Network Marketing History
BAM is NOT a Network Marketing Company
1910 Madame C.J. Walker born 1867 began to teach individuals how to start their own businesses selling hair care products door to door.
1917 Carl Rehnborg was in China where he learned about the rotating credit systems which date back to the 13th century. The rotating credit systems have names: Hui, Esusu, Dashi, Mujin, Tanamoshi.
1939 Carl Rehnborg began selling his vitamins as the California Vitamin company and renamed it to Nutrilite that same year.
1945 Carl Rehnborg invented the multi-level marketing compensation plan, to pay people in a down-line/level model to distribute his vitamins.
1951 The court issued a permanent injunction forbidding anyone who sold Nutrilite products from referring to any edition of "How to Get Well and Stay Well" and more than 50 other publications that exaggerated the importance of food supplements. The court decree also contains a long list of forbidden and permissible claims about nutrition and Nutrilite products.
1959 Jay Van Andel and Rick DeVos former top Salesmen for Nutrilite founded the American Way aka Amway.
1972 Amway took controlling interest in Nutrilite.
1979 Amway was charged with price fixing, misrepresentation of income claims, and pyramiding claims by the FTC. Amway was also barred from paying referral fees.
1980 FED-X implemented "DADS" (Digitally Assisted Dispatch System) to coordinate on-call pickups for customers; this system allowed customers to schedule pickups for the same day. This was the first blow to the Network Marketing model. The Independent Business Owner (IBO) was largely unnecessary.
1994 The internet was introduced to the general public. This was the final blow to the Network Marketing model. The Independent Business Owner is no longer necessary and the model must be changed...BAM!
1994 Amway took complete control of Nutrilite
1994 iMALL.COM Note: This was the pioneer of the E-COMMERCE business model launched in 1994. The FTC shut down iMALL.COM in 1999.
1998 MADvoice.com now called BAM.eco (BAM Advertising Movement!) patent pending FRANCHISE like model was launched. Our domain was purchased: 9/26/98 - MEMBERSHIP $49
1999 Amway purchased Quixtar.com for their E-COMMERCE model on 2/5/99.
2000 Launched a 2-way 50%, 50% revenue share and increased the MEMBERSHIP TO $99.
2001 Avon launches first ever retail beauty brand in partnership with JCPenney. The Network Marketing agents were livid however, Avon set a trend that the Independent Agents were no longer needed.
2004 Amazon.com is helping customers find something surprising...its retail rivals resembling an E-COMMERCE virtual mall!
2005 FTC shut down 2x2.net a Network Marketing E-COMMERCE model.
2006 Launched our patent pending 3-way revenue sharing model of 50%, 25% and 13%. Raised the MEMBERSHIP to $199.
2006 FTC proposed a rule that would have eliminated the $500 minimum investment requirement under the Franchise Rule, meaning it would apply to all Network Marketing companies, even if they have a smaller start-up cost. Hence, the $499 maximum membership fee with most Network Marketing companies.
2006 Google to settle click-fraud lawsuit for $90M. Challenge to pay-per-click advertising could seriously threaten Google's main source of revenue.
2007 The 800 Club now called the BAMcircle.net™ profit sharing / internet franchise like system was launched. This compensation model was designed to fix the MLM compensation plan.
2007 FTC shut down Burnlounge, Inc a Network Marketing company.
2008 Network marketing responsible for 20% of the world's millionaires is NOT TRUE!
2010 A Settlement was reached with Amway/Quixtar, Inc., class action lawsuit about the pricing of Amway's products and the recruitment of Quixtar distributors, whom the company calls “Independent Business Owners” (“IBOs”). Our founder Bryan Franklin was asked to be an Expert Witness on this case by Willie Gary, Esq.
2011 "What About This One?" Solicitations to join a Network Marketing company seem to be everywhere – at family gatherings, at the office, at the supermarket, at a party with friends, in the neighborhood, even at church!
2011 Michael Johnson CEO of Herbalife was cashing in big as the highest paid CEO in America!
2012 Bill Ackman of Pershing Square has called Herbalife a pyramid scheme and launched an all out assault via FactsAboutHerbalife.com
2012 BailOutStayOut.com was launched to address joblessness with an Entrepreneurial 1099 model in conjunction with W-2 jobs now called BAMreentry.com.
2012 Network Marketing Success? - "The greatest STORY ever SOLD!" FREE eBook / Coffee Table book. Every home should have one on their coffee table because it is a great conversation piece.
2013 FTC shut down Fortune High Tech Marketing, a Network Marketing company. Several high ranking COGIC clergy were participating in FHTM.
2013 Bill Ackman’s team sent Minyon Moore, a former senior Clinton White House aide, to host a meeting in October at the landmark West Angeles Church of God in Christ in the city’s predominantly black South Central neighborhood.
2013 Herbalife hires former L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa as an advisor.
2013 Google.com Note: A company as huge as Google has shut down their independent affiliate linking network.
2014 Bill Ackman was interviewed on CNN regarding the difficulty of exposing the flaws of Herbalife.
2014 Herbalife settles a class action pyramid scheme lawsuit for $15 million.
2015 Bryan Franklin, Founder of BAM was asked to be in new documentary on Network Marketing called Man On Top.
2015 FTC Acted to Halt Vemma as Alleged Pyramid Scheme. Promised Unlimited Income Potential, But Most Participants Lose Money.
2016 Only about 18 percent of Herbalife distributors qualified for earnings and 95.5 percent earned on average just $627.55 gross. Herbalife agreed to a $200 million settlement with the FTC that requires it to revamp its compensation system to reward distributors for sales to customers rather than for recruitment.
2017 CUTCO probably asked you to sell knives right out of High School to get RICH!!! Now It’s Getting Sued.
2017 Jeunesse Global a Network Marketing company whose US executives are facing pyramid scheme and racketeering allegations claims to be enjoying record growth in Australia.
2017 A nationwide class-action lawsuit has been filed against Nerium International, LLC, a Texas-based Network Marketing company selling anti-aging products, along with three high-level executives, a top distributor and 10 unknown co-conspirators, who are alleged to be operating a pyramid scheme.
2018 A new lawsuit accuses President Trump, his company and three of his children of using the Trump name to entice vulnerable people to invest in sham business opportunities including ACN.
2018 Some distributors who claim they were duped by Herbalife's promises they'd get rich selling health and personal care products are suing the company for as much as $1 billion in damages.
2018 AARP Foundation Survey Reveals 73 Percent of People who Participate in Network Marketing Opportunities Lose Money or Make No Money.
2019 Primerica distributors teaching others how to recruit using deceptive earnings claims.
2020 Launched the new website and name BAM.eco and raised the MEMBERSHIP TO $400.
2020 The Federal Trade Commission today announced it has sent 10 letters warning Network Marketing companies (MLMs) aka Network Marketing companies to remove and address claims that they or their participants are making about their products’ ability to treat or prevent coronavirus disease or about the earnings people who have recently lost income can make, or both.
2020 FTC acts to shut down ‘Success by Health’ Instant Coffee Pyramid Scheme. Complaint alleges empty promises of wealth lead to millions in losses for participants. The FTC alleges that Success By Health and its executives James “Jay” Dwight Noland, Jr., Lina Noland, Scott A. Harris, and Thomas G. Sacca are operating a pyramid scheme that uses false promises of wealth and income to entice thousands of consumers to join.
2020 A federal judge allowed a federal lawsuit accusing President Donald Trump, his three eldest children and his company of collaborating with ACN a fraudulent marketing scheme to prey on investors to proceed.
2020 Herbalife’s $123 Million Chinese bribery settlement is latest legal trouble for Network Marketing Giant.
2021 To assist with the millions that are out of work, BAM rolled back the MEMBERSHIP TO $199 1-Time!
2021 Hosted by The College of New Jersey School of Business...Network Marketing CONSUMER PROTECTION CHALLENGE!
2021 Blessings in No Time (BINT) 21st century Sou Sou shut down by FTC.
2021 Former President Donald Trump and his three eldest children can’t force a lawsuit into arbitration that was brought by people who felt cheated by ACN.
2021 Utah-based supplement MLM USANA has removed numerous deceptive marketing claims following a TINA.org investigation and letter to the company. In addition to the removal of deceptive income claims and unsubstantiated health claims, marketing changes include fixing more than 100 influencer posts by USANA-sponsored athletes that had lacked proper disclosures of their connections to the company.
2021 The pandemic created a new pool of recruits for Network Marketing companies – from the newly unemployed, to stay-at-home moms and young people looking for alternative ways to earn income.
2023 The FTC has launched an investigation into International Markets Live (IML), In 2019, TINA.org conducted an analysis of the company's income disclosure statement, which revealed the cold, hard truth that 95 percent of IML distributors had averaged an income of less than $300 in 2018 (before accounting for expenses) -- in stark contrast to promises of making "$25,000 - $30,000 monthly" or "an extra $10,000 a month residually!"
2023 FTC sues Amazon, alleging it tricked consumers into signing up for Prime. Specifically, Amazon used manipulative, coercive, or deceptive user-interface designs known as ‘dark patterns’ to trick consumers into enrolling..."
2024 January 12th Federal judge dumps pyramid scheme lawsuit against Trump. Dang...this was going to be the final disruption!
2024 March 26th FTC Staff Urge MLMs Not to Rely on Industry Income Disclosure Guidance - Advisory opinion letter raises “serious concerns” with self-reg group’s guidance.
Many former Presidents have promoted Network Marketing! Watch the video above!
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