Oprah sues MonaVie
The Chicago Sun times is reporting that Oprah Winfrey and Dr. Oz suing over ‘false’ açaí berry endorsement claims. The article goes on to say -
Winfrey and Oz have filed suit against 40 companies either selling açaí or related products, with their name endorsements on them.
A statement on Oprah’s website explictly mentions MonaVie -
Consumers should be aware that neither Oprah Winfrey nor Dr. Oz are associated with nor do they endorse any açaí berry product, company or online solicitation of such products, including MonaVie juice products. Attorneys for Harpo are pursuing companies that claim such an affiliation.
Açaí berry is a common ingredient in many of the recent “superjuice” MLM industry, including Xango, Mandura, EIRO and others.
Update: Here’s a list of the acai companies Oprah is suing, which includes MonaVie, plus the lawsuit itself.
Hi, I’m an entrepreneur, former scientist, ex athlete, partner to a wonderful lady and father to a great son. I’m also a passionate supporter of the concept of MLM and network marketing. |
I think the suit is a total waste to time. Somewhere along the way, Oprah and Dr. Oz must have said something positive about the acai berry and acai juice, in general, and that’s where aggressive marketers have taken their comments out of context. I wouldn’t expect that Oprah/Dr. Oz endorsed a specific company, but evidently they endorsed acai berry juice.
At any rate, don’t Oprah and Dr. Oz have something better to do? They should both know by now that when Oprah endorses “anything,” people are going to jump on the bandwagon and use it as a marketing advantage, if possible.
Those MLM companies are predators. They will latch onto any celebrity they can to promote their products. I found this out when I tried to sell various health related stuff for several companies. False claims, misrepresentation and outright lies are the usual form of “promotion” that far too many of the MLMs use to get people to buy their product and then find themselves on an “autoship” program where they claim that when you bought the product initially, that you “agreed” to continue to do so. Getting out from under one of those “autoship” or “continuity” programs requires many emails, phone calls and other forms of aggravation. Secondly, the Acai berry and mangosteen juice products are so doggone expensive that unless you are able to afford monthly charges of $60, or more for a bottle of it, or can “qualify” as a distributor of some sort, you can quickly find your credit card loaded with charges sometimes twice a month. Been there, done that, no thanks. AVOID these MLMs at all cost!
I’d agree that some MLM companies are predators. Throw in the companies that call themselves MLM, even though there not, they’re actually pyramid schemes, and you might even hit a majority. As always in business – do your due diligence!
“MLM” isn’t the issue. The concerns of promotion & advertisement to companies who market products or services that claim celebrities endorse or use themselves is the topic of focus. That’s false advertisement when claims are created to push sales of products. People follow People especially with the creditability & strong following both Oprah & Dr. Oz have, they have to be careful any association they have is something they honestly endorse. As for MLM companies, not all are schemes or illegal pyramids. Hey, Pyramids are everywhere. From the church to the home front, to your jobs. Question is, who’s pyramid are you in? Either way to intelligently argue the issue, read what Donald Trump and Robert Kiyosaki say from a multi-million/billionaire business prospective that the concept of MLM’s are a unique opportunity to offer people who want more out of life that chance of financial freedom in Why We Want YOU Rich.
I’m in total support of Oprah decision on going after all company’s who falsely state she & Dr. Oz are in support of Acai and anything else.
Excellent point Amber, and in fact from what I understand the majority of the companies they are suing are NOT MLM companies.
I agree with Amber, this is not an MLM issue, in fact many companies that you may know of today started as an MLM. This issue is people misrepresenting their company/product with false information. This is something that happens in all industries, why? Because there are bad seeds in every bunch. People have done bad things in real estate, but Donald Trump still made honest money, people took advantage of the stock market, but Warren Buffett still makes millions. In fact people are doing foul things in the church, but does that mean we shouldn’t believe in God and follow Shepherd/spiritual leader? We must look at this situation from an objective viewpoint. I agree with the other comment that said “do your due diligence”. I an a huge supporter of MLMs as they allow the average person to make $ off of the same concept as franchising, but with a lower start-up cost and overhead. Maybe some of the writers have had a bad experience with an MLM company (could have been you, could have been the company, or the team that you were with within the company) but please do not make negative comments about the industry as a whole, that is unfair and untrue. If I went to college and did not like my school, is it fair to say that all colleges are bad? Let’s be grown ups about this. Now, if anyone wants to take about a documented, credible company that is dedicated to blessing people both financially and physically, feel free to email me directly at kebaucum@yahoo.com
Be blessed!
I have to only partially agree with you. All Monavie meetings I have been to have been very clear that Oprah does not endorse or drink their product. Anyone making that claim is an idiot. Monavie will clear itself but many of these other companies I agree will do anything to get you to buy their substandard products.
I will say Oprah better watch what she is doing. As with other talk show hosts. If MLM distributors were to band together and force boycott Harpo’s sponsors they could be in big trouble in a hurry.
Well … as best as I can tell MV is the only MLM company to have been sued. According to the income disclosure there’s about 90,000 active MV distributors – that compares to Oprah’s 7.4 million daily viewers. I don’t think she’d be too concerned
I love what you have to say. Not all MLM are bad. There are actually Some really great ones out there doing the homework definitely pays off. So glad I found the right one.
This is an interesting stream of comments. Less brutal than another one I was reading ealier. People definately bring their bagage with them into any dialog. Amber & Keri, you are on the right track. Life is riddled with folks who have taken really good things and made it bad. It’s not the product or the MLM that’s bad. You mentioned real estate. I’m a Realtor and I agree, most of us do it right. Just because someone got greedy or just wasn’t honest doesn’t make the whole industry bad. The benefits and services of a GOOD Realtor are still of value. Same with MLM and even Mona Vie. And who hasn’t dropped a name from time to time. If someone of influence said something that validated what you (anyone at large) were doing you’d most likely mention it. Why do you think authors get someone with an established name to endorse their books? It lends credibility. Athletes endorse products. Okay so they get paid, but aren’t most people (consumers) influenced by the celebrity who offers a good word. Oprah may have a case, but I think “IF” she or anyone else made a statement to the value of the Acai berry it is fairly repeatable as long as she is given credit for saying it. At least I thought that was the rule if repeating a quote. As a writer I believe we are suppose to do that or else it’s called plagerism. And I think Toastmasters also requires you to give credit to the person/source of a statement as well, if used in a speech. Maybe I’m wrong, but if she did say it then I would think as long as it was documented and properly referred to it would be quoteable. If it was something she wanted to be repeated and the person didn’t give her credit she’d probably sue them too? At 2 in the morning do I make any sense?