make a difference.
March 8th, 2010 at 11:28 am
You might want to read this post about the Inc. 500 list – http://www.juicescam.com/monavie-and-inc-magazines-500/. It’s a pretty arbitrary list of qualifications and almost all the other companies in list are not ones that anyone has heard of.
What kind of fact is “product is legit, the company is legit, and no other ‘Acai’ beverage can touch it right now.” That is all opinion.
MonaVie didn’t “show up” at the Academy Awards VIP Lounge. They paid for the privilege. Same with the locker rooms of professionsal sports teams. Sambazon could have done the same, but they choose substance over the glitz. Perhaps that is why they don’t need to retail the product at $45.
Did you tell people to stop watching television at the same time you give MonaVie credit for being on The Doctors Show? Wow. I think everyone is entitled to their own form of entertainment. All work and no play makes Johnnie a dull boy, right.
You managed to not give a single reason why the product is “legit”, but you did use the word legit a number of times. Good job!
March 8th, 2010 at 12:12 pm
http://www.aibmr.com/resources/articles-and-reports.php
Let me know when Sambazon’s research gets published in peer reviewed scientific journals.
And if you’re going to watch TV, you might as well watch something educational, right?
Scam, you can get a bottle of Monavie for as little as approx $20-$22
Sambazon is the team drink of which professional team?
March 8th, 2010 at 12:41 pm
Let me know when the AIBMR research shows that the juice is has value. When you read the study, it becomes clear that it’s not special in any way. Being published in a peer-reviewed journal is only a good thing, if the study is helpful to the juice.
Here is your Sambazon study – http://www.bevnet.com/news/2010/2-1-2010-Sambazon_announces_results_of_acai_study. It’s probably too new to make the journals yet.
Yes, MonaVie can be had for $20-22 if you buy it in huge bulk (I think a distributor quoted it as a 6-month supply costing me some $500+). Even with the bulk purchase (a big negative for MonaVie), Sambazon is still about 1/3 the price.
Sambazon chooses not to pay to sponsor a team. The savings go to the customer. Perhaps MonaVie shouldn’t be paying to be the team drink of a professional team and pass those savings on to the customer as well.
Let me know when MonaVie is certified organic like Sambazon.
March 8th, 2010 at 12:42 pm
Paying for publicity is never a bad thing, right?
March 8th, 2010 at 12:42 pm
Unless of course it’s bad publicity.
March 8th, 2010 at 12:45 pm
And that’s what MonaVie paid for when they commissioned AIBMR to research it.
I don’t think paying for publicity is a bad thing, but it’s not a good thing either. I doesn’t mean MonaVie is better than any other juice.
March 8th, 2010 at 1:18 pm
“Let me know when the AIBMR research shows that the juice is has value.”
I challenge you to go back and read the studies objectively and find language that shows the juice has value. I know that may sound like an odd request (given your pro-Sambazon bias, but give it try. I guarantee you it’s there.
and then…
Show me the link to Sambazon’s research published in a Peer Reviewed Scientific Journal.
March 8th, 2010 at 1:59 pm
I couldn’t find anything in the AIBMR studies that compared MonaVie to any other juice. It is expected that juice is good for you. Outstandingly high performance is required to justify MonaVie’s outstandingly high price. Where are MonaVie’s comparisons to other juices so that we can judge that performance? It’s like me asking you to choose car A or car B without telling anything about the cars other than the price. Sorry, I’m going to take the lower priced every time.
MonaVie’s website touts ORAC score as being an important measure of the value of it’s juice. Sambazon’s ORAC is higher and it’s cheaper. In fact an apple is better than 9 ounces of MonaVie: http://www.juicescam.com/monavie-vs-an-apple/. Why don’t you mention that? Again, MonaVie isn’t certified organic.
Also, I don’t believe the AIBMR studies are peer-reviewed. There are studies in The Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, but I don’t think they were done by AIBMR. Please tell me which journal article you want me to review and I will do so. Also please provide me a link to that article so that I can review it. (Linking to: http://www.aibmr.com/resources/articles-and-reports.php doesn’t count, as the articles are not there.)
March 8th, 2010 at 2:13 pm
I want you to read all of them.
Here’s a little teaser from one:
“MonaVie Active has not only shown experimentally to increase antioxidant activity in human serum, leading to a decrease in lipid peroxidation in the blood stream, but there is also evidence that MonaVie Active provided antioxidants that are able to penetrate cells. This study confirms that by drinking four ounces of MonaVie Active containing Brazilian acai berry, the subjects had a significant increase in their antioxidant capacity and inhibition in lipid peroxidation, which reduces the risk of cholesterol being oxidized. Oxidized cholesterol has been shown to contribute to damage to the internal lining of the arteries.”
March 8th, 2010 at 2:57 pm
I have read all them. The one you mention sounds a little like the one here: http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/sample.cgi/jafcau/2008/56/i18/pdf/jf8016157.pdf (PDF file). I have pointed out how badly done that study was in comment 974 here: http://www.lazymanandmoney.com/monaVieArchive.php. So you don’t have to go there here’s what I said:
They aren’t proving that MonaVie is better is than other juices or fruit. They are just proving that MonaVie is like fruit. You know what else is like fruit? Fruit.
March 8th, 2010 at 4:20 pm
And where’s the research on Sambazon?
Monavie: 1
Sambazon: 0
March 8th, 2010 at 4:24 pm
Why not publish a critical analysis in the JAFC? Then you could say you yourself had a study/analysis posted in a peer reviewed scientific journal.
This blog carries no weight.
March 8th, 2010 at 4:33 pm
I linked you the research before: http://www.bevnet.com/news/2010/2-1-2010-Sambazon_announces_results_of_acai_study
Again no response to Sambazon being certified organic and MonaVie not. Looks like MonaVie loses again.
March 8th, 2010 at 4:44 pm
I have no interest in going through whatever process it is to get an article published in the JAFC. I’m already published here. More people can find this information by searching Google where as the JAFC, doesn’t come up very high.
I don’t know what you mean by “This blog carries no weight.” I only put information out there for people to read. I strive to make sure that information is accurate. That’s an important thing, because MonaVie distributors are spreading inaccurate information. If you read this article you could easily see the mistakes that the other MonaVie website made. Anyone can come here and use site to research MonaVie. For instance, people may not have realized that they can buy a juice (Sambazon) with 30% more ORAC at 1/6th the price of MonaVie.
March 8th, 2010 at 4:56 pm
I didn’t know about that Sambazon study. Good find LM. You’re right; it doesn’t seem to have been published yet. But while I was looking on PubMed I found an interesting acai juice study, published in the journal “Appetite” last year, entitled “Effect of a health claim and personal characteristics on consumer acceptance of fruit juices with different concentrations of açaí (Euterpe oleracea Mart.)”.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19467277
Essentially, the study showed that when acai-related health claims were relayed to consumers (particularly those who didn’t initially like or intend to buy acai juice), it made them more inclined to like acai juice, perceive it as having value, and to buy it. This was a somewhat intuitive result, but an interesting one nonetheless. Another interesting finding was that older subjects and women were most likely to accept fruit juices for which particular health benefits were claimed. This seems consistent with Monavie’s target demographic, which predominantly consists of women and elderly/retirees.
I found another interesting article published recently by the Brazilian Ministry of Health indicating that Chagas disease (a very serious health problem in South America) can be transmitted orally by consumption of acai fruit.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19331764
In this study, acai consumption was the suspected cause of 178 cases of Chagas reported in the state of Para, Brazil in 2006. This finding is interesting in light of the fact that Monavie distributors always concoct stories about how acai has been used by the Brazilians as medicine for hundreds of years and they pretend that Monavie is helping to save the rain forest, but they never mention any downsides; eg, Brazilians who consume acai can contract Chagas disease (as can the workers who harvest the berries and are exposed to insect-borne Chagas), and overseas demand for acai is causing prices to escalate beyond the reach of Brazilians who depend on it as a dietary staple (cf. “‘Superfood’ Promoted on Oprah’s Site Robs Amazon Poor of Staple”; Bloomberg News – May 14, 2009).
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=ai8WCgSJrhmY&refer=home
I also found this article (“What Is the Açaí Berry and Are There Health Benefits?”) written by Wendy Marcason, a registered dietician who works at the American Dietetic Association’s Knowledge Center in Chicago, which was published in late-2009 in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association. The author, who incidentally had reviewed Schauss’ acai study, concluded the following about acai:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19857637
“Until the health benefits of the açaí berry are scientifically proven, it seems more reasonable, cheaper, and safer to get antioxidants from other fruit and vegetable sources. To get the recommended daily amounts of antioxidants, the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend eating two cups of fruits and two and one half cups of vegetables each day based on a 2,000-calorie-perday diet.”
Marcason also discussed the online acai berry scams and the legal action that’s been taken to stop them, as well as the lawsuit filed by Oprah et al. (which we all know named Monavie as a co-defendant). She also said “ignore endorsements” and “check out the BBB” (which, as we all know, has variably rated Monavie between an F and a D minus this year).
Lastly, there’s this article published 2 months ago by the University of California Berkeley. The title says it all – “PONZI BERRY”!
http://www.berkeleywellnessalerts.com/alerts/dietary_supplements/acai-berries33-1.html
March 8th, 2010 at 8:12 pm
LOL at all of that bogus research above.
And Scam, where is that study published? You could be improving your health, helping others get what they want, and getting what you want. I guess this is the “Big Dream” you’ve chosen to go after. Sad sad sad!!!
Monavie was dropped as a co-defendant in Oprah’s lawsuit. Do your homework!!!
March 8th, 2010 at 9:48 pm
I am improving my health and helping others. It is you who is defending the sale of $45 juice that is shown to be worse than $4 juice.
March 8th, 2010 at 10:34 pm
Bogus research, eh Fred? And Monavie’s completely self-serving research is supposed to hold more weight…why now? Think McFly, think!
C’mon Fred, give it a rest already. More and more, people are coming around to the Monavie lie. Your customer base is already dwindling before your eyes, and it’s just a matter of time before the FDA comes a-knocking, asking Monavie why it continues to allow its distributors monkeys to toss atypical anecdotes about the juice’s alleged health benefits all about the internet like so much textual feces, and you’ll be shut down with nothing to show for your psychotic devotion to the Monavie cult but wasted time and wasted money.
It might not happen today, it might not happen six months from now, but it will happen. Delve into the history of some of Monavie’s biggest players and you’ll see how a similar scam went down not too long ago. This will end the same way, you can count on it.
So hey, take some of your advice and stop wasting your time. This is a losing battle. No matter what you say, or how smug and dismissive you act in the face of it, the truth will catch up to you people in the end.
People just aren’t as stupid as you folks are banking on them to be. Stop insulting us with this bullcrap and grow the hell up already.
March 9th, 2010 at 6:49 am
Stop wasting your time here folks.
This is a toxic website filled with nothing but hate, lies, and misinformation.
Go after your dreams. Be positive in life because what you focus on expands.
The negativity here is tragic!
I’ll take my bottle of Monavie, PUBLISHED research, better health physically, financially, emotionally, and spiritually and go on my merry way. May you all (you too scam) find peace and happiness somewhere in your lives.
I’m out!
It’s SIMPLE It’s FUN It’s MONAVIEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!
Yea Baby!!!!!!
March 9th, 2010 at 7:26 am
MonaVie Scam, That was a great article about Sambazon, thank you!
Vogel, I enjoyed the “Ponzi Berry” article, and your links to other research. The Chagas thing is a bit concerning.
Fred, Nice rebuttal…
You haven’t provided one shred of proof to back up your position! Nothing…It’s such typical MonaVie proponent behavior that it’s now just laughable and expected. Can you provide proof for anything you’ve stated here? Can you show us where and when Oprah dropped the lawsuit against MonaVie?
March 9th, 2010 at 8:35 am
Fred, please hop back in you playpen, take a big suck on your acai-juice box, and let the adults talk.
I couldn’t find any news on Google to confirm Fred’s claim that Monavie had been dropped as a defendant in the Oprah lawsuit. I did, however, find this interesting article on the subject posted on this website. I was particularly struck by this quote:
“Network marketing companies will always be held accountable for the actions of their sales force, regardless if the company condones the behavior or not.”
http://www.nextgenerationlaw.com/oprahs-lawsuit-serves-as-a-strong-reminder/
If that’s the case (as it appears to be), the company will have a lot of atoning to do for Fred’s loathsome behavior, not to mention a litany of graver sins.
March 9th, 2010 at 9:19 am
Just a few things before I officially “go on my merry way.”
Hopefully you all will find the time to find your real calling (I’m hoping what you’ve written here is not it).
The great thing about Monavie is not the money, or that it is helping so many people…it’s the “relationships” and personal growth you experience when you try to help yourself and others. I’ve met and reconnected with so many wonderful people since I’ve jumped into Monavie. It has taken me from the comfort of Ordinary into a place where Dreams can happen.
If Monavie is not the company for you, I hope you all find something that will take you to a place where you are helping others, believing in yourself, and making your dreams happen.
Good luck to all of you.
Focus on the POSITIVE and you will be REWARDED….Focus on the negative and you will wallow in misery and misfortune for the rest of your lives.
POSITIVE POSITIVE POSITIVE!!!!!
Fred
March 9th, 2010 at 10:30 am
The reincarnation of Jim Jones
March 9th, 2010 at 10:47 am
Jacked on the juice.
March 9th, 2010 at 3:28 pm
I do focus on the positive, Fred. I’m positive that Monavie is a scam at the price, I’m positive that you and yours try to justify that price with potentially deadly lies, and I’m positive that you and the rest of the soulless denizens of the Monavie pyramid will get yours in the end.
How’s that for positive thinking?
March 11th, 2010 at 11:26 am
Vogel found this piece of research,
I read that article and found out something interesting… from the article:
“In general, [the plantiffs - Harpo productions] reference credit card fraud, fraudulent use of meta tagging for search engine optimization (which is way over my head), and unauthorized use of copyrighted works.”
The bolded part above is interesting to me because MonaVie lawyers used the same tactic on me. Of course I showed various precident that got them to back away. (I not-so-humbly suggest that I know more law than MonaVie’s lawyers… and I’m not a lawyer). Plus, I’m offering commentary on MonaVie, which gives me the right to use MonaVie’s trademark (it’s impossible not to) in my writing. A person trying to sell MonaVie stands on much more shaky ground when he/she brings in a completely unrelated trademark (Oprah) with the purpose of selling a product.
I’d like to point out that I said what this lawyer did many, many months ago when I compared MonaVie to Napster. http://www.juicescam.com/monavie-is-the-next-napster/
April 12th, 2010 at 11:44 am
I have a friend that has recently been “invited” into this monavie nonsense. He’s really excited about it. I’m trying to gather a bit of research before he ends up dropping a lot of money on something with a proven history of letting its distributors fail.
More likely than not, the market for people gullible enough to drink 40 dollar bottles of juice (I don’t even like to spend that much on wine!!) has collapsed along with the loosey goosey financing credit standards of a few years back.
Fred’s been coached well. MLM salesmen are very much like politicians and scientologists. They’re spin doctors. It’s really kind of fun to watch. Too bad many are willing to take the bait.
So, really, thanks for the site. I’m hoping it turns out well for my friend.
April 12th, 2010 at 12:10 pm
Je, First people only fail if they quit and many people do very very quickly one because they get beat up on the perception of this type of business from family and friends. Two because they come to sites like this and get discouraged…………
He can only fail if he quits if he sticks with it he can make it happen and he will learn about teamwork and being positive in this business.
The price of the juice is a can get around $32 dollars a bottle if he buys two cases a month. Also through commissions earned from the Monavie compensation plan he can pay for his juice within the first month and continue to receive his juice for free because of the residual income he will earn.
April 12th, 2010 at 12:43 pm
Actually Cooper, people fail if they can’t get people to sign up underneath them to support the pyramid. You don’t have to come to this site to get discouraged. MonaVie is already embarrassed by its income disclosure statement.
I like Cooper’s math. The juice can be $32 a bottle if you buy two cases (8 bottles) a month. That’s $256 a month or more than $3000 a year. Who wouldn’t want to give themselves an instant $5K raise ($3K after taxes) by just not getting involved in it?
April 12th, 2010 at 1:05 pm
While buying a great plethora of different products from Monavie they are also investing into a income opportunity. Again like I stated people can pay for their juice within a month or months and drink their juice at no cost.
So let me see Apple juice for 4 dollars or Monavie for free with the potential of building a nice part time business for myself that could potentially earn me anywhere from 18k-100k in residual income in my first year if I don’t quit!!!! If I quit I fail if I don’t quit I succeed…………Simple as that
Why do many people fail to enroll distributors? Because they quit!!!!! Most people can enroll a couple people after a month or two if they don’t they aren’t trying or talking to enough people. They get discouraged say I can’t do this and quit simple as that.
Monavie is not embarrassed by it’s Income Disclosure according to the rules and regulations Monavie Distributors most show this to disclosure sheet at every meeting. Compared to other Network Marketing companies Monavie is dominating they want to show people the potential of what you can make but at the same time they advise you it takes work! It’s not get rich quick. Please stop posing your opinions as factual………..
April 12th, 2010 at 4:01 pm
I’ll make you a deal, Cooper. You stop posting lies as if they’re factual, and then maybe we’ll consider discussing whether or not a scumbag such as yourself deserves the right to make demands of anyone else.
Basically “Please stop posing your opinions as factual……..” translates into “You’re making it tough for me to do my job effectively, please stop…..”
You distributors never cease to amuse me.
April 12th, 2010 at 7:38 pm
I’ll make you a deal Cyber…..Speak from experience before you speak out your beehind or stop posting your OPINIONS AS FACTUAL
Stop posting your opinions as factual means stop scaring off people who could really be helped by the Monavie product and opportunity.
Ignorant HATERS never cease to amuse me
April 12th, 2010 at 8:26 pm
Keep rambling Cooper. You sound insane…really. With every post, you vivdly demonstrate why people should run for the hills when they hear the word Monavie
April 12th, 2010 at 9:14 pm
Cooper, if you have any science to back your product, please post. We’ll need citations, of course. Otherwise, the consensus is that it’s nothing more than fruit punch in a slick bottle.
Anecdotes from unverifiable sources will carry no weight here.
April 12th, 2010 at 9:18 pm
Cooper Simon states:
“If I quit I fail if I don’t quit I succeed…………Simple as that
Why do many people fail to enroll distributors? Because they quit!!!!! Most people can enroll a couple people after a month or two if they don’t they aren’t trying or talking to enough people. They get discouraged say I can’t do this and quit simple as that.”
Cooper, my buddy pitched Monavie to me a couple of weeks ago. In his sales pitch were many of the motivational slogans about not giving up and promises of vast wealth and success.
I declined his request to join. He insisted I listen to some CD’s from Orrin Woodward about Monavie. He promised that it would change my mind overnight. Out of respect for him and our long friendship I promised that I would, and I did listen to them. I have to admit that if I was not a healthy skeptic by nature or was in financial trouble the promises would sound pretty enticing. Of course he was wrong, it did not change my mind. It only convinced me to dig deeper for the truth.
So I did a bit of research about Mr. Woodward and his associates only to find that he makes money off of motivational speeches and selling “tools” to “build the business.” In reality, they don’t give a damn about your health or your financial future. They’re only out to sell you on the dream. Their job is to keep you motivated to never quit, and keep buying overpriced motivational tools, and stay on auto-ship to line the pockets of those at the top.
So many distributors come in here taunting the fact that they can drink this juice for free. You can only drink for free if you decide to sell out your friends and family to buy into this. If your relationships with others is worth less than drinking your free juice, then there’s nothing that can be said to help you.
It boggles the mind to see why someone would make a conscious choice to sell their loved ones down the river for free juice, when they could recommend the lower price product in the article. Remember that Monavie does get their money from somewhere, and there has to be someone at the bottom of the pyramid who will lose everything and gain nothing regardless of how hard they work or how much time they invest.
I guess it’s all about the pursuit of the almighty dollar, everything else be damned.
April 12th, 2010 at 9:35 pm
I’ll add that Cooper should keep on trying to be quarterback for the New England Patriots… if he quits that he fails. If he doesn’t quit, does he succeed? Well, after wasting his life he might look back age 70 and realize that he never was quarterback or the New England Patriots. Is that success? I don’t think so.
Sometimes it’s good to know when to fold them, and when nearly everyone is making minimum wage, well it’s a sign it’s time to not just walk away, but time to run.
April 12th, 2010 at 11:54 pm
Dan,
You don’t have to buy tools from Orin Woodward to help you in this business that is up to you. I do not purchase any tools from him at all. I have bought product and some information which has been very minimal in cost.
Either way if you want to pursue this business you treat it like a business. You don’t treat it halfway but you put everything you can into it to succeed.
Most businesses you are investing over $10,000 in this business you invest less than %2 of that and get started. So it may not feel like a business because of the minimal investment but you better treat it like you did invest $10,000 or else you probably won’t succeed.
There in lies the problem with many people they think it will be easy so they make their investment to get the juice ask a couple people they say no so they give up. They don’t attend meetings they don’t meet the people making it happen and they stay to themselves and believe it will never work for them. The numbers are skewed in the IDS because they don’t show ones effort and timeframe in the business. That is why experience and really checking out something for yourself is the key.
I may hear that my friends girlfriend’s friend is ugly and never want to meet her but then I see her and meet her and think she is beautiful inside and out. My perception of the truth blinded me from what was really true.
So experience it for what it really is not from the outside looking in and then make a proper decision instead of judging from the outside looking in.
Friends and family drink the juice and enjoy the benefits and some of them are pursuing the business. No one is going for broke and I am not taking advantage of anybody. I have helped certain people achieve more income and I have helped people feel better from drinking the Monavie products. This company does not destroy relationships it only increases them. I have met alot of new people and we work together as a team to grow our business together and we all help each other. I have also been thanked by people who have been helped by the product. You will get some people who say I will come to you if I am interested don’t talk to me about this anymore and you respect their wishes and move on. This business though is ultimately all about building strong relationships with different people some will be family and close friends and some will be people you were introduced through the business.
Scam,
Many people don’t have the physical capabilities to become the Patriots QB but as long as your mentally healthy you can achieve great success in any type of Business you pursue as long as you really want it.
That was a bad comparison but you know what if you can’t enroll two distributors within the first 2 months then maybe this business isn’t for you. Honestly though that would come down to really giving no effort.
It’s not get rich quick, Monavie advises people of this it takes work and patience and if you give up you will fail that is the bottomline. If you stick with it you will get stronger and overcome obstacles and succeed just like in most walks of life.
April 13th, 2010 at 6:58 am
Cooper Simon/John Feldow (how many screen names do you need?):
So, in your own words:
Of course MonaVie tells you to stick with it…as they bleed you dry with their required autoship of grossly overprice white grape juice.
If you “stick with it” and “become stronger” and “overcome obstacles” and “succeed just like in most walks of life”, show us your success. Proof is in the pudding, and without it your words are just vacuous ramblings. Show us how you’ve stuck with it and how you’ve been financially rewarded…show us how you are making more than the guy who got laid off from the airlines and went to work selling cars from 10-8, show us how you have more financial success than he, through MonaVie, as well as more time with your family than he has.
You won’t because you can’t.
And kindly adhere to your MonaVie contract and provide your distributor ID number, please.
April 13th, 2010 at 7:13 am
Want to know how to make it in the Monavie organization Cooper John? You do what Black Diamond executive Jason Lyons did — find a convicted court-martialed rapist like Lou Niles, dress him up in surgical scrubs, have him lie that he is a doctor specializing in treating cancer patients, and then put him in front of an audience of potential recruits to lie about how good Monavie is at treating cancer.
That is “hard work”. It’s not easy weaving such grand lies.
April 13th, 2010 at 8:00 am
Cooper/John said: “Most businesses you are investing over $10,000 in this business you invest less than %2 of that and get started. So it may not feel like a business because of the minimal investment but you better treat it like you did invest $10,000 or else you probably won’t succeed.”
You just jeep pulling statements out of your arse that have no basis in fact. I started my first company when I was 14. My dad co-signed the application for a retail business/vendors license. That allowed me to buy model kits at wholesale prices and I turned around and sold them to stores in my neighborhood for a decent markup. Total investment was probably about $100 and I made a tidy profit for a couple of years. When I got older, I started an S-Corp — total investment was about $1,000 to have my accountant file the articles of incoporation. My gross revenue in the first year of business was about 250 times that.
Cooper/John said: “You don’t have to buy tools from Orin Woodward to help you in this business that is up to you. I do not purchase any tools from him at all. I have bought product and some information which has been very minimal in cost.”
We all know that selling tools is the real-end game for the Monavie executives. They reverse engineered this scam by pondering what product they could use to support a sales tools scam, and they came up with Monavie (an unimaginitive redux of Royal Tongan Limu). The shitty juice is an afterthought — a loss leader.
Have a look at R3Global’s video. This makes it pretty obvious what they’re really selling (in addition to group baptisms in motel swimming pools) and who’s really getting rich as a result — about a dozen Black Diamonds.
http://www.brighart.com/videogallery.aspx?id=videogallery/WhatIsR3G
These Black Diamonds did not “build their businesses” in the way that the average Monavie distributor is asked to build the business. They brought existing downlines with them from other companies, and in some cases, were paid to do so or were enticed with a slice of the sales tools pie. So can their “success” really be emulated by the average person? Not unless they can start their own pyramid scheme in which they own the rights to sales tools profits, and if they have an existing downline that they can exploit.
For any one person who succeeds in Monavie, about 98 people have to fail; this isn’t because they aren’t trying hard enough — it is because they MUST fail (i.e., pour their own time and money into the pyramid) or their upline cannot succeed. Monavie, unlike licit businesses, is a zero-sum game
And by now Cooper/John, you are aware that you have been busted here for posting under two different user names and trying to create the illusion of strength in numbers. That too attests loudly to the fraudulent nature of the Monavie organization.
On a closing note, I want everyone to look at the latest product that R3Global is flogging to its distributors: it is the R3G/Monavie money roll band. Do I even need to explain the many levels of irony here — selling a rubber band for $1.25 as a money roll band to people who have no money — because they are wasting it on $1.25 money roll bands.
http://www.r3global.com/catalog/partdetail.aspx?PartNo=103283
April 13th, 2010 at 10:36 pm
WOWWWWWW
Vogel, First off Niles was never convicted of rape and just because one guy out of 3 million distributors makes this a bad company? Haha ……..I guess we should stop watching Kobe Byrant as he is a rapist too right? Or Big Ben?
[Editor's Note: Actually those are two great reasons not to watch the Lakers or Steelers. I've heard lifelong fans of the same teams say the same. However, putting that aside, Niles is reason number #845 that makes MonaVie a bad company. Read the rest of this website for about 80 more and realize that it is 1/10 of what I could post here.]
Some Women are crazy we know that haha…….V
So if that guy at your work hits your wife then your whole job is corrupt? Is that the sense your trying to make or are you trying to scare people away with scare tactics.
[Editor's Note: I don't know about some women being crazy, but it seems like Pearman here is. The company does take a credibility hit when they make that person a spokesman. You clearly have your effect, before your cause in this case.]
I said Most Business require a substantial investment most ones that you want to turn a nice profit anyway. Looks like your doing great as you waste all your time as a “Expert google searcher” ahahaha…..
[Editor's Note: Or else maybe Vogel already made all the money he needs and is volunteering his time to provide a valuable public service. Wait, that actually makes sense!]
Candace I am a couple months into the business and building a fine foundation with a couple key business builders with me.
[Editor's Note: Pearman 7, since admit to being a distributor, please leave your name and distributor ID as required by MonaVie]
Selling tools is not the end game dopey ok? It’s just part of it, Brig Hart sells gear that he makes he took the initiative to get it done and he did credit the guy for being a great business man. Like Russel Simmons record company and clothing company same with P. Diddy. What is the big freaking deal?
[Editor's Note: No one buy's MonaVie gear because it's fashionable... they buy it because it's advertising for the business.]
Brig is selling tools that are helping people after all the guy is #1 according to Forbes magazine as the biggest earner in Network Marketing and Monavie distributors represent the majority of that list and no not all of them were previously in a network before and that is fact.
[Editor's Note: Sounds like you just proved that selling tools is the end game. "Not all of them..." so what percentage is it then? (I'm just really curious to know this information, I don't have the answer.)
Again Alot of people fail because they just give up they don't try hard it enough and that is fact!!!!!!!!!!!
[Editor's Note: More people fail because the mathematics of multilevel networking requires a bunch of people buying product and failing at the bottom to support the few at top...]
It seems you are afraid of success and you aren’t very business minded.
[Editor's Note: Actually from what I can tell from previous postings, Vogel, Candace, and I all have our own businesses and are pretty successful at them.]
This website is severely misleading people I am just trying to be a voice of reason.
[Editor's Note: What is misleading about it? Everything I've said in the articles is a fact. If I'm clearly mistaken anywhere, let me know where, and supply your source, and I'll correct the article]
People if you want to know about Monavie don’t come to a Extremely Biased and Subjective website and make your decision. Meet the people check out a meeting try the product and then decide.
[Editor's Note: What is the bias here? Candace, Vogel, and I get nothing if people don't sign up for MonaVie. Distributors like you make money if people do sign up for MonaVie. That means the bias is on you. Yes, people like Pearman want you to go to a meeting so that they can tell you about the 40 people or so at the top of pyramid and tempt you with a great fantasy of healthy juice which all science seems to refute. They won't talk about the 85% or more who are barely making minimum wage... and the next 8% of the high owners (so 93% of distributors who are very actively pursuing the business) who are making under $13]
April 14th, 2010 at 9:28 am
Pearlman 7 said: “Vogel, First off Niles was never convicted of rape and just because one guy out of 3 million distributors makes this a bad company? Haha ……..I guess we should stop watching Kobe Byrant as he is a rapist too right? Or Big Ben?”
The military court transcript proves you wrong:
“On February 16, 1992, appellant (Louis B. Niles), a member of the California National Guard on active duty in Title 10 status, was tried by a general court-martial composed of officer members at Fort Clayton, Panama. He was convicted, contrary to his pleas, of making a false official statement; conduct unbecoming an officer (3 specifications); and indecent assault, in violation of Articles 107, 133, and 134, Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 USC §§ 907, 933, and 934, respectively. Two days before commencement of this trial, the Additional Charge and its specification alleging rape in May of 1987 at Fort Hamilton, New York, in violation of Article 120, UCMJ, 10 USC § 920, was referred to trial. Appellant waived the 5-day waiting period prescribed by Article 35, UCMJ, 10 USC § 835. He was also convicted of this offense, contrary to his pleas. He was sentenced to dismissal from the service, confinement for 6 years, and total forfeitures.”
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://www.armfor.uscourts.gov/opinions/1996Term/95_0738.htm
Aside from ignoring Niles’ convictions, general court martial,6-year confinement sentence, and expulsion from the National Guard, you are also ignoring the FACT that your company’s executive Black Diamond, Jason Lyons, had Niles pretend to be a doctor specializing in the treatment of cancer patients and go before an audience of prospective recruits to tell them that Monavie can be used to treat cancer. They produced a video of this travesty and posted it on the internet so that distributors could use it to flog Monavie as a cancer cure.
I could conceivably muster up a crumb of forgiveness for your disgusting company if someone — anyone — had the decency to step up and apologize; condemn this for what it was — fraud, and an extremely poor decision on the part of Jason Lyons and the Monavie organization. That you don’t do this, and instead loudly defend Niles, shows that you too are scum of the worst kind — a menace to society. For that, I will never forgive Monavie and I will work tirelessly, through this blog and with the help of the FDA and FTC, to make sure that your company is buried 6 feet under, as it deserves to be.
April 14th, 2010 at 11:29 am
Ok so back to my point, One distributor out of 3 million makes this a corrupt company?
Like I said if you have someone at your office who hit his wife does that make the whole company bad?
[Editor's Note: Not it many, many more... and a bunch of other things... again see the pile of comments and the other articles here. Actually just read the home page at http://www.juicescam.com/ to get a lot of it. I haven't even added the D- Better Business Bureau rating in it.]
You have no Bias? You just stated you want to put Monavie 6 ft under and everything on this site in against Monavie completely.
[Editor's Note: I meant that we aren't financially biased. We make no money if people choose to not buy MonaVie. The reason why want to "put MonaVie 6 ft under" (to use your words) is that it's harming consumers. You have a clear bias as you aim to profit from that harm.]
Fact is alot of is made up crap and google searches that look cool but are really baseless.
[Editor's Note: It's called making an objective point and proving it. You haven't made an objective point and proved it yet. Point goes to the "google searches."]
If you pursue this business and treat it like a business you will succeed with patience and persistence. Again the IDS doesn’t reflect real effort. Some people have bad uplines that don’t provide support some people give up because they get bashed and come to sites like this that nitpick every little thing and get discouraged and some people are just buying the juice to get it at a distributor price.
[Editor's Note: Those buying juice to get it at the distributors' price are not included in the IDS... it's only if they are signing up people beneath them that they get include. In fact those people who are working hard, but unsuccessful at getting anyone are not counted. How are you measuring "real effort" or "bad uplines"? We have a measure of hours worked, so that seems like "real effort." MonaVie should cancel the distributor licenses of people not giving "real effort" and and close all "bad uplines." Until they do, don't try to put lipstick on this pig of an IDS.]
Fact is you know absolutely jack squat how Monavie runs it’s company how they make their juice and the people involved. YOU HAVE NO IDEA but you act like you do.
[Editor's Note: Actually, I think this website proves that we know a lot more than many, many others do. I have had hundreds and hundreds of distributors saying that MonaVie saves people money because 4 ounces replaces 13 servings of fruit - a fact that is completely wrong and MonaVie is the first to admit it. If we have no idea, why don't you enlighten us with something ]
Let me ask you a question Vogel are you a Atheist?
What is your background?
[Editor's Note: As we know Vogel is a giant space octopus from the planet Kelmar. In other words, how is this relevant?]
How do we know you don’t work for a competing company?
[Editor's Note: We are fans of just eating fruit. That's what we have always promoted. I suppose you could call that the competing company of Mother Nature.]
April 14th, 2010 at 11:34 am
Back to the original Topic of this post…………
“#1:Sambazon is a vertically integrated company meaning that they have total control from start to finish. They buy their acai direct from a co-op of growers (Mona-Vie does not, they go through a middle man which Sambazon used to have to do). The importance with this is the quality of acai varies greatly depending on the season, when it was picked, ect.
Directly from MonaVie Product Support: “Our acai comes from a supplier. Independent certificates of analysis are issued for the raw ingredients and finished MonaVie product. A certificate of analysis accompanies each raw ingredient. Certificates of analysis validate and verify purity, quality, and safety.” “The açai that MonaVie uses is not from a farm or plantation. It is from wild açai trees within the Amazon Rainforest. We do not buy from any type of farm. We choose to buy from the local Amazonians who literally climb the açai tree to the top and pick the berries.”
#2: Sambazon is NOT freeze dried after it is bought. the skin and pulp is removed from the seed and it is immediately frozen in large drums to be sent to the US to make it’s juices. The frozen packs of acai they sell at natural food stores is frozen @ the plant in Brazil. this process keeps it extremely fresh for us consumers.
Direct from MonaVie’s Product Support:
“Either way is fine. Freeze-drying acai is a different process from freezing. The studies we have are just on our freeze-dried acai. We use both acai puree and freeze-dried acai in our blends. There are many benefits to freeze-drying, such as:
Freeze dried açai:
MonaVie uses freeze-dried açai and is the first to use this form of Açai in a juice. This same form of freeze-dried Açai with its proprietary process and associated claims has applied for patent protection in the U.S and 10 international countries. While MonaVie is not the patent owner, the company has been given full access and rights to the patent’s intellectual properties.
Freeze drying benefits:
Low temperatures of freeze drying ensure that the powerful phytonutrients remain intact. Other processing methods destroy a significant portion of phytonutrients. Air drying destroys 55 percent phytochemicals and spray drying destroys 70 percent phytochemicals content of açai.
1. Retains original characteristics of the product, including:
- color
- form
- size
- taste
- texture
- nutrient
2. Cold storage not required
3. Reconstitutes to original state when placed in water
4. No waste
5. Shelf stable at room temperature
6. The weight of the freeze-dried products is reduced (70 to 90 percent) with no change in volume
7. The product is light weight and easy to handle
8. Saves on shipping; shipping costs are reduced because of weight and lack of refrigeration
9. Low water activity virtually eliminates microbiological concerns
10. Offers highest quality in a dry product compared to other drying methods
MonaVie has tested freeze dried Açai powder nine months after its production date and the nutrient levels were still at the same levels they were at when the freeze dried powder was tested after production.
Freeze drying process:
Once picked from the vine, enzymatic degradation deteriorates many valuable nutrients from the berry. The harvested berries are processed within 48 hours to preserve their nutritional content. The Açai fruit is then processed into a pulp containing 14 percent solids. The pulp solids are immediately frozen and placed on trays which enter a freeze drying chamber. This process has many benefits. By freeze drying the Açai fruit, the powerful antioxidants such as polyphenols are preserved.”
#3: it’s organic. mona vie is not.”
Direct from MonaVie’s Product Support:
“The acai used in MonaVie is wild crafted and comes directly from the forest, therefore organic certification would be unnecessary. MonaVie is not certified organic. However, to ensure safety the finished MonaVie products are regularly tested for dozens of pesticides, insecticides, and herbicides by an independent, third-party analytical laboratory. Each test performed has repeatedly found the products to be free of any of these potentially harmful substances. This added step in MonaVie’s quality control process ensures our consumers are getting a safe, pure, and high-quality product.”
#4: it’s sustainable..aka they only buy from growers that keep a natural ratio of acai palms to other natives on their property. if they start planting all acai, Sambazon won’t buy from them anymore.
Direct from MonaVie Product Support:
“What ensures companies such as MonaVie to continue to harvest açai berries in the Amazon Rainforest?
Total consumption of the Açai fruit including what is consumed in Brazil is approximately 160,000 tons per year representing approximately 20 percent of the açai that is actually available for harvesting. The challenges are not in the amount available but in the effort that is involved in harvesting the berry. Açai grows wild and is harvested by climbing the açai palm tree and picking the fruit much like you would imagine picking coconuts from a palm tree.
Saving the Rainforest:
Thank you for your questions about MonaVie and its efforts to preserve the Brazilian Rainforest. MonaVie does all it can to promote and save the rainforest. Here are some astonishing facts about the Rainforest. Fourteen percent of the Earth’s land used to be covered in rainforest, today it is only a mere six percent.
In 2005 alone 10,088 square miles of the Amazon Rainforest were destroyed. Many of the pharmaceutical drugs used today were originally discovered in the Amazon Rainforest. Because of the abundance of plant life, this area of the world is called appropriately the “lungs of the planet.” We need to do all we can to preserve this section of land and prevent further destruction.
MonaVie has taken great efforts to help preserve this essential area of the world. The açai that MonaVie uses is not from a farm or plantation. It is from wild açai trees within the Amazon Rainforest. We do not buy from any type of farm. We choose to buy from the local Amazonians who literally climb the açai tree to the top and pick the berries.
Many of the locals that we buy from have used in the past the açai palm tree specifically for the hearts of palm. The hearts of palm is a section of the trunk popularly used in salads. When the hearts of palm is removed from the açai palm, the açai tree will inevitably die. We have chosen to use many of the same hearts of palm harvesters to now help harvest the açai berry. This helps decrease the production of hearts of palm and destruction of the rainforest.
We pay the harvesters substantially more to harvest the açai berry than they would otherwise to harvest the hearts of palm. Also, the education we have given to the harvesters of the hearts of palm has shown very beneficial results. Many of these harvesters have begun planting more açai trees when one has died. In this way we have contributed to the preservation of the rainforest and helped the economy in these regions.
In addition to this, when an açai tree dies naturally (they will live about 100 years), about five seedlings are replanted. The açai berry can be harvested within a few short years. In 2007 alone, we have already helped to preserve over 1,000 acres of the Amazon Rainforest.
Total consumption of the Açai fruit including what is consumed in Brazil is approximately 160,000 tons per year representing approximately 20 percent of the Açai that is actually available for harvesting. MonaVie is the largest consumer of açai in Brazil. The amount of açai in the rainforest is overwhelming, but we still feel it necessary to continue to preserve this abundant supply.
Does harvesting the açai berry destroy the Amazon Rainforest?
No. In fact, MonaVie is helping to preserve the Amazon Rainforest by harvesting the açai berry. Each week, poachers illegally chop down 5,000–10,000 palm trees to obtain and sell a 12-inch section of the palm known as the “palmito.” As a result, the entire tree dies. On the other hand, by harvesting the açai berry, the palm tree continues to thrive and the natives have an incentive to preserve the açai-bearing palm tree.”
#5: it’s fair-trade. mona vie is not. they pay the growers a higher than average pay for their acai as well as support many side ventures for others in the community.”
Direct from MonaVie’s product support:
“MonaVie seeks to conduct its business ethically and responsibly and expects its independent distributors to do the same. MonaVie has implemented the practices and policies for ethical conduct required by the US Direct Selling Association (http://dsa.org/ethics/) and the World Federation of Direct Selling Associations (http://wfdsa.org/world_codes/index.cfm?fa=modelCodeLanguage). These ethical codes and MonaVie’s policies and practices are consistent with fair trade laws and regulations in all jurisdictions in which it operates.”
In terms of giving back to the local community, click here to read about The MORE Project, a project whose operational costs are funded 100% by MonaVie.
“#6: as you said, THE PRICE!!! $2.99 for FRESH, ORGANIC acai juice in most major retailer across the country. i live in southern california so i buy it from Albertsons and Vons. Easily accessible.”
- The price is not comparable when you look at it on a per serving basis. The nutrient claims for both products are based on a per serving basis, so to not compare the price on a per serving basis does not make sense. Click here to review the cost per serving from the original post. MonaVie Original’s retail per serving cost (keep in mind you can purchase it for even cheaper as a distributor for wholesale and even cheaper for bulk pricing) is around $1.56/serving, Sambazon is $2.30/serving.
- In terms of being easily accessible, MonaVie will show up at your front door step. I don’t think you can get any more accessible than that.
“#7: there is no water in sambazon. yes, some of the juices are blended with other fruit concentrates…just like mona vie, but once again, these are ORGANIC fruits that are healthy for you.”
Direct from Distributor Support:
“MonaVie fruits are purees and concentrates. This is shown on the ingredient label.
MonaVie Original Juice Ingredients: Proprietary blend of açai (freeze-dried powder and puree); Fruit juice from concentrate (white grape, apple, acerola, aronia, purple grape, cranberry, passion fruit, cupuaçu, prune, kiwi, blueberry, wolfberry [goji], pomegranate, lychee, camu camu); fruit purees (pear, banana, bilberry); natural flavor, citric acid, sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate.
Concentrating is a way to remove the water from a product for ease of shipping.”
In regards to the organic issue, here is more information direct from MonaVie’s Product Support:
“The acai used in MonaVie is wild crafted and comes directly from the forest, therefore organic certification would be unnecessary. MonaVie is not certified organic. However, to ensure safety the finished MonaVie products are regularly tested for dozens of pesticides, insecticides, and herbicides by an independent, third-party analytical laboratory. Each test performed has repeatedly found the products to be free of any of these potentially harmful substances. This added step in MonaVie’s quality control process ensures our consumers are getting a safe, pure, and high-quality product.”
#8: they use agave nectar as a sweetener which is much for your body than cane sugar used elsewhere.”
Direct from MonaVie Product Support:
“MonaVie doesn’t use sweeteners in Active, Original, Pulse, and Kosher. The corn syrup solids help emulsify the plant sterols in Pulse.
Corn syrup solids are very safe. They are used as a carrier in the emulsification process of plant sterols. By emulsifying the plant sterols, they are more easily dispersed into MonaVie Pulse and MonaVie Pulse Gel. This process guarantees you will receive the correct amount of plant sterols in each serving you consume.
Each serving of MonaVie Pulse contains about 200 mg or 0.2 grams of corn syrup solids, which equates to 0.2 grams of carbohydrates or less than 1 calorie. This is a very small amount. Corn syrup solids should not be confused with high fructose corn syrup, which is often added as one of the first ingredients in sodas and fruit drinks for sweetness and flavor.”
Also, as far as the sugar goes per serving in your comparison, look at the serving size. For Sambazon it’s the entire 10.5oz bottle, some of which contain 30 grams of sugar per serving and a serving is 8 ounces! So that’s over 30 grams of sugar in one bottle. MonaVie’s serving size is between 1 – 2 oz./serving depending on which drink you are drinking and the range in grams of sugar/serving is between 3 -7 so even a diabetic can, in most cases, safely drink MonaVie.
MonaVie’s serving size offers a comparable nutritional value in one to two ounces compared to Sambazon’s 8 ounces for a comparable nutritional value (i.e. ORAC units/serving).
“#9: and last but not least…i could go on for days, acai is EXTREMELY perishable, hence all of sambazon’s products, minus their suppliements need to be refrigerated or frozen and have about a 3mo. shelf life. think twice when you buy that bottle of 1-2yr old mona vie.”
I have to agree with you here, I too would not want to be drinking a one year old bottle of MonaVie or a 3 month or older bottle of Sambazon. This is the shelf life of the product however, it does not in any way imply that you will be drinking 3 month old Sambazon or 12 month old MonaVie, it is simply stating that after this period of time it is not recommended for consumption. So obviously the sooner you drink it the better.
To the writer of these comments: I just want the answers, like you, and I am tired of researching all over the internet listening to people pull facts of nowhere that have no references whatsoever. This is why I started this blog in the first place and why I refuse to post anything that came from a source other than MonaVie corporate or wikipedia.
I am responding to your comments in the form of a post so that we all can benefit from all of the hard work and time and research you and I have dedicated to learning more about these products. I have no problem with Sambazon, I like their products, although I do find their juices to be way too sweet for me. I feel that Sambazon and MonaVie are fairly comparable products for the most part, however Sambazon will never pay me to drink their product and MonaVie will. Sambazon will never give me the wholesale price as a regular consumer, MonaVie will. Sambazon will never allow me to get a bulk order discount as a retail consumer, MonaVie will.
April 14th, 2010 at 1:59 pm
You know Pearman, if the “company” is say, a shelter for battered spouses, then yeah, I’d say that it’d probably hurt its integrity to employ someone who beats his wife, especially if they knew ahead of time that he does it. But let’s move past hypothetical situations. Monavie had the man falsify his credentials so that they could pretend to have evidence that their fruit-juice cures cancer. That Monavie would hire a man with his history raises some interesting questions about Monavie’s own integrity, but that’s the smoking gun. Anyone who would sell his integrity like that is a worthless piece of filth. The guy is scum.
The fact that Monavie sells their product on lies should be enough in itself to raise an eyebrow, and the fact that they hired a scum-bucket and had him falsify his credentials in order to reinforce those lies should be enough to bury the company. It should certainly be enough to send you distributor filth packing, if not drive you to regain whatever integrity you once possessed by admitting that you work for a shady, fraudulent company. It doesn’t leave you a whole lot of wiggle room to argue, and yet you folks continue to insist that everything’s copacetic in Monavie-land even after having this shit shoved in your face. That only serves to damage your credibility even further, as does the fact that you invariably resort to insults when all else fails.
As far as Vogel’s credibility goes, he provides the sources for all his information. Those sources are all official, and the information he provides is right there for you folks to read if you’d bother, which of course you don’t. Most importantly, you folks lie about the healing benefits of your product all the time, and never, ever provide any sources to back up your claims. It takes a lot of balls for you to say that this is just a lot of “made up crap”, and “baseless Google searches that look cool…”, when you don’t even provide that much.
Even if it were true, which of course it isn’t, you’ve put yourself in very precarious position by making that accusation at all. If you want your posts to have even a modicum of credibility, then you have to adhere to your own standards from here on out. That means that you have to source your claims just like Vogel does, and that those sources have to be credible, like Vogel’s are. You don’t get to just rattle off a steaming load of marketing speak and leave it at that any longer. You need to put the same work into your posts that Vogel does his, otherwise you’ll have branded yourself a hypocrite, and you folks are already on shaky ground as it is.
As for whether or not anyone can really succeed selling this, wouldn’t the very real possibility that one could encounter an unsupportive up-line make becoming a distributor the very crap-shoot we’ve said it is? Wouldn’t the fact that there’s no oversight in place to keep a newbie from being undone by a lackadaisical asshole somewhere up the chain mean that he business-model is flawed? I don’t know why I’d bother to put in the hard work and effort if there’s no real assurance that it’s going to mean anything. Why wouldn’t I just get an honest nine-to-five job instead, where at least I’d be assured a paycheck every week for my efforts?
The rest of the crap you said is just so completely irrelevant as to be laughable. Does Vogel’s background matter? He’s not the one trying to sell something here. Does his religion matter? I don’t understand why you even brought that up. And you know, even if Vogel lived in his Grandmother’s basement, which is unlikely, it wouldn’t alter the fact that he possesses more integrity than the entire lot of you distributor scumbags do, even if we were to count you all as a single entity.
I can’t wait until Monavie is gone, and all you poor saps wake up to the lies you’ve been fed. I’ll try not to gloat when it happens…too much.
April 14th, 2010 at 4:41 pm
Pearman are F-ing serious with that cut and paste load of BS? Are you going to cut and paste the phone book next? Just make a succinct point and then post a link to back it up. It would take a week to rebut every single misstatement in you regurgitated post.
It’s quickly becoming obvious that your purpose here is to drown us with noise.
April 14th, 2010 at 7:17 pm
Pearman 7,
As Vogel stated it would probably take a week to refute everything, but I’ll give a quick run-down.
MonaVie went into a lot of details about it’s supplier of acai. That’s awesome, but how can we verify what is said without them disclosing that supplier? Also that says a lot about the supply of 1/19th of the fruits in MonaVie… but it doesn’t say anything about the other 18/19ths of the fruit that make make up MonaVie.
They made a big point of comparing servings of Sambazon vs. servings of MonaVie. That’s a false comparison as anyone who has read the original article here can tell. I’m just going slap a new serving-size label on my bottle of Sambazon that divides by 8 so that we are comparing two equal serving sizes (one ounce). Then you’ll see that 1-2 ounces (or servings) of Sambazon will have 4-8 grams of sugar and again just about as suitable for diabetics. Even better, you’ll see that the cost per serving goes from $1.56/serving for MonaVie to Sambazon is $0.29/serving. This is why we compare ounces to ounces to make things equal.
It seems like MonaVie is once again claiming to reconstitute juice with water (as it says that freeze-dried acai is reconstituted), but it is not adding water to its label.
There were a lot of words above about the process and benefits of freeze-dried acai. However, we (yet again) aren’t given information on how much freeze-dried acai is in MonaVie. In fact, because freeze-dried acai has such a high ORAC score and we know that MonaVie has such a low ORAC score (see Dr. Schauss’ studies), we know that there can’t be a lot of it in MonaVie. In fact we can mathematically prove that it’s less than 2.22% and is likely much lower.
When MonaVie says, “By freeze drying the Açai fruit, the powerful antioxidants such as polyphenols are preserved”, we have to ask what polyphenols were preserved. We know that there are very few in the final product MonaVie, so why is there focus on the small percentage of acai which is just one of the 19 fruits
in MonaVie?
It really doesn’t make any sense like much of the above stuff that Pearman mentioned.
May 24th, 2010 at 10:40 am
Hi All – Wow, a whole lot of confusion out there about acai.
Keeping it really simple, There’s about as much acai in a $40 bottle of Monavie as a $3 bottle of Sambazon acai juice- but with sambazon it’s USDA organic & fair trade – sambazon juices are kept refrigerated to protect the taste and nutrition- with Monavie there are artificial preservatives and a host of other non organic juice concentrates plus the need to enroll in a network marketing company… friends don’t let friends MLM : ) Sambazon has Pure, unsweetened frozen pulp if you want super potent, unsweetened acai too. All Sambazon products are available at Whole Foods and the juices are also available at most conventional supermarkets these days including some Walmarts, Costcos.