Oprah Sues MonaVie

Copy of a MonaVie document that pictures Oprah:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/19211322/Oprah-to-sue-MonaVie-for-stealing-her-image-and-false-endorsement

So are you claiming that MonaVie helps your headaches and menstral cramps? That would sound like a medical claim to me. You know MonaVie is just food and thus you can not legally attribute your lack of [medical issue X] to MonaVie.

You know why MonaVie does not claim to cure or prevent any illness? Because it legally can’t. However, they found a loophole in the system. They can pay distributors who will say it anonymously in forums like these for them. That way someone comes around with headaches or menstral cramps and says, “Oh, I should try that.” Ka-ching, more sales for MonaVie and people like Casey.

On the other hand, there are stories like this one: Interesting MonaVie Story. Note that the person just learned to eat better. It turns out that there’s no magic in the bottle, it’s just fruit, which can be bought a lot cheaper.

You know there is always someone to criticize everything. The simple fact is if you take or drink something and it helps you feel better than it works for you. If I eat doughnuts everyday and I feel like crap that might be from the doughnuts, or it might be from something else either way it is not a universal claim nor does it have any true influence over your choice to consume or not consume mona vie or a doughnut. Casey has no benifit from putting her personal story on this site, she can not in any way profit from it because if some one wanted to try it they would have no idea of how to get ahold of her. Every one has a story about there life, and you who criticize have yours as well. If it works for some and not for others than so be it, thats our story. Did you ever think that because it may not work for you does not meen it may not work for someone else? There is a critic for everything, everything, religion, govnt, animals rights, terrorists, ect. Time to move on and just let things be.

See actually I dont ignore anything. It IS entirly possible to feel better on a healthy drink, diet, pill, vitamin ect. and if it works or allows someone to have better benefits than others than how can anyone say it is a complete placebo? Thats simply untrue. There are many different pills for many different situations and many different vitamins for many differnt situations. See the thing is it IS possible for people to have better reactions to different situations and healthy or non healthy foods. I am sure I would have a much different health effects by eating French Fries than some one else. What evey single person who is instantly critisizing MV or any other health product is passing judgemnet on something that maybe didnt work for them or someone whom tried it and felt the same way. I personally have had some changes in different things related to me, that is the truth wether a critic chooses to accept it or not. I am a christen, people say there is no god, I choose to believe there is regardless of what others say. The final point I will make is plain and simple, every person has a choice on what they do with there lives, and what they consume. I personally feel MV is a great product that I choose to consume regardless of cost, color, effects for anyone else. If you personally dont believe it works than so be it, dont drink it, leave it be to the ones who choose to. If I feel better even if it is a plecebo affect the bottom line is I feel better and thats all that matters.
Your opinion and conversation has been polite and well stated, but its just that our own diffencemof opinions.

scott, I think your missing the point of this post…Oprah is suing Monavie!

Why?

Because monavie reps mislead people about Oprah endorsing Monavie.

Why would they do that?

Because the value of the juice product is no better than Grape Juice.

Go Oprah!!!

Scott, I know that different things can have different effects on different people. Let’s remember that MonaVie is just fruit. So if you have an “effect” from MonaVie, you would have it from eating fruit.

In fact, you’d have more effect from just eating an apple if you use the ORAC score that MonaVie touts.

It’s a poor argument compare belief in juice to belief in God. People would consider that a cult. It’s also a poor argument to compare something scientifically proven to do something (like a manual car) to something scientifically shown to do nothing: http://www.mensjournal.com/superjuices-on-trial

I was going with a different analogy on the world being flat and it seems bad editing squelched that (my bad).

I don’t think the government tests apples straight from the tree. So I think we can assume normal oxidation in the numbers at: http://www.juicescam.com/monavie-vs-an-apple/. The apple would have to lose 15-30 times it’s potency to be on par with MonaVie for the cost.

There are two problems with your BK/McDonalds analogy. One is that you are paying for the convenience of a restaurant. The other is that you $5 buys you meal. Because MonaVie doesn’t have significant calories (for a meal), you’d have to still go and spend your $5 at BK or McDonalds. So now you’ve spend $10 where you would have spent $5 before. Your cost of eating just doubled.

Of course you mean “alleged” billion dollar company, right?

I will go after companies that fit these two criteria:

1. Product is scientifically proven to not work (http://www.mensjournal.com/superjuices-on-trial).

2. Product is priced at ten to twenty times a competing product with no additional benefits.

The only other product I can think of that fits is Monster cables, which I don’t like either. I give Monster cables a pass because no body buys them thinking that they will cure cancer. Yet people do that with MonaVie because of distributors’ lies, distortion of the truth, and omission of the truth.

I don’t think it really comes down to beliefs, when it’s scientifically proven by independent labs in the Men’s Journal article. I suppose you can choose to not believe in electricity, but there it is.

I was never involved in MonaVie. An acquaintance told me about it. I thought $45 for juice was really, really expensive compared to the $3 100% juice I buy. I did research to try to figure out what an extra $42 buys me. The research only lead me to distributors making illegal medical claims and things like the Men’s Journal article that show it be a huge waste of money.

For $1500 a year, I want to be scientifically GUARANTEED that it’s going to make me much more healthier than a placebo (i.e. not healthier at all) and much more healthier than a vitamin would.

I’m confused what kind of “good results” people could even get from MonaVie. Everyone talks about vague “good results”, but no one really says what those are.

It’s been proven to have low nutritional value (compared to other juices like grape juice) in a lab. You are right that it hasn’t been proven to not have any effect on people. It would have be the one exception to all the foods in the world that tests poorly in a lab and comes out great in the body. Oh, except if it is a placebo…

I wasn’t a distributor when the person approached me – and yes he quoted $45 price. If you want to know more pricing details, I have written about how much MonaVie costs previously.

Well do you take crystal meth? I haven’t. Yet, I think I can be critcal of it. Of course BEN FRANKLIN (to borrow your quotes) may see things differently.

Scott, in comment #13 I explained why I’m against MonaVie. I could only find one other company (Monster Cables) that fit it. If you can find more, then just pretend they are the mine. Pick a car, any car you want, and make a case that it’s price 10-20x more than another car without delivering the consumer benefits. I’ll even start you out with a fresh place to comment on (http://www.juicescam.com/monavie-and-the-car-analogy/).

I think it’s hilarious that you called me close-minded. It’s why I wrote the article Being Open-Minded About MonaVie.

I’m not scorned, little, or unhappy, but thanks for assuming that I am. I’m also not negative, I just really don’t like to see people throw away a significant portion of their paycheck for unproven promises from biased salesmen. That’s called being a consumer advocate.

I’m happy to be wrong if someone can prove to me why I might be wrong. Give me some scientific evidence that MonaVie does anything more than $4 juice or a multivitamin. If you can not (and you haven’t thus far), then why shouldn’t I be telling people to save their money.

“You make your claims not really based on independent studies.”

How can you say that? Here are two examples: http://www.mensjournal.com/superjuices-on-trial
http://www.juicescam.com/monavie-vs-an-apple/

It doesn’t matter if it can be bought for $20 (which it can), it would still be about 10x as much as V8 Fusion Acia Berry (80 cents an ounce vs. 7 cents an ounce).

It’s a large part of the paycheck of the median household income (around $44,000 last I checked according to Wikipedia). For that average family of 4 it’s around $5000 a year – about 1/10% of the money they make each year.

I will give that MV has some nutritional value. I’ve always said it’s minimal. If I put .001mg of vitamin C in a pill and told you it would help you with X medical condition, any benefit you’d notice would be due to the placebo effect, not the vitamin C. To think otherwise is simply not rational.

The difference with the soda is that you don’t see Pepsi charging 10x the price of Coke. If Coke charged you $1.50-$2, would you pay $15-20 for the same amount of Pepsi? No you wouldn’t. So logically if MonaVie wants to change 10x more per ounce than other juices WITHOUT justifying the price, you wouldn’t buy that either. If you want to pay $20-$45 for MonaVie, I have some $15 Pepsi to sell you.

When you pay for a beer at a bar you are paying for the restaurant convenience. We covered this in comment #13 with McDonalds vs. Burger King. The bars around me all charge around $3-4 for a domestic draft. I’ll tell you right now, that no one is going pay the 10x amount of $30-$40 at a similar bar.

Hopefully you get the point which is that it’s the price comparison between two equivalent things. Please don’t bring up the price of coffee at Starbucks, hot dog at a baseball game, or popcorn at a movie theater. They are pretty standard pricing across the country despite the Starbucks, baseball game, or movie theater. Also, I can make all three at home for cheap. Since I’ll consume the MonaVie from my home, does that mean that MonaVie is going to sell it for a dollar like the other products?

I think it’s perfectly fine to make a profit – just price yourself near your competitors ($4 grape juice, blueberry juice, and V8 Fusion Acai Berry). I don’t like people selling Yugos equivalents for $50,000 and trying to justify as, “People like you feel selling a product for a profit is bad.”

Scott also said, “simply put if a person of sound mind makes a purchase of there own will and the sale produces some profit than it is not a bad thing.”

The problem is that it’s nearly impossible to find someone with a sound mind when it comes to MonaVie. Any research on the Internet has distributors making illegal medical claims. We also have MonaVie using ORAC scores as if it’s proven to help you in the body… and also as if you couldn’t get a high ORAC content from a number of other sources. It’s misleading statements like MonaVie saying that it delivers the anti-oxidant capacity of 13 common fruits, when it’s really worse than one common fruit – an apple. There are a pile more misrepresentations that are made that trick the consumer into thinking they are getting what they aren’t.

Scott said, “Simple put again, if you cant afford it, dont buy it. I cant afford a yacht so I will stick with my Nitro bass boat…”

What people can afford today might not be what they can afford tomorrow. Our nation has a ton of debt and unemployment is at an all-time high. Very few people are prepared for retirement, and many baby boomers lost a third of their nest egg last year. My point here is that you never know what can happen. You can lose your job, you can have your retirement cut in half.

You mentioned being in a business where you are selling a certain type of car. You should be the first person to realize that the industry is having a difficult time in our nation (assuming you are in the US). The gov’t had to take unprecedented measures to save the industry. If they can’t do it tomorrow, and you lose your job for an extended time (through no fault of your own), you may wish you had your money for your juice back.

“…but you only quote what you read or have read, you have done nothing on your own, so until you get your own lab results and spend your own time figureing things out on a true unbiassed scale you have no true ground to stand on.”

When I was in the fifth grade, I read a book that said that the earth was round and not flat. I also read a book about how electricity works. At the time I hadn’t been around the world, nor had I shrunk myself to the size of an electron to experience that.

I have the results from three tests all showing the same thing – poor nutrition for MonaVie. One of them is the Men’s Journal one. One is the done by MonaVie’s own advisor Dr. Schauss of AIMBR. The last one was one where a distributor challenged someone named Food Tech and both worked together to set up the situation so that it couldn’t be biased. I hope to be writing articles about these soon, but with so much to write on, I don’t know when I’ll get there.

I agree with you on the Cash for Clunkers thing. I didn’t think it was very well run. The point is that the gov’t thought the industry was in bad enough to spend billions to try to fix it. If someone works in that auto industry, they may be best served saving up money in case there isn’t a job tomorrow. If you work in another industry, remember that it could be the next auto one – with big layoffs around the corner. Just because you can afford juice now, it doesn’t mean you can afford it 9 months in the future.

I don’t know many people that spend $5000 a year for a family of four on theme parks.

Actually cigarettes, casinos, and lottery tickets are highly taxed and the money goes back to help many state programs. I’m not advocating people spend their money that way, but there’s a silver lining. Do we have numbers of what good MonaVie is doing for the community? I haven’t been able to track down how much money has been used in the More Project, but I do have concrete evidence that MonaVie is either lying or misusing the More Project funds (source: The MORE Project is Misusing Funds?)

It’s one thing to say that no one spends every last dollar wisely, but few families spend $5000 on a product that is seemingly equivalent to what $400 will buy.

Lat thing DR. Schouss has a dvd called the power of acia, last time I checked he didnt say MV’s levels were insufficient. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2mxWPpOMiw .

Hmm, Schauss didn’t mention a thing about how much acai is in MonaVie. He just said that it was shown to be good. Now if you look at research he’s been involved with (PDF), you will note that MonaVie had an ORAC score of 22.8 μmol/mL. That’s an ORAC score 684 an ounce (30ml/oz.). That leads us to one MonaVie lie of having a score of 5000 per four ounces (it’s less than half that). It also leads us to an apple having a better ORAC score than MonaVie. So it’s really irrelevent if Dr. Schauss shows acai to have an ORAC score of 17 trillion… we are talking about MonaVie here and his data shows MonaVie to be a poor source of ORAC. So feel free to take Dr. Schauss’ side and shout his claim that eating an apple is better than 4oz of MonaVie.

The thing about you buying a car when you were 16 is that you thought it provided value to you… i.e. it gives you the benefit of getting you to one place to another easily – when it works. MonaVie tries to give the benefit of making you healthier, but I’ve shown scientific evidence that it doesn’t do that any more than $4 juice. So if you could go back to being 16 and spend 1/10th the money on your car and found that it did more (maybe lasted longer before breaking down), would you still by the same car?

I enjoyed the Aspirin comment so much, I had to write a whole post in response: MonaVie vs. Aspirin/Tylenol. Thanks!

This information is getting reported back to the FCC and FDA. Those organizations are fairly slow to act on such things. They did act to shut down Dallin Larsen’s last juice company.

22Michele you are wrong! I tryed using Monavie for my son and he was really sick! IT did not nothing for him! I went to see a doctor now and he told me the MONAVIE IS BS! Please don’t waste your time on this!

I have been using Monavie Active for a couple of months now. I experience a marked increase in my “getting older” body. So to try to see if it was the Monavie, I quit drinking it for a couple of weeks and lo and behold, the aches came back. I started drinking the Active again, and once again the aches and pains decreased. I have made no other changes to my eating and drinking habits, so I have to believe it is the Monavie. Maybe it is a placebo effect, I can’t tell you for sure, but if I can get out of bed and walk without pain, it is worth almost any price. If it doesn’t work for you, then good luck finding something that does work. After years of trying I have finally found something that does work and I will continue to use Monavie as long as I get the benefits.

Perhaps I didn’t word that the best. I was experiencing aches and pains in my “getting older” body so that is WHY I started using Monavie. I have tried so many products including glucosomine tablets and I did not get the benefits that I am getting from Monavie. Perhaps you can explain why Monavie works but the glucosomine pills didn’t. I think that kind of shoots down the placebo effect, because if just taking “something” would make me feel better, why didn’t the pills do that.

Well, I am a distributor and I know millionaires because of their involvement with the company. So, as we say in the MonaVia world, “we do not need negative people”.

My husband and I are in MonaVie and are having great success. I am so dissappointed to see all the negative, horrible things written since our experience has been the exact opposite. We don’t lie to people or mislead them; we simply present the opportunity and let people decide for themselves if it is something they would like to do. If you expect success in this business, be prepared for a lot of hard work, persistence and determination (just as with any other serious business venture). Yes, you will need to spend money as well. Starting your own business is an investment with alot of up front expenses. Any other business will have start up costs as well; many times tens of thousands and up. So I think $2,000.00 is more than reasonable. As far as the tools costing more in bulk than if purchased seperatley, I would like to ask Orrin why this is the case and post at a later date. We have had talked with him on several occasions and he has come across as nothing but a wonderful, honest and sincere man who really wants to help his team. Maybe it was an honest mistake. It seems today, that when anyone reaches a very high level of success or makes huge amounts of money that they all of a sudden come under attack an they just must be doing something wrong. Maybe we should be happyfor people who are successful and strive to learn from them and improve ourselves instead of being jealous because we feel like we haven’t accomplished enough in our own lives compared to them.

I am a user and became a distributor to get the per bottle cost down to @ $30. I am like most of you, at $250/month for my wife and I, am want undisputable truth this stuff is all they claim it is being really just a user of the product……geting ready to give Monavie the boot……

I just want the facts, is it so good it’s worth $30/bottle of do we get better results form just grape, blueberry and acia juices. the onluy thing keeping me hanging on is the liquid glucosamine they add to tyhe sport version….begiinning to wonder about htat as well…waiting and paying due to the perceived benefits/energy

I am a bodybuilder who trains very hard with the weights and the Monavie active has helped with sore joints, ligaments and muscles. Did not get this from capsule glucosamine but the liquid glucosamine seems to work. Might be placebo, but I ate very well to begin with? Just want to know the truth and if I am throwing away $250/month. Men’s health journal article is leaning me against….just don’t want the symptoms back if I quit?

Casey et all, I believed in Monavie as well but after a couple of years I began to wonder about the benefits versus $28/bottle. i am drinking a blueberry/acai drink from Costco that has better ORAC levels as well as plain old grape juice which has the same? I have been off the Monavie and did increase my glucosamine to offset the same in the Active style, but other than that I don’t see a big dropoff anywhere. Training harder and heavier in the weightroom than before? I guess you can make an extra $400/month selling this, but as I realized, others are going to conclude that the price far outweighs the benefits. No slam on Monavie, but just the facts.

I would direct you to the front page for most of the answers to your questions.

I am not a pharmaceutical sales representative. I run websites for a living. The websites I run are on the topic of helping people. In this case, I want to save people from spending $5,000 a year for a family of four to drink some juice that has been repeatedly shown to have marginal health benefit.

The medication you are referring to, saves hundreds of millions of lives a year. Don’t think so? Give up your polio vaccine or penicillin. We haven’t had a huge plague in a number of years, but it would good to bring those back as well.

As you say buying fruits and vegetables from a store is more healthy. In fact, MonaVie product specialists say that fruits are better. Of course that makes sense since it has significant amounts of fiber unlike MonaVie.

Eating organic isn’t that expensive. By your logic you would have to eat organic anyway since MonaVie doesn’t replace eating fruits. So you are essentially spending the money on organic fruits AND expensive MonaVie. That’s doubly bad!

Nice way to end your post with the I’m not a distributor argument. So why are you wasting all your time?

lol… i find it very funny to read so many people giving positive comments on MV, its like MonavieScam vs Everyone on this page… lol… best one would be sarcastic remarks on ORAC values… i was quite sceptical about this product, but if so many are positives about it, there might be some truth to it… after all, its all in the mind.

anyways, i came to a conclusion that MonavieScam is taking/endorsing another product, but for some reason, it didn’t go too well… typical scammers really.. just like a lot of MV seller, you all are in it for the money… lol

I will say that after 2 months off Monavie, my joints starting stiffening during heavy weight training sessions…..taking again starting today to see if that gets alleviated….going to just 2 ounces a day instead of four to economize……will advise in a few weeks…..

“I’m not a MonaVie distributor but my son attended a meeting last night”. I had never heard of MonaVie until this morning when my son called to tell me about this great product and a very exciting business opportunity. He’s not a kid and I’ve been around the block more than a couple of times. I told him it sounded good but a lot like Amway, which we had both been involved with more than 20 years ago. I told him I would check it out. I found many web sites and blogs, including this one, which is the best I’ve found on this subject. He told me about the many health and wealth claims that were made at the meeting and quite a few celebrity endorsements. He said they were told the product was not approved by the FDA yet but that ongoing studies, including one with 1,000 cancer patients would guarantee approval shortly. By the way many of the cancer patients are reporting significant improvement. One reported endorsement was from Rachel Ray. I checked out the interview on YouTube with Lara Spencer, who I suspect is a distributor. If you can call tasting the juice and rolling you eyes an endorsement, I guess she did.
My conclusion is that MonaVie is just another MLM scheme, a lot like Amway (what a surprise). You WILL waste your time and money. You won’t get rich. But if you like the juice, I can get it for you for around $20.00 a bottle with free shipping. Just send a $50.00 dollar finders fee and….. Oh never mind, it’s on Ebay.

I’m not for or against any products just stating my opinion. Yes I do take the Mona Vie product and yes I do find it makes a difference for me, I have more energy, sleep better, thinking is more clear and I find it keeps you regular. But as I stated before what something does for one doesn’t mean it will do for another. I think that is what this site is for to state you opinion.
As for my statement on food and cancer, have a look around you do some research. All the hormones, pesticides everything exception of organic has some sort of chemicle in it. I things could change today and life went to the way it was years ago cancer would decrease, it’s the way we live everything made easy. I have lost 3 from cancer and another batteling it as we speak. I wouldn’t write if I didn’t know what I was talking about. I do alot of research on what is going on in the world today. On TV the other day they had a doctor on there saying if you are not buying organic these are the fruits to buy that could be safe from pesticides, anything with very thick skin. Anything with thin skin grapes, apples etc no matter how much you wash the chemicle is in the fruit strawberry is the worst. So they say blueberry is the best for you but you buy it wash it and still eat the chemicle, you figure it out. I don’t know if any of you out there have children or not. Take a look around you notice the build on girls, hormones in the meat. Don’t walk with your eyes closed. Keep an open mind. Look out for yourself no one else cares. Smile it makes you feel good.

I do not sell this to anyone and only am a “distributor” at a cost of $39 to get the cheaper per bottle rate, so i have no real stake in this other than are the benefits real. After 2 months off and joints stiffening, I started using half doses and fell better training and have improved digestion in one week? Might be psychosomatic but i doubt it…….it’s too expensive but the positive results appear to be real for me…..seems like the way to make this a real success would be to lower the cost so more will try and use, but I only care about my results at this time and they are attirbutable to it’s use

Elaine,
I’m glad MonaVie is helping you. I also think it’s wise to do as much research as you can. I assume that because of your concerns about chemicals and pesticides you have checked out MonaVie and the ingredients in their juice. Are all of the fruits grown organically? Does it bother you that sodium benzoate (used as a preservative in MonaVie) when combined with vitamin C, can form the chemical benzene, which is a carcinogenic. Also scientists have called for the US Food and Drug Administration to retest the potential dangers of sodium benzoate and citric acid in soft drinks and fruit juices, because the tests proving its safety are quite old.
As to your statement that “if life went to the way it was years ago cancer would decrease”, that might be true. I’m not sure. I do know that the average life expectancy in 1900 was 45 yrs. old, in 1945 (the year I was born) it was 65 yrs. old and today it’s about 78 yrs. old. I don’t know about you but I think I’ll stick with the current conditions. The statement you made “take a look around you notice the build on girls, hormones in the meat”. Well it’s not just girls, take a look around. Its boys, girls and adults. And it’s not hormones. It’s a sedentary lifestyle, poor diets, a lack of parental supervision and a sense of entitlement.
I don’t have a problem with MonaVie, if you like it drink it. I don’t care if you want to pay 10X what something is worth, do it. I don’t care if you want to do all of this work so a small percentage of con-artists can get rich, do it. What I do care about is a large number of bogus claims about health benefits and wealth that can not be substantiated. You are into research, type MonaVie into your search engine, over 3,500,000 results. I didn’t check them all but I’ll bet most are testimonials about the health benefits of their fruit juice. I think what you will also find, as I did. Is a tangled (with a capital T) web of lies, deceit and some mighty suspicious activity.
I agree with you about not walking with your eyes closed and to keep an open mind. I also think it’s a good idea to look out for yourself. I don’t agree that no one else cares, this site is a pretty good indication that’s not true.
I don’t know if MonaVie can cure all of or any of the world’s ills. And no one else does either. What I do know, according to MonaVie’s Income Disclosure Statement and Income Disclosure policy. YOU WON’T MAKE MONEY SELLING THEIR JUICE. Unless of course you are in the top 0.00823 percent of distributors.
I am smiling, thanks.

wish i could….I saw the $20/bottle comment and wished I could get it for that……i am not looking to make money, just for the honest truth about the products affects…..it seems to work for me by doing my little experiment? Many supplements start off that way and then your system saurates with them and the affects dwindle, but this seems different? It is MLM though and trying to contact those in the upper levels I was treated like a pariah when i aske questions about ingredients, whether it contained resveratrol etc. I am sure I have more education and experience than most of those previous Amway types working at Monavie and did not like their condescending, protective attitude which is why i won’t push thier product on anyone. it was like a non-Mormon trying to get in the Mormon tabernacle in Salt Lake City……i have tried and almost ended up in the SLC slammer instead of at SnowBird skiing whcihwe were there for…..not a big fan of anything Utah for that and now these reasons(except the great poweder skiing). When I spread the word about this product to family/friends, i give the a bottle to try

Tom,
The juice is all over Ebay, from $12.50 a bottle (if you buy 6 cases), on up. Most are from $17.50 – $21.75 a bottle with free shipping. They also have all of the other junk too. Hoodies, CD’s, t-shirts, socks. This is looking better all the time. I think I might become a distributor.

Elaine,

Choose to buy organic or not… that’s your choice. Not all fruit has hormones or pesticides. Keep in mind that MonaVie is NOT certified organic… so it can have all the hormones and pesticides that you fear. Yes, MonaVie may say one thing, but I’d much rather have independent certification than taking someone’s word for it.

Also if you are a distributor (I don’t know if you are or not), you must disclose that when posting here according to the the FTC and MonaVie’s guidelines. You also can not state that you find it has anything to do with your increased energy (unless you are talking about eMV), that it helps you sleep better, think more clearly, or keep you regular (there’s very little fiber in MonaVie).

Tom, I doubt that it can be anything but psychosomatic since no one can find anything in it that might be helpful to your bodybuilding routine, except for maybe glucosamine, which you can get elsewhere.

Mike from San Antonio said it all there. We do live longer than we did 100 years ago. I attribute that to improvements in medicine (so long polio, etc.) He’s write about the “It’s a sedentary lifestyle, poor diets, a lack of parental supervision and a sense of entitlement” making people more overweight. MonaVie isn’t going to going to change any of these. It’s not like MonaVie counteracts 2 double quarter pounders from McDonalds.

Unlike Mike from San Antonio, I do get sad when people pay 10-20x more than something is worth because they are uninformed. I want them to be informed which why I created this site.

As far as keeping an open-mind about MonaVie, that’s what we are doing here. We are looking for scientific reasons for whatever benefits that anyone claims to have received and we keep finding none. If you watch this video on what being open-minded is you’ll find that by bringing up these questions we are open-minded. The ones that say, “It just helps me sleep better” or “gives me more energy” are the closed-minded ones, because they aren’t asking “How would it possibly do that as it’s no different than if I just eat regular fruit.”

That’s a good point Mike. In fact, I thought it was good enough to expand a bit into it’s own post. Next time someone brings up the chemicals in other fruit, it will be easy to remind them that MonaVie is guaranteed to be any better.

If I’m going to spend that kind of money, I’d want that guarantee.

Well as you pointed out, Elaine seemed to think that MonaVie was somehow better than fruit bought in stores. The available facts do not seem to back this up. I want to make that point clear in case she has been lied to or didn’t have the facts on that particular point (as it seems).

You may wish to look at my other site that is the source for much of this information. The 3600+ comments is of particular note.

It takes some time to get through (as you can imagine) and there’s a lot of noise in with the signal, but the amount of information there is greater than here. This is why I’m starting to move the information here in a more organized fashion.

The hope was that most people would stick to the topic (i.e. discuss Oprah in the Oprah article), but I didn’t create a general discussion which was my oversight.

I’ve read most of the post here and was happy to see that many are positive. I too have had a positive experience after ingesting only two bottles of the ACTIVE. I know that it wasn’t just a placebo effect because my body(knees) was able to do things which I was unable to do prior.
One cannot receive the benefits that Mona Vie offers by eating a piece of fruit. You would need to eat multiple servings a day to gain such benefits.

So,Yes, you’re paying more for this product. Yet, the benefits are more and easily accessible to the hard working Americans in today’s busy society.
I believe it’s all in one’s priorities as to where their money is spent.
Some examples of money being wasted; expensive cellphones, three-wheelers, flat screen TVs, some cheap beverages and foodstuffs. (which can cause diseases to setup the digestive system for failure) I choose to spend my money first on that which will enhance my health. So,therefore cost isn’t a question. Everything else is immaterial.

NewStart,

What was the positive experience you had after ingesting two bottles of MonaVie Active? Are you sure there was no placebo
effect? According to Merriam-Webster, pla•ce•bo: an inert medication (like a fruit juice with no proven benefits) used for its psychological effect or for purposes of comparison in an experiment.

As for money being wasted, if we take your comparison and we assume that a family of four will spend approx. $5000 per year
On MonaVie.
Money being wasted:
*Expensive cell phone, around $600 or buy one from Porsche for $1600.
*You can’t buy three wheelers anymore so we will settle for a four wheeler, around $1800.
*Flat screen TV, a good one (54”) for around $1400.

With these products we know exactly what we will get. The ability to make phone calls, receive and send text messages, take
pictures, take a ride in the woods, watch a good movie or program. And still have $200 – $1200 to buy “some cheap beverages
and foodstuffs”, like Orange juice, V8 Fusion, fruits, vegetables and whole grain products, with proven health benefits. You may
consider this “money being wasted” and it may be, but I know what I will receive when I spend the money. I respect your choice
to spend your “money first on that which will enhance my health” and if cost really isn’t a question. Join a good health club, take
some Yoga classes, buy some good food and quit pissing your money away on some fruit juice with no proven health benefits.
MonaVie (the company) tells you, there are no proven health benefits and you won’t make money selling their product.
LISTEN TO THEM!!!

Because you posted to this site, I’m adding the comment from Oprah’s website.

“On August 19, 2009, Harpo, Inc., producers of The Oprah Winfrey Show and The Dr. Oz Show , along with Dr. Mehmet Oz, filed a trademark infringement complaint against 40 Internet marketers of dietary supplements, including acai berry products among others. Neither Ms. Winfrey nor Dr. Oz has ever sponsored or endorsed any acai berry, resveratrol, colon cleanse or dietary supplement product.

Harpo, Inc. has filed this lawsuit to let consumers know that these internet marketers are willfully using the names of well-known figures to deceive the public. Neither Ms. Winfrey nor Dr. Oz has ever sponsored or endorsed any acai, resveratrol or dietary supplement product and cannot vouch for their safety or effectiveness. It is our intention to put an end to these companies’ false claims and increasingly deceptive practices.

“The companies that are using my name to hawk these products are duping the public. I do not endorse any of these products. By falsely presenting products as ‘scientifically proven’ and endorsed by well-known figures, these companies do a gross disservice to the public health and could even pose a danger to those who believe their false and unproven claims. I am taking this step in the interest of public safety. I feel compelled to stand up against these companies and their deceitful practices.” -Dr. Mehmet Oz”

so, Maria, you never tried it so you really don’t know do you?

Yes i tried it. But I try eat a pretty well-rounded diet, take a multi-vitamin ever once in a while and exercise. I did not feel it did anything for me. I am from the Caribbean and grew up with 3 orange tree, 3 mango trees, a coconut tree, guava tree, avocado tree, cheery tree, pomerac tree, lime tree, passion fruit vine and a veggie plot my mom let me keep. I am 45 this year, prior US marine and live on 13 acres and still have a veggie plot. Any improvement in my well-being is due to my lifestyle. My husband is overweight and does not exercise as he should and prefers not to eat his veggies. I am sure that his drinking that stuff provided some improvement in his diet and he lorded the number of fruits and veggies he was intaking in his little shot glass there. But no one will ever make me believe that what’s in that $45 bottle is better than any fresh fruit or vegetable, a bit or exercise and a well-rounded diet. It’s an expensive mind melt

Maria, I agree with you 100% MonaVie doesn’t come close to fresh fruits and vegetables. A single apple has an ORAC value 2.4 times higher than that of 4 ounces (days serving) of MonaVie.

One apple contains 520 mg. of polyphenols compared to MonaVie’s 175 mg. for 4 oz.

Tom, remember that the “trying MonaVie” is not a legit argument. Any “results” could be due to the placebo effect. That’s why we require scientific evidence to show that it is actually helping us.

There are a lot of things in this world that may make people “feel good” that aren’t actually helpful to them or their bodies.

Also Tom, I noticed you used the word “dosage” in conjunction with MonaVie. It’s not a big wonder why you feel like you “need” it, when you openly equate it to medicine by using such terms. This is another case where MonaVie uses that placebo effect to it’s fullest. It’s even got you thinking in medicine terms and not juice terms.

I hear you and you sound convinced but for me i do believe that our perception is maleable and that is what products like these count on. If it works for you and you don’t mind parting with your money what do i really care. I just don’t believe it and did not and do not think it does what some say it does. AND if it did I think there are better, more efficient, healthier and proven means to better health. It will always be unproven snake oil to me.

Also, Tom, if there were something to it, why hasn’t MonaVie conducted any simple double-blind studies to document the claims. Imagine the money that they would make if even a small fraction of the claims turned out to be true.

However, I haven’t seen any trials even being considered. Don’t you find that a little strange?

while I certainly am no proponent of Monavie, I do like what it makes me feel like. that said, i do think the way they do business is weird, but then again all of Salt lake City is weird. They march around the mormon tabernacle all night long etc., but love to ski there…powder hound! i only became a distributor to get the cheaper rate….I see lots of naysayers and yet their sales increase regularly? i do not agree that the feeling i get, placebno or not can be garnered from other fruit juices. I would quit if i felt it was a total scam, but I do feel energy, better digestion, better mobility and mental acuity from it…..many have turned them in to governmtne agencies but they rise unscathed……CAN WE NOT HANDLE THE TRUTH? :~)

Wow, just imagine how bankrupt Maria could be like the ex-TEAMer in these comments: http://www.juicescam.com/orrin-woodward-and-teams-trunks-of-tools/#comments (requires scrolling).

Once again, the MonaVie product can not be “taken.” That is a term used for medicine which MonaVie is not. You don’t “take” it any more than you would “take” a can of soda.

What amazes me is the fact that people think MonaVie is in the juice business. That makes about as much sense as saying McDonalds is in the food business. McDonalds is in the real estate business. The more stores, the more profit. MonaVie is in the multilevel marketing business. The more “distributors”, the more profit.
If they had a product with actual benefits (proven benefits), there would be no discussion here or anywhere else. Eventually people will come to grips with the fact that it has nothing to do with juice and everything to do with MLM. Then we can decide whether or not MonaVie has a good business model. According to MonaVie, they do not. The juice has no proven benefits and as a distributor you will make no money, unless you are in the top 1% of the pyramid.
THERE ARE NO BENEFITS, MONITARY OR HEALTH. IT’S A SCAM, WISE UP.

Well McDonalds still has to deliver good value to consumers. That’s clearly (from all the evidence on this site) something that MonaVie doesn’t have to do.

so its a successful ripoff.

Successful by Webster’s definition, “favorable or desired outcome”. For less than 1% of all the people involved in MonaVie, I guess it is..

I will direct this towards all of the Mona Vie consumers, and distributors. I posted many comments, and personal feelings towards the product on here. I also tried to stay neutral with comments and ideas, allowing discussion on both parts pro and con. Every one who [posts anything positive on here will begin the onslought of name calling, ridicule, among other things as well. You opinion be it a possitive one based on health results, income, or other will be disputed and attacked repeatedly until you finally just quit reading the stuff. There is no median here, and regardless of your opinions or views save them for the people to whom you chose to share this with face to face. It is a simple waste of time to post anything on a site like this. There are to many people who have NO credentials to thier name, I can say I am anything and with no published pappers, work, reports showing one way or the other than what I say I am should have no basis on any thought posted in response. As a consumer, and a distributor who is not in the top 1% or even close to that, I will say I am about 3 levels down on the income scale, which is enough to get me some ectra money and my product paid for. I enjoy the product, I drink it, I share it, and well you know the rest. For people to say this is a pyramid…the answer is simple..to an extent yes. The company makes a PROFIT from sales of its product, what a novel idea right? and we make a profit from OUR sales, again what a novel idea. So I wonder if any business in this great country earns a profit from sales or if this country was based as a whole a non profit? I also wonder why the owner of my company makes more than me while working much less, or my manager, and GM both will always earn more than me regardless of how much I see ( car guy ) since they make thier money off my sales? A simple point to consider as well, I wonder if the people with all this knowledge on this product also have expert opinions posted on well say, mangostien, celsius, or any other networking beverage company. As a networker I also wonder if amway, avon and any other companies like this are a non profing company?
Guys like tom in cali, or any others posing an arguement, save your time, spend it where it helps, NOT here, or with these guys. What they have to offer is not what you want anyway.

This is the way I see it, people take the juice because they like it, people get involved witht the team because they see something down the road. People who down the product probably never tried it or are to scared. People who got involved with the team and then gave up never tried, yes it is a paramid but your team helps you, you help each other.
Maria my figure was right $1500.00 a week but this is a person who sees the end of the road and is going for it. If you sit back hoping to make money and don’t do anything you won’t go anywhere.

touche’ Scott……just trying to have intelligent dialogue with an open mind to learn, but this is like dem’s versus republican’s……lot’s of tough talk without any gray material….

@ Scott, your car selling analogy doesn’t fly. My husband has 25+ years in the car industry, in every department, except owner. While on the floor selling, he often had many months when he made more than the sales manager or the GM. This is how a true commissions based job can work. Of course he never “made” more than the owner. The owner is 100% vested. The owner has sacrificed in ways you’ll never know or understand just to have a business where you can earn a living.

@Tom, Long Beach, your comment #99 was completely out of line and unnecessary. And yet, the anti-monavites are branded as the name callers? Perhaps the “gray material” you are missing is the “grey matter” the rest of us are using to discern that no one has yet been able to validate that MonaVie juice is worth up to $45.00 a bottle, when more nutritious juice, according to the label and MoaVie’s own studies, can be had for 1/10 the price or less.

Tom,
I might have spoken to soon about civil and respectful. It might be nice to meet in person. I’m not sure about the rear comment.

Scott,
The lemming quote was not mine.

Tom, Long Beach, California Says:
February 23rd, 2010 at 2:39 pm
wow, i hear all the experts, but the sales keep increasing year by year……but that’s just because we are all lemmings….

Scott asked:

“can the detail guys make more than him? how about the sevice advisers ( not manager ) lot guys, office personell, the answer is NO, they will never have a chance to out earn him in any given year unless they move to a different department, to which any college degree will not get them there. Also ask him if the finance manager, sales manager, gm, or owner had any prior experience in the field befor getting his/hers position.”

Answer: It is unlikely that the detail (PDI) person can make more than a manager. PDI is an unskilled hourly wage position. They also work substantially less hours than management, with massively less responsibility. Same goes for “lot guys”, although we prefer to treat them with a bit more respect by referring to them as pre-delivery and inspection personnel.

In this economy? Absolutely the mechanics and/or service writers could make more money than the people in the sales department (and right now they are). Service must continue. Sales are often accomplished with the buyer’s discretionary income. For many people, that does not exist right now. Hence the need to save money and not blow it on ridiculously over priced faux-grape juice.

My husband is the sales manager. He does have a college degree, as well as ongoing training every year provided by the manufacturer he represents, and his experience comes from those 25+ years working in every department within the dealership.

Not sure what point you are trying to make by asking those questions…this is how a real commissions based job in the real world, not the smoke and mirror world of MLM, works.

As entertaining as it is, I will not reply further to questions that have nothing to do with MonaVie juice or MonaVie LLC.

OMG…..i am done……sue me

Ps mike
sorry I didnt realize you did not start the lemming thing.

I’m not a salesman. I’m a scientist. I’m not going to use as many words as the preceeding contributors. Just the facts, Ma’m.

FACT: MonaVie has an ORAC score and total polyphenol level lower than Welch’s Grape Juice (concord).

FACT: The low anthocyanin level indicates low levels of acai.

FACT: 9 ounces of MonaVie (two days serving) has an ORAC score and polyphenol level lower than ONE red delicious apple.

FACT: MonaVie is a little less than one USDA fruit serving, not 5-13.

FACT: There are zero clinical double-blind studies initiated by MonaVie to prove that it can treat and cure anything.

Now, talk to me as if I were a consumer, that’s never heard of your product. What selling points would you use to justify buying your product, instead of Welch’s Grape Juice?

Remember, you aren’t allowed to lie or use claims of treatment or cure.

I’m listening.

Scott,

When I referred you to the FTC guidelines and recommendations regarding Pyramid Schemes, you replied:

“As for the govn telling what is illegal and legal, I have more faith in, well I wont go there, since it is ok to be illegal and live in this country fully supported by those who earn an income.”

Which has nothing to do with MonaVie.

But think on this: in the heavily regulated automobile industry, how long do you think your employer would be able to remain open, providing you with income, if he/she picked and chose which federal regulation they wanted to comply with? Noncompliance simply because one disagrees with the regulation is not an option. The same applies to MonaVie and their distributor force. You cannot pick and choose which regulations to obey.

Well, I have been using the stuff for about 5 3/4 days now and find that it is everything I wanted and more. My hair is thicker than ever, and all the gray is gone! I have lost 37 pounds and am full of energy! It gives me such a boost, and seems to slow down time so that I have much more time in the day to get stuff done and still relax. I think I am three inches taller than I was on Saturday!!! The lumps on my back and moles on my chest have all but gone away completely. Had two teeth grow back and waiting for the third to break through. Not to mention that I no longer need Viagra! But this is just an isolated case I’m sure. Indivigual results may vary! :)

Lola,

My son has been a MonaVie distributor for about 4 months now. Unlike you, he did no research. He went to a couple of meetings and became very excited and motivated. He is still excited and he’s a great motivator. He has recruited several friends and family members. He approached me about the product and the company and I did some research. What I found out. The product is a non-organic juice blend with no proven health or curative benefits. It is very expensive (at $30 – $40 per bottle) and would probably give you about the same health benefits as a $3 bottle of grape juice. I did taste the juice and it was OK. I think it would be better mixed with a good Russian Vodka. MonaVie is a MLM company (pyramid scheme with a product). The one plus, the company does tell you that you have a better chance of being struck by a meteorite while picking up your lottery winnings than you do of making money selling MonaVie (check out their Income Disclosure Statement). I am curious to know what you found out through your research. Also what was the one thing that finally convinced you to sign up?
Good Luck

Lola,

You make a few very clear mistakes here.

1) You assume that I feel bitter about myself being scammed. I have not been scammed by MonaVie. I see others being scammed and I don’t like it. It’s like saying that Nancy Reagan was bitter because she was a victim of illegal drug abuse by teens and young adults. To the best of my knowledge, she just saw a problem and tried to make the world a better place.

2) When you say, “You are making sure that you let every one know why it didn’t work for you…”, you imply that MonaVie does “work.” It does not “work” any more than Hawaiian Punch or Hi-C fruit juice. In fact it does less “work” than either of those because it’s serving size is not enough to quench thirst – the primary purpose of a beverage.

3) Yes MonaVie is trying to “inspire and motivate” the rest of the world… to sell it’s product. Every other company is trying to do that with that with their salesmen and buyers of their product as well. MonaVie isn’t trying to “help the rest of the world” because their juice retails for $45… and nutritionally equivalent juice is my grocery store for about $3-4 (and I get nearly twice as much juice for that money).

I am trying to inspire, motivate, and help people by showing them to think critically about a product’s value and teaching them to spend their money wisely. I noticed that you didn’t mention anything about MonaVie actually having a quality product and pricing it competitively.

4) Lola said, “You’ve conviced me to sign up. Any force that would go through this much trouble to try to shut down a juice company tells me that they’re on the verge of something HUGE!!”

This is the most backwards use of “logic” ever. I have to put logic in quotes there because there isn’t any. I should create a site about the evils of cigarettes because “any force that would go through this much trouble to try to shut down a cigarette company tells me that they’re on the verge of something HUGE!!”

I think you get the picture. One’s effort to educate the world about how [X] is bad should not be reason to for one to do [X].

Why is it that unless you are extolling the greatness of this product you are either ‘bitter’ or some other negative connotation.

Lola, why wouldn’t Mona Vie spend time trying to inspire and motivate…they’re a business and everyone who chooses to be involved is doing so hoping to be successful either financially or physically.

I don’t believe in their product or their business plan…what’s wrong with voicing that? I didn’t understand you sense of ‘logic’ either. If you want to invest you should, but doing it based in any part on the ‘strength’ of others’ disagreements with the product and not soley on the products strengths and substance fails me.

I will simply add that the statement of “a couple of hundred bucks a month is very minimal” is very relative. That equates to $5000 a year for a family of four. If you do the math it’s more, but I’m going to assume that with the bulk discounts that’s a fair estimate. I know very few people would say that $5000 a year is “very minimal” – especially when we are talking after tax dollars. Are you telling me you wouldn’t want your boss to tell you that she’s/he’s giving you a $8000 raise ($5000 after tax)?

I say it’s a very relative statement because if your household income is $30K a year, it’s a large expense. If your household income is $500K a year, it’s a small expense.

I don’t want to go down the path of comparing taste and value… that’s like comparing fashion and value… it’s completely subjective. If that small amount (4 ounces a day) of taste is worth that huge price, I’m not going to be the one to tell not to do it. For me, I’d rather A) invest the money and retire earlier or B) donate to a charity where this money could change someone’s life.

No, No, No, I told you guys I did’nt proof read. Maybe my words got a little skewed. I did a one time purchase for a case of juice as a favor to a neighbor and friend. I am not going to purchase anymore. I like the flavor of the juice but no more then that of V8 Fusion which is what I generally buy for $4.00. Just for the record, I am ANTI Mona Vie. I don’t agree with the price and I DESPISE MLM’s! The point I was trying to get across is that IF you can afford it and it makes you and your family happy, who am I to say what you spend your money on. Sure, the money could be better spent on charity, but all money could be better spent on charity. I like expensive cloths and cars, sure I could drive a vehicle that costs 1/10th of what my car costs and I could still get around, but I spend a lot of time driving with my career and I choose to spend a chunk of change for my mode of transportaion because that is what I enjoy. I know a lot of people who spend $4.00 to $8.00 per day at Starbucks for thier coffee. I LOVE my coffee but I brew the cheap stuff at home for penny’s a day. My father lives in a small starter home that he built 35 years ago for $25k, yet he’s got a small yatch that costs 10 times that. Who spends 10 times more money on thier boat then thier house? Who spends more money on coffee then food? Who spends more money on Mona Vie then thier own childrens college fund? It does not matter! Life is short my friends, if you enjoy it and you can justify it, then by all means do it. If over priced juice does it for you then great, I would rather spend that extra $5k per year on my family. Spend your extra money how ever you want, just please, don’t ever believe that you will make even a penny of that money back in an MLM.

Leon, you are claiming (or at least implying) that Monavie lowered abnormal blood pressure and relieved a joint disorder. That IS a medical claim; if you are a Monavie distributor, then it is an ILLEGAL medical claim.

If there is any truth to the story you told (and we have no compelling reason to believe you), then the 23-lb weight loss would account for both the drop in BP and the relief of joint pain. Monavie is not an appetite-supressant and there is nothing in it (at least nothing mentioned on the label) that would account for appetite supression. You mistakenly attribute therapeutic benefits to Monavie when in fact it has none.

Hey Food Tech in CA is comments like that necessary. Wow, really nasty person you are.

Sorry, but I have little respect for an individual that attempts to sell fruit punch as a magic elixir. It’s not necessary to be nice.

listen everybody. it’s just juice. it’s not a cure for anything. I went to one of the meetings and found out the price and i almost had a heart attack. the guy who wanted to sign me up would not even give me specific details about the pay plan. he just wanted me to fork over some pretty serious cash. I know a couple who invested in this and lost and I haven’t heard from the other couple who brought me to the sales pitch meeting. If they were making $$ i’m sure I would have heard from them by now.just think about the serious lying u must do to convince people to pay $32 per bottle(per case)for something u can get much cheaper(for example:$10 sale at the Vitamin Shoppe for Acai,Mangosteen,Goji,etc…)

MonaVie apparently doesn’t use or process it’s own acai and other companies have access to the same acai. It also isn’t the top quality acai that it’s provider sells:

MonaVie Uses EarthFruit’s Mid-Grade Acai (and Doesn’t Harvest or Freeze-Dry Their Own)

Dan;could it be that 99.2% of the distributors do not make any money? is it also possible that all these claims of incredible health benefits are being posted by distributors who want to promote as much as possible in a desperate attempt to recoup their losses(yes Dan,read all of the posts)? i’m still waiting for the couple who brought me to the meeting to show me their huge checks that will allow them to quit their jobs.

And then there are people like Elaine who think that MonaVie can be “used” not realizing that you don’t “use” foods.

When you want to know if someone is going to be eating an apple, do you ask if that person if he/she is going to use it? No.

Sorry my error on the wording,drink not use.
You have to agree that some of the stuff you read is a bit overboard.
Wow you must have been in it to go bankrupt, that’s to bad. I don’t know I have read alot on here about people involved and it and it not working for them (money). I will say that I know people who are getting health benefits from the juice and making money, in a little over a year.

I’m with you MonaVie, My neighbors told me that “they were on MonaVie” and that “they were using MonaVie”. I’v been around addiction in my life, so the first thing I thought was. Are these people peddlin’ CrAcK? I even asked my wife if she noticed their verbiage after they left. I said “it’s juice not dope.” I’m glad I’m not the only one that experienced the dope dealer trying to sell me. Ha…

Actually, I’ve had friends of MonaVie distributors e-mail me about how they go bankrupt. It seems that distributors are encouraged to buy more product to “share.” If that sharing doesn’t lead to a sale it’s lost money. If you do a lot of sharing and people decide to not join, the losses can add up. When that happens, the upline (who want to keep you in MonaVie) typically recommends that you buy more tools… spending more money. Along with the tools, they’ll mention events which require hundreds of dollars in airfare and hundreds of dollars in conference fees. I can see how this leads to bankruptcy, especially if one loses focus on their primary source of income to spend their efforts on MonaVie. I’m not saying that they don’t have bigger problems, but MonaVie certainly isn’t helping.

Can you give us specific details on the growth of the company? I realize that Inc. Magazine said that it grew from 2005 to 2008 (or something like that – more specific details here), but the Income Disclose Statements from MonaVie aren’t showing growth. Google Trends is showing a strong decline in MonaVie since 2008.

There is no reason to believe that MonaVie helps more with inflammatory issues than simply eating a healthy diet. In fact there are reasons to think that it’s not as effective as an apple. It’s also quite possible that MonaVie is a placebo and any appearance of “helping” is just masking a condition delaying the person from getting proper treatment of it.

It’s even more difficult to get a positive message across about something when it is shown in every possible way to be a scam. I haven’t found a distributor yet who knows more about MonaVie than I do. That’s really, really sad considering that I am not (and never have been) a distributor.

Linda,

You will believe (without question) any anecdotal evidence from other distributors. But give no credence to statements made by real doctors and researchers. “You get more bang for the buck by just eating more fruits and vegetables.” (Dr. David Katz, associate clinical professor of public health and medicine at Yale University). The Amazing thing is that MonaVie distributors are fearless and will say anything. Here’s an online statement made by a MonaVie distributor. Who drinks MonaVie? “Oprah, Jonathan Papelbon, Sumner Redstone (owner of Viacom!), Rachel Ray, Bill Clinton, the Celtics, the Red Sox, the Patriots, and over a million others, who have been introduced to it in the past three years”. What lawsuit? If you are skeptical and do you research, you will have to come to the conclusion that it is a scam.

Maybe we should re-think this MonaVie thing. The Celtics have clinched the division championship this year. The Red Sox have been World Champions twice in the last six years. The Patriots won the AFC East last year. I think I’ll give Jerry Jones a call and see if I could interest Tony Romo in becoming a distributor.

Richard,

All I can say is that I personally did everything I was taught to do. No couch sitting for me. I would ask if you’re doing it all, how’s it panning out for you finacially? And yes, you must include the product that you buy as an expence. It’s money out of your pocket. If you are doing well, how about the rest of the people under you? There are people making money… but it’s only to the expence of a lot of other people draining their bank accounts. At least that’s my experiance. And the one’s doing well are like .01%. That’s the facts.

I don’t understand what you are trying to say in the last sentence. If you mean TEAM, we have people here with 300 people in downline, who was in TEAM’s profit-sharing program, go bankrupt. He didn’t make any money in 5 years of building the business. Sounds like a MonaVie and TEAM fail.

There goes the lingo again, a couple of times in the previous statement. You don’t take MonaVie. It is not a drug. Do you take apple or orange? This was the first thing that turned me away when I was getting the sales pitch. I was told that that I could take MonaVie or I could get on MonaVie, like it was some sort of a drug. IT IS JUICE!!! not dope…

I have to agree with Ex-Teamer, Elaine. It just sounded like you were saying TEAM a lot. Obviously Ex-TEAMer was in TEAM and it didn’t help him. He had 300 people under him and those members of TEAM are still not making money 5 years later. It seems like the TEAM has lost.

I’ll let Ex-TEAMer confirm, but I think it’s because he had to spend so much money on product to share, tools, conferences (airfare, hotel, meals out, conference fees), etc… that there was no profit left. You’d have to be Star 1000 to pay for the juice for your family of four and a few of these expenses… That would put you in the top 93% of MonaVie distributors who are fortunate enough to actually get people to sign up under them (not to mention the tens of thousands who aren’t that lucky) and still not making money after the fact.

As for the Diamond plan, here’s a quote from Serenity, one of my favorite movies, (and ironically very appropriate for MonaVie if you’ve the movie about a big organization’s cover-up):
“Well, what you plan and what takes place ain’t ever exactly been similar.”

Elaine,
You’re the best. You haven’t put two sentences together that make any sense, but you have everybody commenting. Ex-Teamer makes some pretty good points. I would love to see the facts you have about income and health benefits. My son has been in it for about five months now and he’s doing great. He has a bunch of people who need “just one more meeting” and their in. He’s been “taking” the juice like he’s supposed to and he has energy and doesn’t eat doughnuts anymore. You stated that MonaVie offers a “great compensation plan and safe harbor” (free from risk in a place of security). MonaVie says that they don’t.

Sorry, one more thing…I believe a lot of network marketing starts in UTAH. Like IDN, NuSkin (Pharminex) just to name a few. And isn’t UTAH one of the largest religious areas in the USA? Is this how the church brings in money?

Hi Coolio. You make a good point about these scammy MLMs being in Utah and embedded in the LDS community. The LDS leaders need to step up and condemn it or they will be at risk of being tarred by the same brush. They are taking a 10% tithe from these criminals…blood money!

They need to learn from the Pope’s example this week. Ignoring problems or trying to cover them up will only come back to bite them on the ass.

I agree. Scams like this survive because of the greed, desperation, and ignorance of all participants. We can’t do much here to combat greed, or desperation, but at least we can provide an education.

I’m lucky because I live in a place that has farmer’s markets featuring fresh locally grown produce, and great supermarkets that also have very good fruit and vegetables. But availability isn’t the only issue; many people just aren’t educated enough or committed enough to eat properly.

In response to ex-teamer I believe what you are saying about the costs involved. Ofcourse it costs money to invest in your business. Do you think you could open any traditional business without having some costs? LOL.

Opening a traditional biz has permit costs, construction costs, equipment costs, building code requirements, leases, inventory, etc. I mean why is that people are ok with that but when it comes to paying $40 for a website or $25 for a seminar or $400 for some products to share it is a crime.

I mean listen, when you get into an MLM you need to treat it like a real business. Most of you get in and treat it like a hobby or a get rich quick scheme. It takes alot of hard work, persistence, continued education and training and yes some investment to become a success in network marketing.

I can tell you this being a traditional brick and mortor business owner. You tell me someplace that you can start a business for $500 or less and get paid as much or more than people who invest $250,000 to open the doors of their traditional biz? You can’t.

You know maybe Monavie wasn’t for you. I know I looked at it and passed but I can tell you that MLM is no scam. Look at your TV commercials now. Heck Amway and Avon commercials run all the time. Are they a scam? Quit blaming the industry or company for your failure! As I mentioned earlier maybe it just wasn’t your cup of tea.

Sandra,
I haven’t found that the sole purpose of this sight is to bash MonaVie. And I think you will find that A LOT of people have done a tremendous amount of research. The one thing you did in both of your posts was to ccompare MLM businesses to traditional brick and mortar stores. They are NOT traditional businesses and I won’t waste your time explaining the differences except for this. When was the last time you were in a “traditional” store where the emphasis was on recruitment of lower-tiered salespeople over actual sales, encouraging if not requiring salespeople to purchase and use the company’s products, potential exploitation of personal relationships which are used as new sales and recruiting targets, complex and sometimes exaggerated compensation schemes, and cult-like techniques which some groups use to enhance their members enthusiasm and devotion? Is this the emphasis in your store? Most (not all) MLMs are nothing more than a product based pyramid scheme. You state “that 98% of traditional businesses fail within their first 2 years”. How depressing, if it was true. The facts, according to the SBA and U.S. Census Bureau data. Approximately 67% of new business start ups survive the first 2 years and about 50% make it to 4 years. Only about 30%-35% ever become truly profitable. You’re right, to be successful it’s about Attitude, Sacrifice, Risk and Planning. But to say that people fail in the MLM industry because “you didn’t work very hard at it or you just weren’t very good at it”, is naive on you part.
The FTC warns “Not all multilevel marketing plans are legitimate. Some are pyramid schemes. It’s best not to get involved in plans where the money you make is based primarily on the number of distributors you recruit and your sales to them, rather than on your sales to people outside the plan who intend to use the products and states that research is your best tool and gives eight steps to follow:
• 1) Find — and study — the company’s track record.
• 2) Learn about the product
• 3) Ask questions
• 4) Understand any restrictions
• 5) Talk to other distributors (beware shills)
• 6) Consider using a friend or adviser as a neutral sounding board or for a gut check.
• 7) Take your time.
• 8) Think about whether this plan suits your talents and goals
As far as Amway / Quixtar.
According to Quixtar’s own disclosure document the average monthly gross income for an “active” IBO is $115 (or $1,380 annually).
In the Amway business, only 41% meet the criteria as being “active.” This also means that 59% of all distributors are NOT active. This is a company with a business where over half of all the people aren’t doing anything to increase their business?
Out of ALL distributors, only 0.82% qualifies as a Direct-level distributor. This means that 99.18% of all distributors do not qualify as a Direct-level distributor. This is a company where 99.18% are unsuccessful.
If you are earning 70$ per month you are in the top 11% of earners at Amway & Quixtar Is it a scam?
You mention TV commercials prove that Amway and Avon are not scams. Well then, you can lose weight without dieting or exercise. You can cure illness and suck the toxins out of your body with pads on your feet. You can “Flip and Grow Rich”. You can get money from any number of sources with no effort on your part. Just buy the book. COMEON!! The irony for Avon distributors is that their businesses will suffer because of the commercials.

Sandra, did I miss something? WTF does your rambling post have to do with the topic at hand (Oprah suing Monavie). Rather than making a relevant on-topic comment, you use this opportunity to cut and paste drivel from “How to Weakly Defend MLM 101″.

Oprah thinks Monavie is a scam; so do most people. They’re all right too. We’ve all seen the evidence. Wake up!

First of all I own a brick and mortar store now. I know the facts and the costs involved in running a traditional business. I am in the restaurant business. If you know anyone in that biz ask them about it. I can guarantee you that most of them are absolutely married to it. 60,70, 80 HOURS A WEEK. They also must have literally hundreds of thousands of dollars invested. Don’t tell me about something I live everyday.

I mentioned that I am not in Monavie and don’t claim to know much about the product or content. Their business model wasn’t for me. I feel that their product is too expensive and most of you feel it is snake oil. Whatever.

My problem comes from some of your ignorance on network marketing. I can’t stand the word pyramid. What a weak word to throw out there. Where do some of you people get your information that only the people on top make money. That is ridiculous. One of the beauties of network marketing is doesn’t matter where you are you can always make more money than the people above you.

I told you over 15 years I have had mixed results with the companies I have been with. I can tell you that in the 2 I did very well in I made way more money than the people above me and I am not just talking about the people who brought me in. I am talking several levels above.

If you think about traditional companies or corporations tell me if anyone in those businesses make more money than the CEO Does? Does a VP in a corporation make more than the CEO? No. And why not? Because the CEO is on top of that so called pyramid. In network marketing I can get in years after someone else does and make far more money than they ever will. Not going to do that in other business models.

Not going to get into the God vs. science thing with you Coolio. I can tell you that if you want to get into an argument that never ends mention religion or politics and it is on the donkey kong. So I choose not to go there. I think your company is a very good one and it has been around a long time. But know this, I do my research on the things that I talk about. My beef with most of you is your knock on MLM and how it works. I would never get into an MLM if I didn’t 100% believe in the product or the service it marketed.

The thing is I am not disagreeing on your knowledge of their product. One of the reasons I ended up here is because I was researching the company for a friend that is thinking about getting into it. Nothing more and nothing less.

But when I hear how someone went bankrupt because of network marketing or that it is a cult it bothers me because I have had success in it and I have met many wonderful people over the years in it. Network marketing is no different than anything else in life. If you want to be successful at it you have to invest your time and effort in it. Stop treating it like a hobby because it will pay you like a hobby does.

I have never been in a vitamin or juice company and one of the reasons why is because it seems like there are about a thousand of them out there. I believe there is too much competition out there for my liking. Seems like there is a new juice that comes out every day. How does one know which is best. Mind boggling.

One last thing. I do agree with some of you that unfortunately there are alot of network marketing companies out there that are not very integral. That is too bad. But that shouldn’t mean that all MLM companies are bad.

Sandra,

First things first, relax. You seem very up-tight. We are just discussing a business proposition. I have been in the food and beverage business and I know several people who are in it and are very successful. It is very time consuming and takes a lot of commitment (like any business). And no, you don’t have to have “literally hundreds of thousands of dollars invested” to be successful. You do have to commit and be willing to work. My question is. What in the hell does that have to do with MLM? Again you compare “traditional” businesses with MLMs, you can’t. The CEO makes more money than the janitor, that’s a fact of life. I doubt that any down line member makes more money than their up line. It’s possible but I don’t believe you. I can’t understand why you have a problem with the word pyramid. All MLM businesses are basically pyramids. The difference is, some are scams and some are not.

Relax and enjoy this site.

Sandra,

While on the topic of pyramids and MLM’s… here was Oregon’s Government has to say (note the domain there):

“Recently, I have had several people speak to me about employee involvement, including the recruitment of colleagues, into pyramid-like operations. In addition, the Department of Justice, the Ethics Commission and the Governor’s Office have heard that OYA employees are involved with pyramid-like operations such as Quixtar (aka Quickstar), Monavie, Amway and other “multi-level marketing” companies. Making contact with others in the workplace about these businesses or using workplace relationships to advance these businesses is using your role as a public official for personal gain. This is a conflict of interest and cannot and will not be tolerated.”

So there you go, “pyramid-like” mentioned twice in conjunction with “multi-level marketing.” You can’t separate pyramids from MLMs.

Sandra, quit bullshitting us and please do us all a favor and don’t post any more here…you are a conflicting, contradicting person and you’re wasting our time, you bore me. Have a nice day. C

Tommy, Camden, NJ is the corporate headquarters of the Campbell Soup company. V-8 is not made in an office building. V-8, as are most large scale juice operations, is produced at various locations around the country. Coca-Cola is headquartered in Atlanta, but there are bottlers in every major U.S. city.

As for the amount of fruit in MonaVie, according to the USDA, 4 oz. of fruit juice is equal to 2/3 of one serving of fruit.

At around $5.00 a day, it won’t make anyone’s top ten list of bargains.

Whether you love the business or not is a moot point. MonaVie is nothing more than a chemically-preserved fruit punch. No outstanding health benefits. No magic elixir. Nothing. End of story.

Tommy,

You missed the point about the Oregon gov’t… they called it “pyramid-like” twice. How can that be interpreted in any other way as the Oregon gov’t believing it to be pyramid-like? That’s the point and it’s very meaningful that governments are essentially labeling it a pyramid-scheme.

You ask what a pyramid scheme is? Let’s look at what Wikipedia has to say:

“A pyramid scheme is a non-sustainable business model that involves the exchange of money primarily for enrolling other people into the scheme, without any product or service being delivered. Pyramid schemes are a form of fraud.”

Now before we get in a huff that MonaVie doesn’t count because a product is delivered let’s go on to the next part which is quite important:

The network marketing or multi-level marketing business has become associated with pyramid schemes as “Some schemes may purport to sell a product, but they often simply use the product to hide their pyramid structure.” and the fact while some people call MLMs in general “pyramid selling” others use the term to denote an illegal pyramid scheme masquerading as an MLM.

The FTC warns “Not all multilevel marketing plans are legitimate. Some are pyramid schemes. It’s best not to get involved in plans where the money you make is based primarily on the number of distributors you recruit and your sales to them, rather than on your sales to people outside the plan who intend to use the products.”

Tommy, you are quite humorous. You say that the “juice is pricey”, and may not “compare with other products to be better”, but since there’s a slim opportunity to drink the juice for free it sounds pretty good to you. It’s worth noting that drinking the juice “for free” entails many, many hours of work (over a month of full-time 8 hours days) according to MonaVie’s Income Disclosure Statement. Lastly you say that it offers a way to drink fruit everyday…. but as FoodTech shows it really isn’t a lot of fruit and a variety offer better alternatives.

Maybe I have this all wrong. I should be learning from MonaVie. They have a system where they’ve brainwashed people to work for minimum wage rates… but instead of actually paying them that money, they give them free juice with nutritional value of “who really knows at the end of the day” according a distributor. It is even more amazing that MonaVie has somehow brainwashed distributors to defend this practice against those like me who are trying to liberate them.

Mike, I would love to hear about the people you know that are in the restaurant business that haven’t invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in it. I have been doing it successfully for over 25 years and have numerous contacts and friends in the business. I can’t imagine anyone opening a restaurant of any kind for under $100,000 and that would be on the very low end.

The only way would be if they bought an existing restaurant or franchise that was in trouble. I say I have done it successfully but I have no time freedom. It has provided a good income but it is very hard to get away from.

Mike I only compared traditional business with MLM to illustrate a point in the financial investment and time commitment involved.

Your comment on downline not being able to make more money than upline is just wrong Mike. You seem like a smart person. The way some of you guys have reseached monavie’s juice means you are passionate about your belief. I encourage you to really research the upline-downline thing further if you want to know the real truth on that.

The CEO making more than the janitor is a fact of life you are right. But the fact that someone coming into a MLM business after someone else being able to make far more money than them is true as well. I see it all the time. You don’t have to believe me it’s ok. But I would encourage you to dig a little and find out for yourself. Have a great day!

Monavie Scam – I appreciate your insight. Thanks. I totally agree that you will not make any money in MLM if you don’t build a team of like minded individuals. The concept of making money from the efforts of other people as well as your own is nothing new.

Do Sales Managers make money when their sales people make sales? Do real estate brokers make money when their realtors sell homes? Does Avon make money when an Avon lady goes out and sells cosmetics?

Why is it such a bad thing to go out and build a team of income generators? If you do a good job of training them and assisting them tell me what is wrong with that? I just don’t get the mind set here.

My problem is with the product, itself. The juice does not have any attributes that can justify the expense. The notion that a fruit punch can have any positive physical effect on an individual is preposterous. Oprah Sues MonaVie may not be the proper topic board for this discussion.

True, sandra, but most people are able to rationalize, and won’t fall for the MonaVie scam. Unfortunately, there will always be the gullible ones, who are looking for genies in a bottle. Very sad.

monavie scam – I do agree with you on one thing. I think the monavie juice is way too expensive too.

The above article quotes Thorpe, “Monavie really created the açai business in the United States..”. Really??? What’s your story?

From my research on the internet, it appears Sambazon was the company that introduced the acai business..not Monavie! What a flat-out open-faced lie! Granted, I heard of Monavie before I heard of Sambazon, but from what I have read, Monavie got on Sambazon’s bandwagon.

Hey
Love the site. It has been such a great help since my wife got sucked in to monavie. By pushing the religious part of it, they have really brainwashed her. But i am doing my best to get her to see the truth. Anyway…

I have been cruisin around Brig’s website ( part of my “getting to know your enemy”) How come he can still name drop Oprah in his audio gallery. I have listened to about 25% of his “Show the Plan” and he’s dropped her twice already.

Oprah case been settled…….

The case was settled several weeks ago, but distributors are still using Oprah to flog the juice.

Jimmy,

MonaVie really is a scam. I’ve written about the Inc 500 before… you might want to read that article as Dateline NBC exposed another company scamming people.

Hmm, Fox 26 looks like a Houston affiliate. Are you saying that your local Fox affiliate knows more than these three nationally recognized doctors: http://www.juicescam.com/dr-jonny-bowden-and-monavie/ – http://www.juicescam.com/dr-andrew-weil-on-monavie/ – http://amthrax.wordpress.com/2009/08/28/dr-dean-edell-calls-monavie-worthless/ ?

It is also not verified that MonaVie makes 1 billion or 2 billion dollars. I’ve written about this before – http://www.juicescam.com/is-monavie-the-fastest-company-to-1-billion-dollars-in-revenue/. Let me know their accounting agency. Let’s see the numbers in detail. Oh wait, they are private and can say whatever they want. I guess I could say the same and claim this website has made me a million dollars.

I am not naive. I just wanted to know the truth as best as possible. Thank you both monavie scam and go west. I was in monavie for one whole month and made $500. All i did was recruit people who recruited others. Easy right? Yet boring. Then decided to quit because my good friends who joined became almost brainwashed and i saw how money changed them big time. And going to meetings everyday was a big waste of time. I have a life unlike those people. Is there anyway or anyone that can bring this so called company down? I dont want to be a superhero but i dont want people losing their money from this scam also. But apparently, monavie is already opening business in arizona, texas, CA, utah, florida, and even korea and brazil! So are we just going to have to cross our fingers and hope monavie gets exposed??

True or not true. I started drinking monavie and signed up for about a year after the year i found my bottles through a friend at a lower price. but i have been headache and menstrual cramp free for the two or more years i’ve been on it. I sleep well since Monavie. so to me it is worth the money just knowing that i don’t get my menstrual cramps i am well satisfied becuase tylenol nor midold ever got rid of those cramps.
Thanks Monavie.

What does that have to do with Monavie frauduelntly using Oprah to flog their products.

Please at least try to post your comments on the relevant thread; not that anyone here wants to hear about your menstrual problems or your implausible BS testimonials.

Millers Mom,

To recieve your purple card you to be active meaning ordering at least 100 pv of the product every month and you need to be qualified meaning you have signed up one person on your left and on your right.

Monavie has never missed a commission payment so it appears you have only signed up one person or nobody.

You started in March and you are already giving up?

Unfortunately this is a typical result for many because they get discouraged easily and treat Monavie more like a hobby than a job. That is why the failure rate is so high.

BobJ said: “Unfortunately this is a typical result for many because they get discouraged easily and treat Monavie more like a hobby than a job. That is why the failure rate is so high.”

She didn’t fail; she succeeded — in not being an ongoing victim of a scam and in strengthening her marriage. A failure is someone who continues to waste their life in the blind pursuit of the almighty (but virtually nonexistent) purple dollar.

Scam, Vogel, Aussie

Scam-

the fact that water was just as effective of MonaVie

That is merely your opinion.

- the fact that MonaVie distributors were illegally using Oprah’s image as recently as March… (I originally wrote this article about the misrepresentation of Oprah last September).

It was a mistake made by some distributors saying that Oprah approved Monavie in which she didn’t although she did approve of Acai. Since then this case has been settled. It’s not a big deal.

- the fact that you are getting on Miller’s Mom for giving up when it is clearly a good thing for her marriage.

Again this is merely your opinion you do not know what is good for somebody that posts over the internet that you know nothing about.

She was not advised properly. However if you talk to Monavie Customer Support or read the compensation plan you can understand when you receive your card. Or if you talked to somebody with some experience as a distributor they could let you know. However not receiving her card she represents the many of distributors who get in but do nothing with the business.

Aussie your reasoning on why people fail is not fact stop passing it off as so. After all you have little to no experience with Monavie besides what you contribute here and read on the internet. You shouldn’t be blindly hating something so much.

Vogel-

Maybe the business wasn’t for her but you and other shouldn’t blame her lack of success on Monavie. It all depends on one’s efforts just like most lines of work. This is a typical result for distributors they sign up get excited get beat up and quit. Again that is why the failure rate is high. Of course coming to this site and reading some of the propaganda here doesn’t help any either.

BobJ,

You seem to think that the three things I listed were facts… I called them “issues.”

It is a fact that Millers Mom’s believes that water was as effective as MonaVie was. You can’t dispute she said that. Whether you agree with her opinion is a different question entirely. If you want to say that her testimonial is not relevant, than that is very, very interesting to me. We have numerous testimonials by biased distributors. When we get one from someone completely unbiased all of a sudden it’s just opinion.

The case with Oprah clearly is a big deal, as it seems to have played a major role in Miller’s Mom joining MonaVie. Please don’t sweep this illegal activity under the rug saying “it’s not a big deal.” This website exists to educate people like Miller’s Mom about these illegal activities.

BobJ, are you saying that successful marriages are built on going against your spouse’s wishes? It seems like that’s the case you made when you suggested that she “was already giving up.” As far as her not being advised properly, that’s all on MonaVie’s choice of a distribution and the lack of education in that distribution channel.

I mean she was brought in under false pretenses (Oprah) and against the wishes of her husband, and you are essentially calling her a failure. Sorry, but that simply doesn’t add up at all. The whole thing could have been avoided if MonaVie distributors stuck to the truth.

So instead of focusing why many distributors do nothing with the business, maybe you focus on how distributors are bringing people into the business in the first place. Instead the plan is to lure people in anyway way they can and hope to get them brainwashed into thinking that anyone that doesn’t believe in the business is a negative thinker.

BobJ: “‘the fact that water was just as effective of MonaVie’ That is merely your opinion. ‘the fact that you are getting on Miller’s Mom for giving up when it is clearly a good thing for her marriage.’ Again this is merely your opinion you do not know what is good for somebody that posts over the internet that you know nothing about.”

These are FACTS in my situation – not the opinions of another person.

That I haven’t been paid isn’t the only factor in my decision:

1) Yes, my husband went along with this venture – he really didn’t have the choice! However, the price I paid for that was more costly than the juice.

2) I was doing everything short of buying the printed material to recruit distributors in order to build my business. That required more time away from my family (I have a 2-1/2 yr as well) than my regular job does.

I’m stressing, again, that this has been my experience, and that no 2 people have the same type of experience with anything. I wish y’all well in the MV business and others like it.

Miller’s Mom-

How many meetings did you attend? How many people did you get to those meetings? How many 1 one 1′s did you do? How many tasting parties did you have?

Please inform and please be as honest as possible.

Aussie your numbers are heavily skewed. You keep posting them as fact.

Do you know what the high pct of distributors do when they sign up? They stay on autoship maybe for 3-4 months talk to a couple people go to a couple meetings but don’t put any real work in before they quit. You have no idea.

BobJ states “Aussie your numbers are heavily skewed. You keep posting them as fact.”

The numbers you refer to as being “heavily skewed” are those cited in the 2009 Global IDS. The numbers I have provided are FACTS.

You should take Candace’s advice and refer to it yourself.
http://media.monavie.com/pdf/corporate/income_disclosure_statement.pdf

Monavie are the ones who skew data and misrepresent facts. They mislead and misrepresent the opportunity by using typical MLM tricks to make the opportunity appear better than it actually is – by quoting only gross earnings rather than deducting any expenses, by excluding the majority of distributors by only considering those who qualified for commissions, by using average earnings during a very limited period and by further excluding distributors who may have dropped out or ended their distributorships.

Conditioning distributors to wrongfully believe that they are the one’s to blame instead of a grossly unfair compensation plan which is clearly enriching only the company and a very few at the top of the pyramid – which is evidenced when you consider the fact that a group of only 377 (who equate to 0.053% of the total sales force) received nearly 40% of the commissions during the period of the 2009 IDS, the fact that 87% received zero in the first instance AND the fact that out of the 13% of the sales force who did qualify for commissions, 97% of those averaged $37.33 per week (which clearly represents a loss when ongoing expenses are factored into).

It’s unfortunate that distributors such as yourself are gullible enough to buy into the propaganda and not see through what are glaring inconsistencies and half truths.

Perhaps a lack of business savvy explains why you’re participating in a product based pyramid scheme such as Monavie and why I’m not…

And let’s not forget again the predatory tactics used by Monavie and its representatives that include unlawfully using Oprah’s image in an attempt to give the company some (much needed) credibility and to further trick consumers.

All this back & forth reminds me of a great saying…”two people arguing, is just two people arguing”. you be right, and i’ll be rich! Monavie pays me every week on my little purple card $3,500+ per week. Not bad for a part-time income. Get out and do the work!

Chris said: “All this back & forth reminds me of a great saying…‘two people arguing, is just two people arguing’. you be right, and i’ll be rich!”

And that’s what it all comes down to for remorseless juice scammers like you. You’ll say “screw truth, screw honesty, screw ethics, screw my freinds and family if need be…as long as I can cling to the faint glimmer of hope that someday I’ll be rich and will get to tell the rest of the world to kiss my rich ass”.

Righteousness, unlike your blind greed, is a virtue.

Chris states “Monavie pays me every week on my little purple card $3,500+ per week. Not bad for a part-time income.”

Would I be correct in assuming these are GROSS earnings rather than NETT profits – which is what you would need to provide in order for a person to determine the profitability of the venture.

In order to give veracity to your income claim, you should provide figures that gave consideration to outgoing expenses such as product purchases and other business expenses such as travel, phone, tools, seminars, etc. Perhaps if you’d like to also confirm what profits you reported on your income tax returns for the last financial year – particularly given research suggests it is rare for MLM participants to record a profit in same.

Furthermore, have you given consideration to what portion of the bonuses and commissions you received were based on product purchases made by yourself and that of your downline – or whether in accordance with normal business practices, the bonuses and commissions earned were through the sales to bona fide customers not associated with the scheme.

If you’re a direct seller of fruit juice, then you would have a base of retail customers (those not associated with the scheme) and your business would survive based on the sales of fruit juice to these customers alone.

So…..feel free to verify the existence of any retail customers you have, what your weekly or monthly sales targets are, how many sales you make each week and whether you have receipts to prove such sales.

This is the type of information that would need to be made readily available to any person looking to invest in any other business – do you provide such information to your prospects?

Like Monavie Scam correctly pointed out, Monavie’s own IDS confirms that greater than 99% of the total sales force are losing money – so unless you are operating your business with the primary focus of your activities being selling juice, your winning is clearly going to be at the expense of those beneath you who are losing. Is being rich more important to you than possibly having pretty much everyone who you lured into the scheme losing based on the advice you gave – people with whom you in all likelihood have a relationship of some description?

You know, with earnings of $3500+ per week, you would have to be ranked at roughly Emerald Executive or above. Those ranked at Emerald Executive and above total 232 – or more accurately, 0.033% of the total sales force.

If one was to consider the possibility of whether you are in fact one of the lucky to have gotten in first, we would have to consider that the chances that this is the case would have to be in the vicinity of 0.033%.

Or more accurately, the odds state that there’s a likelihood of 99.967% that you’re overstating your income – which wouldn’t be surprising giving your claims in the first instance are in gross violation of Monavie’s policies and FTC guidelines concerning such claims.
http://media.monavie.com/PDF/IDS/IDS_Mid_Year_2009_Global.pdf
http://monaviemediacenter.com/blogs/5-tips-every-monavie-distributor-needs-to-know-about-the-new-ftc-guidelines/

Your unverified statement concerning the venture being part-time is also debatable – particularly given the amount of work it would take to replace the dropouts, hosting tasting parties/HBR’s, scouting for new prospects, phone calls, travel, training seminars, etc.

Aaron states “Mona Vie has made my life better all the way around.”

How sad that you’ve succumb to participating in a product based pyramid scheme, peddling a nutritionally void and highly processed fruit juice and in all likelihood attempting to lure your friends into the same abysmal venture.

Surely there are much more fulfilling and better ways of improving your life and general well being – such as eating fresh wholesome foods, exercising and spending quality time with your family and friends.

I really appreciated the information that surfaced during this discussion. I was recently exposed to MonaVie/Team by a very (genuinely) nice couple. I bought a case of the (over-priced) juice and attended a few meetings. I was “on the verge” of signing up and yet felt very uneasy about the whole thing. The back-and-forth postings “showed me the light”. I contacted the nice couple and told them I would pass on the opportunity. It’s a weight off my shoulders. If I ever become involved in a network marketing organization, I want it to be one without the baggage of MonaVie/Team. Just my thoughts.

Hi, Jim. Great suggestion. I referred them to the Lazy Man and Money link that led me here, which eventually allowed me to solidify my decision. However, since they’ve been involved with MonaVie/Team for some time, I didn’t feel (based on their response to my email)that they were really open at present to taking a second look at it. However, sometimes all it takes is a small seed to create new possibilities.

Sorry to hear about your experience, Switch. In my opinion, the concept is a GREAT one (network marketing, that is). Being able to build a passive income would be a dream come true, especially at my age (56). I think the bedrock of a company offering this kind of opportunity, however, would need to be one of solid integrity. Wouldn’t this serve the long-term interest of the company anyway? MonaVie/Team loast me as a customer/distributor because (in my opinion) they couldn’t stand up to this kind of scrutiny.

Jennifer,

Ox bile? Really? I haven’t seen that on the ingredient list.

MonaVie’s main product is not considered to be Pulse. If you believe so, that is fine, but remember that CholestOff is 1/88th the cost of Pulse and delivers more plant sterols (the point of drinking Pulse).

Also, you make a number of illegal statements that are similar to the ones that have gotten POM Wonderful in trouble with the FTC: http://money.cnn.com/2010/09/27/news/companies/POM_Wonderful/?hpt=Sbin. It’s a matter of time before MonaVie is shut down for claims like the ones you are making.

Aha, Jennifer is talking about taurine:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taurine

Taurine was first isolated from ox bile hence the claim that it is in energy drinks.

Taurine also occurs in a bull’s testicles, semen, and urine. There is an urban legend that energy drinks contain these unsightly materials.

Currently taurine is chemically synthized:

bikemag.com/features/columns/see_men_drink/

Claiming that redbull’s taurine ingredient is ox bile or bull urine is like claiming protein shakes contain human semen, because hey, they both have protein.

“…is like claiming protein shakes contain human semen, because hey, they both have protein.”

Now THAT is something Jennifer is probably qualified to comment on. What say you Jenny?

Jennifer states “MonaVie Active can help lubricate your joints for people who have arthritis and MonaVie Pulse can help ur heart for those with heart conditions and it can slow the process of the bad cancer cells for people who are cancer victims…it cannot cure u but i
t can help u live to ur fullest life as our bodies were meant to. Yes there is a business opportunity behind MonaVie like any other business.lol So before everyone can be skeptics u should learn about it first. My father is a diabetic and he’s been drinking this product for months now and he laughed at me when i first made him try but now he’s thanking me for how wonderful he feels.”

Firstly, how exactly does a highly processed fruit juice, preserved with the chemical preservative sodium benzoate (which is implicated in being a carcinogen when combined with vitamin C) allow your body to function as it was meant to?

Monavie’s own literature confirms that Monavie does not treat, cure or mitigate the symptoms of any disease and condition and distributors such as yourself are not allowed to use terms or phrases that suggest same. Any such claims are not only in breach of company policy, but are also in violation of FTC guidelines and the regulations set forth in the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations (Food & Drug Act).
http://monavieuniversity.zaah.net/?s=fruit+juice+products
http://monaviemediacenter.com/blogs/5-tips-every-monavie-distributor-needs-to-know-about-the-new-ftc-guidelines/

You only have to look at the nutritional facts of Monavie to see that there’s little nutrition contained within the premier blend of nutritionally void mush and definitely NOTHING to account for any of the illegal and totally unfounded claims you have made.
Monavie Original and Active offer a daily value of 2% vitamin C, 2% iron and 1% carbohydrates and Pulse offers 3% carbohydrates, 2% fat, 1% fibre, 4% vitamin A and 2% iron.
http://www.blackdiamonduniversity.com/pdf/monavie-products.pdf
http://www.blackdiamonduniversity.com/training-MonaVie-Pulse-facts.asp

Monavie’s own Dallin Larsen confirms that Monavie is nothing more than fruit juice – perhaps you should remind yourself of this FACT.
http://www.newsweek.com/2008/08/01/a-drink-s-purple-reign.html

Finally, the “opportunity” you’re referring to is one where greater than 99% of the entire sales force are losing money which makes it likely that this venture is more like an opportunity to LOSE money.
http://www.juicescam.com/monavie-is-embarrassed-by-their-income-disclosure-statement-2/

Jennifer, are you so sure you’re “educated” on the topic you’re referring to because as it stands, you’ve not been able to offer a piece of evidence in support of your claims and as it stands, Monavie’s own literature is adequate evidence that the claims you are making are complete and utter BS.

And what the hell do any of your comments have to do with Oprah suing Monavie???

You left out the part about “we’re saving the rain forest, rescuing destitute drug-addicted Brazilian oprhan prostitutes, and spreading God’s word”. They’ll leverage anything to sell people on this fraudulent enterprise; no qulams about exploitating children or blasphemy.

Perhaps you are allergic to one of the fruit juices in MonaVie. I suppose that is always a possibility.

You do realize that mens journal tested Mona-Vie Active, which has the glucosomen in it right? There are other types than just the one. We are all intitled to our own opinions and if someone wants to spend 40 dollars on juice that is their choice. I find it hard to believe that it is a scam when Dallen Larson was the top euntrapranuer of 2009, he is the ceo/creator/founder of Mona Vie…..Sounds like some people have nothing better to do with their time that whine…

Eyeroller states “You do realize that mens journal tested Mona-Vie Active, which has the glucosomen in it right?”

And you do realise that it failed dismally having been identified that there were numerous far more nutritious fruit juices available at a fraction of the cost?

Eyeroller states “We are all intitled to our own opinions and if someone wants to spend 40 dollars on juice that is their choice.”

It’s not a matter of opinion, it’s a matter of FACT. Nutritionally, Monavie offers absolutely nothing which would justify the exorbidant price – the value of the product has absolutely nothing to do with the cost of Monavie, it’s the compensation plan which needs to be supported that is factored into the cost of Monavie.

Furthermore, upon what basis are you purchasing the product – the illegal and fraudulent disease claims which are systematically made in order to justify the exorbiant price?

How about you let people decide what the value of Monavie is based on the TRUTH – it doesn’t cure anything, it’s only FRUIT JUICE (chemically preserved at that) and nothing more. Heck, it doesn’t even quench your thirst.

Furthermore, let people know that the amount they’re overpaying for the product is really the premium they’re paying in order to participate in the pyramid scheme.

Eyeroller states “I find it hard to believe that it is a scam when Dallen Larson was the top euntrapranuer of 2009, he is the ceo/creator/founder of Mona Vie…..”

I find it hard that someone such as yourself would go to trouble of posting such dribble without having done an inkling of research. But then again, your participation in an MLM/pyramid scam such as Monavie is testiment to the fact that research isn’t your strong point.

Eyeroller concludes “Sounds like some people have nothing better to do with their time that whine…”

Sounds like some of us are being far more constructive with our time by exposing the truth than those attempting to lure family and friends into a venture in the hope of ill-gotten financial gain on the basis of misrepresentations concerning the product, the value of same and in a venture and where their losses, as well as anyone they sign up, are most certainly guaranteed.

And what on earth does your contribution to the discussion have anything to do with Oprah suing Monavie?!

“So, you must know about Mr. Larsen’s first juice that was shut down by the FDA called Royal Tongan Limu, correct?”

Surely eyeroller knew this before he came on here “rolling his eyes” at us, so to speak. Well, allow me to now roll my eyes, as I’d rather be a whiny consumer advocate than a whiny scammer.

I don’t find it surprising that people like your friends know they’re in a pyramid scam – especially if they think they’re going to get something out of it. There’s that warped sense of reasoning too that it must be ok too if it’s allowed to operate without authorities stepping in. People like your friends don’t realise or don’t care about the devastation this type of fraud is inflicting on people, on communities as a whole.

I had a very nice couple approach me about this opportunity, had a few meeting with them and they asked if I would attend a seminar. Sure I have nothing better to do RIGHT?. Well I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed but at the same time I am a business women, so after asking as many questions as I possibly could and getting no answers I’m thinking RED FLAG >>>>>>HALE TIME is when you decide if your going to stay or leave due to the level of entertainment lol RIGHT?
So as im trying to absorb all this, my cell phone rings. I’m dying of thirst, and I see some little cans sitting in a ice chest, I GRAB one thinking wow they do have some samples,I’ll try it, I’llfinish my call and see how it goes. I hear the lady behind the table say ” EXCUSE ME ! That will be $3.00. Really ? Your kidding me right? Well then I don’t want it!….. You want me to come in here sell your CRAP/SCAM, give you $300.00 and give me no logical reason for joining? ,,,,, YOU embarrassed me by yelling at me in front of all these people over a can of JUICE, and I cant even get a FREE sample of your product lol lol Ya ok NOPE not happening.
Needless to say I finished my phone call on my way home that night. And just think, I saved $300.00.

it amazes how people are just so ignorant about Monavie, seriously, stop bitching and do something about ur life, look, the product is amazing, the health benefits astounding

Pyramid . . .what Huh . . . Pyramids are in Egypt.

Please people some of my friends are creatings 60k-120k per month in Monavie, and I have known these people for years.

Im on the right track . . . stop bitching and create a lifestyle

“60k-120k per month” on what????….. Illegal claims and testimonies?

What a great track to follow.

“Pyramid . . .what Huh . . . Pyramids are in Egypt.”

With a comment like that its no wonder why you think “No Scam” is going on.

It is pretty sad that you have nothing better to do than use your valuable time bashing a company who has helped many people physically and financially. You reap what you sow and you are sowing GOSSIP and DISCORD! isn’t there enouogh of that in the world already?? i know many people in this business and they have made the money and have been in better health my husband being one of them and myself, i suffered from fybromyalgia. Haters are elevators thats what I say.

Christina,

This website has provided tons of irrefutable evidence supported by reputable third parties that MonaVie is a grossly overpriced product, with little nutritional value, wrapped in a poor business opportunity that is may be an illegal pyramid scheme, which is itself wrapped in illegal medical claims, supported by nonsensical “scientific” studies, and tied to a fraudulent charity.

I have shown how it hurts people financially and doesn’t do anything for them physically. Instead people come here and insist on making illegal medical claims like you did about the product helping with fibromyalgia.

I liked the elevators comment though. I always considered haters to be window sills myself…

Scott,

MonaVie settled with Oprah out of court. You can read more about it here: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/oprah-dr-mehmet-oz-settle-monavie-image-acai/story?id=10561547. Clearly you were told wrong when you told that MV was not being sued.

Who Cares states “Anonymous Aussie if you still read this site first and foremost I want to point out one simple thing.”

Yes, I most certainly do continue to read this site – I’ve been hoping and praying for just a little intelligent conversation. I certainly hope what you have to offer is worth listening to…

Who Cares continues A pyramid scheme by definition is an exchange of money with no product involved.”

Just as we’d suspected…an idiot attempting to impart on us their idiocy!

A pyramid scheme is an unsustainable business model which is characterized by the recruitment of paying participants into the scheme and where the primary revenue is derived from the investment and purchases of the participants themselves – rather than from the sales and services to those not associated with the scheme.

As JuiceScam has pointed out, the FTC warns against schemes which PURPORT to sell products but where the sales occur amongst the participants themselves rather than to bona-fide customers not associated with the scheme, where the primary activity remains recruitment and where there is evidence of inventory loading (which has been defined as being when participants make purchases for the purpose of collecting recruitment based bonuses rather than any intention of re-selling).

The FTC warns if one or more of these characteristics exists, the product can be merely be the means of disguising the true and underlying pyramid scam.

Think HARD (as hard as you polluted, sodium benzoate laced little brain will allow anyway) about the fundamental principles of what a pyramid scheme is – take away the product distributors such as you PURPORT to sell and you will see the concept of recruiting distributors who pay to enter the scheme via product purchases (who consume all they buy), who in turn recruit other participants who pay to enter the scheme via product purchases (again, who also consume all that they buy) and so forth, and you will see that Monavie IS by definition a product-based pyramid scheme. Should you be enlightened on the concept of same, you will also see that the product really represents the means to launder the investment into the true and underlying pyramiding business.

Who Cares continues “Take any company, GM, Ford, any business structure anywhere in the world, and you have a pyramid structure. Sitting nice and comfortable right there on the top is the CEO then there’s the CFO and Financial Advisors. Then there’s District/Regional Management or upper management. The next tier is in store management or more properly worded local. Then theres assistant managers/supervisors. Lowering down to meager employees/grunts. Behold the pyramid structure, but yet completely legit however according to your view, thats a scheme so why are you bothering to work any job?”

Behold…in what other business model is the salary and earnings of any employee in the organization derived as a direct result of the investments and purchases made by the lower ranked employees? Under what circumstances or what other business model do you envisage anyone ranked lower the CEO, the CFO or even yourself to have lost in order for you to have gained? Does any other sustainable business generate revenue as direct result of the purchases and investments of its own sales force or is the revenue from sales and services provided to those not associated with the company?

Of course not. These types of absurd and unsustainable business practices only occur in MLM/pyramid scams such as Monavie.

People work in traditional employment because it offers an opportunity for financial gain rather than loss, which is something that can’t be said for Monavie’s sales force where the absolute majority of which (in the vicinity of 99% or greater to be precise) are losing so that those at the top of the pyramid can win.

Who Cares states “As far as MonaVie goes it’s a product so it’s in the clear as a legit business.”

With a product which is grossly overpriced (not due to the value of same, but rather the inflated compensation plan that has to be supported) making retail selling impossible, with little to no external sales to those not associated with the scheme (and therefore no external revenue), with the focus of distributors’ activities being recruitment, where distributors are making purchases for the purpose of collecting recruitment based bonuses (a practice referred to as inventory loading) AND where the losses amongst the sales force are 99% or greater, we’ve show you precisely how Monavie is anything but a legitimate business.

Who Cares states “Yes it is an MLM yes it does have a pyramid structure like all other businesses do.”

If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, waddles like a duck…believe it, it’s a duck. If it looks like a pyramid, if it operates like a pyramid, if the losses are in accordance with that seen in a pyramid scam…believe it, it’s a pyramid.

It’s one simple concept which for some reason continues to elude you.

The appreciation you showed at the conclusion of your post was a little premature since I personally just couldn’t bear to endure the remainder of your useless dribble.

Yes, you most certainly have pointed out one simple thing…that being that you know sweet f*ck all.

Eric, please read the rest of the site. You’ll learn that this website has provided tons of irrefutable evidence supported by reputable third parties that MonaVie is a grossly overpriced product, with little nutritional value, wrapped in a poor business opportunity that is may be an illegal pyramid scheme, which is itself wrapped in illegal medical claims, supported by nonsensical “scientific” studies, and tied to a fraudulent charity.

It can’t get much worse than that.

Eric said: “I love Monavie products, I am a musician & not only is it a great leadership program for myself, family & friends it has improved my everyday skills. Keeping in mind that Monavie isn’t the problem, people are the problem.”

Huh? Leadership program??? Monavie, Inc. is not in the business of selling leadership; they sell fruit juice remember? Your comment is like praising a used car dealer for having spotless bathrooms, even though he sells nothing but lemons. Of course, the people behind Monavie are the problem — that’s stating the obvious. And if this $45 a bottle crap juice were sitting on a store shelf, the problem would be solved — it wouldn’t sell and the company would fold. It’s the idiots (from top to bottom) in the organization who proclaim that Monavie (the product and biz potential) are something more than what it really is.

Eric said: “Open your mind (god, buddha, music, art, BUISNESS’S ALL OVER THE WORLD) the freaking government no matter where you go something is contradicting something else. Someone has something to say always about something that hasn’t worked for them…perhaps in envy? Also I mean I have done that personally if I watch a TV program and I see them bashing a product NOW I BASH THAT PRODUCT even though I have never tried the product for myself or even gave the (book, food, or music a chance or GOD)”

Ouch! That was one of the most painfully stupid paragraphs I’ve read in a long time. What you’re saying basically is “some people say stuff and think things and other people say different stuff and think different things, and really, how can anyone know anything about anything because it’s a topsy-turvy world where up is down and nothing is black or white – only grey”. Put down your guitar and your bottle of toxic fruit juice, go back to school, and feed your brain (it must be starving). Embracing god, Buddha, music, and art won’t make Monavie any more palatable; less so if anything. The only knock the government deserves with respect to Monavie is that it hasn’t shut the company down yet. The only contradictions in the world of Monavie are between reality (the juice is overpriced overhyped shit) and the painfully dishonest claims made by the company’s slimy executives and distributors.

Eric said: “I love the TEAM, Product & Music it is changing my life and I hope people can forgive and forget some of the bad tree’s out there ruining it for others!”

Monavie assembled a team of sick greedy lying fucks and criminals to push this garbage scam on the public. I might be willing to forgive all involved after they’ve gone out of business, apologized, paid restitution, and served jail time. Fair enough?

Eric said: “I play acoustic music and locally am big. I love my fans because they believe in me and I like to try and get to know each and everyone so I can tell them all they all can be somebody they all can follow their dreams.”

Uh, and…??? So what? Do you always try to self promote on sites like this. There’s a word for that — SPAM!

Eric said: “Who really cares Oprah ripped up the addict who wrote a million little pieces…(blah, blah)”

Uh, and…??? So what? Oprah (and Dr. Oz) sued Monavie because the company and its minions promoted the juice and biz using her image and likeness without authorization or payment — that’s copyright violation (in essence, theft). The rest of your attack on Oprah is pointless. Monavie committed the foul and got nailed for it.

Eric said: “Life is full of opinions but if you want to work 9-5 and get screwed on tax’s and retirement then go a head I will be playing music and following my dream and in the process sharing what was so freely shared to me.”

Dude, that is such a silly vapid comment. I don’t expect much from an unemployed man-child minstrel from the Maritimes, but I expect something a tad more cogent than that. Your argument implies that people who sell Monavie aren’t required to pay taxes (when in fact they are) or that they are just tax cheats (probably true in many cases). Are you not aware know that one would still be legally required to pay taxes on any profits earned form Monavie (even though earning a profit selling Monavie is extremely unlikely)? Working for Monavie is a great way to get screwed on retirement — they don’t offer 401Ks (at least not to anyone other than a handful of executives) and the vast majority of distributors don’t even make enough money to cover “business” (cough) costs. That’s a helluva retirement plan, assuming one’s goal is to be homeless and eating Alpo alone in their golden years.

“If you would like to get a hold of me…”

Only by the neck to shake some sense into that straw-filled head of yours.

“I want to be your superhero WORLD! Eric Cormier”

OK, then STFU about Monavie, learn to be humble, and keep practicing your music until you’re able to offer something of value to the world (you ain’t there yet musically with your Hootie-clone pop crap, but keep trying…that’s a much nobler pursuit than flogging fraud juice for a-holes).

Scott, I am really quite tired of the “people have choices”argument. First of all, people are stripped of that “choice” once they become so immersed in the cult like atmosphere that IS MonaVie (and trust me when I say the people at the top have studied these tactics and are using them on you as we speak). They are promised success..eventually..what is it again? 2-5 years? People I know have lost everything because of Monavie. They are labelled losers if they quit. They are encouraged to use their savings to “build” their business. The fact that MonaVie is now focusing on “leadership” and “building communities” makes it more Jim Jones’ish than ever.

This is not simply a matter of choosing to sell/buy over priced juice. This goes much deeper than that because this is a cult that is destroying people’s lives in varying degrees. The only people profiting from this are those that Vogel so eloquently stated as a “team of sick greedy lying fucks and criminals to push this garbage scam on the public”. I stated this on
the Lazyman site and I will reiterate it here. Being a part of this company is like knowingly buying clothes from companies that “employ” children in their sweat shops.

Yes, you absolutely have a choice and it is between right and wrong.

Fellas, I WAS a distibutor and had the same thoughts of getting free from debt and the dreams associated with it, I have not been a MV person for over a year now and dont really miss it or the product to be honest. YET it still is the persons choice to do what they do and the persons right to make the choice to join in drinking or selling if they choose, trust me my gambling reference is to say I have wasted money on stupid things and we all have. To continue persue is up t that person. I personaly agree it is a pyramid set up and yes the income is derived from those to whom you get involved, yet for the past few years now I hear its illegal and maybe, so when is the GOVNT going to shut them down? the same time as Amway and a Avon plus all the others out there. Again simply put Goverment says different to the pyramid thoughts. As for the ” flimsy arguement on consumer rights to know ” look it up and be informed before you buy, if your ignorant enough to go broke then sooner or later you would have found your way there to begine with.

Scott, true choice comes when people have been given truthful information so as to enable them to make the most educated decision possible.

You’re referring to products which are sold to consumers on the basis of false and misleading health claims and an opportunity where the true and underlying pyramiding business is withheld from them also. Being a former distributor, you would know that the company and its representatives go to great lengths to promote the legitimacy of the scheme in their attempts to convince prospects and their sales force that this is in fact an MLM.

Any consumer who has invested on the basis of such false and misleading claims, has effectively done so as a resulted of being defrauded.

True choice would only occur if prospects were informed from the onset of such facts that the product no more than a grossly overpriced fruit juice with absolutely no ability to treat cure, or mitigate the symptoms of anything (including thirst!), that the product is overpriced in order to support the inflated compensation plan/pyramid scheme, that the true and underlying business is in fact pyramiding (by your own admission) and that there is a 99% loss rate amongst the sales force which means the likelihood of success really is in the vicinity of 1% also. Should a person choose to invest the product and/or opportunity after being presented with all the FACTS, it is only then they have done so at their own choosing.

It truly never ceases to amaze as to just how complacent consumers such as Scott are to the harm such schemes cause and the extent of fraud when you consider the aggregate losses amongst the participants who also happen to be members of communities, friends, associates or even family members – which should be enough to alert anyone into action against these frauds.

And for the record, don’t get too excited about touting the legitimacy of Monavie by likening this to Avon (which is somewhat of a contradition considering you have in fact confirmed the only way for distributors is to make money is from other distributors they recruit – particularly given Avon seem to have run into trouble amidst pyramid scheme accusations in more recent times.
http://pyramidschemealert.org/has-mlm-corrupted-avon/

Scott, the reason that you didn’t “succeed” in MonaVie is because most people figured out that this was a pyramid scheme long before the words were out of your mouth. That is what people told me when I “got out”.

One of the reasons that things get heated on here are because distributors come on this site without reading any of the articles or doing their own research and make claims that we have already proven are false. They don’t read anything, they just spout off the MV rhetoric that was fed to them but not before calling US names. It gets very frustrating telling them time and time again to simply do their research, then come back and have a civilized discussion.

Also, Orrin is a POS psychopath and that is being PROVEN over on the Amthrax site so I can assure you that quoting him won’t strengthen your argument in any way.

We are part of the research that people are doing and it thrills me everytime JS says that someone emailed him and said that reading the articles and comments on this site stopped them from becoming involved with this scam of a company.

Scott,

I’m about to head to sleep for the night, but you should read this article: MonaVie is the Next Napster. Law enforcement can indeed go after the parent company if they create a system that facilitates illegal activity even if the same system has legitimate use.

Napster followed all the rules as well. It was its users who weren’t. In Napster’s case they weren’t even paying users. MonaVie is, which makes them even more liable.

Thanks for everyone’s time I see I got no where to most as I wouldn’t on a site like this that prob doesn’t even have the right to use most the stuff it’s using interesting…

Keep on doing your thing, I will keep doing mine. I stand up for TEAM as I am loyal just like I stick to the sponsers who sponser my music thanks a lot for everyone’s time.

http://www.myspace.com/ericlncormier see if I will be playing in your local area take care, Looking for a buisness change great if not rock on! Looking to talk about the conterversal issues related to this great if not rock on!

Keep doing your thing Vogel
Monavie Scam, Makes sense on why you posted this and I guess I just have my opinion like anyone else or yourself.
Goodluck to everyone’s future!
Eric

Actually Eric, I think it’s Vogel, MS, and Aussie were the ones who “got nowhere” in talking to you. Of course, we all know you are not going to be swayed, the retorts are there for others to read and then decide who’s argument is the strongest.

Nice shameless self-plugging. Tells me a lot about what kind of person you are that you’d rather plug yourself rather than come up refutations to the arguments presented to you.

No need to be fake nice either, it doesn’t make your argument right just because you “take the high road” and pretentiously bow out, after your stupid “Church of Orrin” arguments fail.

“It’s not what you say out of your mouth that determines your life,it’s what you whisper to yourself that has the most power!”
— Robert T. Kiyosaki
I may have opened my mouth without knowing what I was talking about and not being properly educated yet as far as I am concerned but when you see my name and I become successful just remember this blog ;)
“You’re only poor if you give up. The most important thing is that you did something. Most people only talk and dream of getting rich. You’ve done something.”
— Robert T. Kiyosaki
“Winners are not afraid of losing. But losers are. Failure is part of the process of success. People who avoid failure also avoid success.”
— Robert T. Kiyosaki

As long as your going to be thinking anyway, think big.
Donald Trump

I have made the tough decisions, always with an eye toward the bottom line. Perhaps it’s time America was run like a business.
Donald Trump

The Two Essential Reasons to Join a Network Marketing Business

Reason number one is to help yourself. Reason number two is to help others. If you join for only one of these two reasons, then the system will not work for you.

Reason number one, means that you come to the business primarily to change quadrants-to change from the E (Employee) or the S (Self-employed) quadrant to the B (Business owner) or I (Investor) quadrant.

This change is normally very difficult for most people-because of money. The true E or S quadrant person will not work unless it is for money. This is also what causes people to not reach the top of the network marketing system: they want money more than they want to change quadrants.

A B quadrant or I quadrant person will also work for money, but in a different way. The B quadrant person works to build or create an asset-in this case, a business system. The I quadrant person invests in the asset or the system.

The beauty of most network marketing systems is that you do not really make much money unless you help others leave the E and S quadrants and succeed in the B and I quadrants. If you focus on helping others make this shift, then you will be successful in the business.

As a B or an I, sometimes you don’t get paid for years; this, a true E quadrant or S quadrant person will not do. It’s not part of their core values. Risk and delayed gratification disturb them emotionally.

“By it’s very nature and design, network marketing is a strikingly fair, democratic, socially responsible system of generating wealth” R T once AGAIN!!!
You must have heard of FORD???

Anyways… whatever I guess I was protecting a company MONAVIE…Yet what I was trying to protect was a great company which help Monavie TEAM!
See you on the other side, clearly everyone’s dreams that rip up companys like this are lost! I continue doing what I do espcially with music I think that really makes people mad… Oh well
As far as Oprah she will be lucky to have my on her show in 10-15 years I will be more successful then most people in this world not even just based upon MONAVIE but based on my own life and my own wealth that I will gain because of my big dreams :)
Thanks again for all your concern and the big rant nothing wrong with learning from grammar mistakes or opening up to much and spreading wrong info…I get to learn meaning I become a more smart person.
Take care
Eric Cormier – CD COMING OUT SOON check out the site for details!

If all you have to say with what I posted above is spamming then I did my job.
Wishing everyone the best with there remarks and opinions.

I am living my life to the fullest what you choose to do with yours is up to you!
I can’t wait all my life
On a street of broken dreams.
~Journey, “It Could Have Been You”

Cormiermusic

Hi Eric,

Good luck with your music career. You quoted Robert Kiyosaki a few times above. Please read the article MonaVieScam linked above. There is quite a bit of info there and I’d be interested in your thoughts.

I’ve read Rich Dad Poor Dad, and in my opinion it was the worst book I’ve ever read on the topic of finances. I was appauled reading it, fearing for anyone who might possibly take it seriously and unfortunately it appears many people have. This book is not just wrong, it’s dangerous.

After finishing, I thought to myself, “self.. surely someone else must have read this and exposed the obvious flaws”. With a quick Google search I found this resource which thoroughly investigates both the author, the premise and the financial teachings. I thought it was spot on and I would recommend you understand some of the problems and dangers of taking this book as truth,or using it for guidance.
http://www.johntreed.com/Kiyosaki.html

Finally, the CBC, did an investigative report on Kiyosaki which I think you would agree is very disturbing. It is linked in the article MVS pointed to you, but here it is again in case you didn’t watch it. If you still want to follow the teachings of this man, well at least we tried.
http://www.cbc.ca/marketplace/2010/road_to_rich_dad/main.html

How can fruit juice be a scam? MonaVie is 100% fruit juice. Yes it is $45 a bottle but break it down – 2 ounces of MonaVie gives you about 7 servings of wild grown fruit (meaning without chemicals). The FDA recommends getting 7-13 servings daily – you would be hard pressed to go to a grocery store and buy the equivalent amount of fruit for the same price. MonaVie doesn’t cure anything but you are getting good nutrition and when your body gets the tools it needs (i.e. proper nutrition) it will often be able to heal itself.

Norskegal,
Ignoring the fact that you were wrong about the nutritional value of the juice the scam is where they force you to basically buy it in bulk and you are encouraged to force your friends to do the same. I’ve tried the whole nasty process that they push you into and it isn’t as pretty and natural as you are trying to sell.