“Freedom, flexibility and fun. Find out how the Forever Living opportunity can give you the time to build your own life around your dreams. From extra income to unlimited earning potential, opportunity abounds. Are you ready to seize it?”-ForeverLiving.
Forever Living may seem like a legitimate direct-selling company with an impressive track record; but in this article, I’ll reveal the shocking truth and the many reasons why you want to avoid it.
I’ll discuss what is Forever Living, it’s history, their products and a few testimonials about how they’re made, the compensation plan, income disclosure, what I like about the company, and of course; all the red flags to determine whether or not this company is legitimate or an exploitative pyramid scheme.
What Is Forever Living?
Based out of Scottsdale, Arizona, Forever Living is a multi-billion dollar health and wellness multi-level marketing company that sells aloe vera, essential oils, weight loss, and even household products in over 160 countries.
They claim to have the greatest opportunity in the world and that all you have to do is share their products and business opportunity with as many people as possible and teach them to do the same.
On their FAQ page, they state that there is no fee to get started, but then they state that to become a Forever Business Owner (FBO), you have to purchase a product and business tool pack or have two case credit purchases within two consecutive months.-ForeverLiving
Their Successful And Corrupted History
The company started in 1978 when Rex Maughan hosted a Forever Living products meeting in Tempe, AZ to help people look and feel better.
By 1983, the company was named one of the top and fastest growing private companies by Inc. Magazine.
Along with success came legal trouble and Forever Living was fined $280,000 by Hungary in 2004 for misleading statements about the products, registration of nutritional products, and the use of cosmetics as medical agents.- Wikipedia
They exceeded $1.15 billion dollars and had about 150,000 business owners by the end of 2005.
Forever Living also made number 340 on the Forbes 400 List in 2006.- Forbes
By 2007, the company was faced with a lawsuit when Author Richard Bach sued Forever Living Products for copyright and trademark infringement of his beloved novel where they have been using the main character and its theme to attract more distributors.
“FLP uses Jonathan’s story of persevering to fly higher and faster than any gull has flown before to inspire its distributors to buy and sell more products and recruit more distributors.
For example, a 1987 article in Forever Living Magazine quotes Jonathan Livingston Seagull and states: “We can lift ourselves out of ignorance, we can find ourselves as creatures of excellence, intelligence, and skill. We can be free! We can learn to fly!”
…in an article describing financial incentives and bonuses for distributors. (Supp. Geyman Decl., Ex. K). And in The Forever Enterprise, FLP’s VP of Finance, Glen Banks, quotes Jonathan Livingston Seagull and states: “The gull sees farthest who flies highest” in describing the “Jonathan Bonus” for FLP’s managers who have “flown highest” and therefore “receive these very lucrative additional bonus incentives.”-Source: casetext.com
Despite their legal troubles, their revenue was a whopping $1.7 billion dollars and they had 9.3 million distributors by 2010.
The UK Advertising Standards Authority warned the company to stop making deceptive claims about miraculous health benefits of their products or to cite medical professionals in any of its advertising in 2015.
Forever Living was also investigated by the UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency after it was found that National Health Service staff were moonlighting as sales people.
The Environmental Research Center has sued Forever Living Products and their affiliated companies various times from 2011 to 2016 for not abiding by the Proposition 65 or the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Exposure Act.
They emphasized that their “health” supplements, makeup, drinks, protein shakes, and bee pollen mass-produced by Aloe Vera of America had unacceptable levels of toxic lead that required a warning to the customers.
Are The Forever Living Products Really Good For You? Are They Worth Your Money?
Before I discuss the Forever Living ingredients found in some of their popular products, I wanted to share some disturbing testimonials about some of the circumstances that their workers and products are under in.
I have no doubt that these hardworking people are being worked to death and barely paid or a little over the minimum wage.
The testimonials have been broken up and I polished them up a bit with some grammar fixes.
Lolamorena Feb 02, 2011
“Sorry to break it to you, but the level of scam involved in Forever Living is deep in their manufacturing level. They scam everybody every time they come up with a “new” product. I know because I worked there.
Think about it, the work that it takes to come up with a “health” product, all the trials that are involved to make sure that the claims are valid, that the product is safe and it works…and these people launch four products every year?
That is because they knock off everybody else’s product mixed with Aloe Vera. Clever! Not so fast, they perform very weak trials amongst their Executive Committee; which often results in stability data being collected after they launched the product.
In one occasion when they were about to launch their calcium tablet, it would not dissolve sending one of their executives to the hospital with an acute case of appendicitis caused by the undissolved calcium pills.
They never conduct research on anything. The owner sees something he likes, sends it to the lab to get it replicated, throw some aloe in there and voila, they have a new “forever blah blah blah”!
Super expensive crap manufactured by abused Mexican employees in their Dallas plant.
They are smart though, they are careful that they dont put any claims on their labeling that might get them in too much trouble…
Their fish oil caps? A scam. Their Sony’s line? Sucks, it comes from this crappy company out of Ontario with the ugliest colors cheaply made.
Their employees joke that they don’t use anything they make.
The OSHA safety report? Look it up. About the only nice thing I can say about their plant is that it looks clean, and this is because they constantly have visitors”.- ComplaintsBoard
Christian girl Mar 08, 2013
“I also worked in the Dallas plant and I would testify under oath in a court of law as to how horrible it is there.
The workers are treated very badly by management and the product is made in the most filthiest of conditions.
There is a boss there named Jim Boggus that abuses the female Mexican workers in a way that would curl your hair and make you puke.
And I witnessed a compound supervisor so severely discriminated against because they refused to lie to the FDA about expired ingredients being put into drinks and roaches and other foregin materials in their cosmetics.
Parts to machinery are left filthy and contaminated with Staph virus that it would disgust any consumer.
I am actually working with an attorney due to a Supervisor named Jack Sessions because he was one of the worst Supervisors they have. He made advances towards me and when I told him no and to leave me alone, he said he would make sure I was fired and he did. That’s called sexual harassment and it’s blatant and widespread at that company.”
There’s Better And Cheaper Alternatives To Their Products
Let’s take a look at their flagship product Forever Aloe Vera Drinking Gel…
The product is $19.31 just for 1 Liter. A gallon of this stuff would cost you a whopping $73.13!
A Better And Way Cheaper Option…
Miracle of Aloe’s 100% Real Aloe Juice is just $24.99 for 1 gallon at Amazon and is made with organic aloe vera leaves.
What About Their Supergreen Powder?
Eating real fruits and vegetables offers a lot more benefits because you’re getting vitamins, phytonutrients, water, and fiber.
It’s not that hard to incorporate more greens in your diet. Add kale and spinach to your smoothies. Make yourself a kale salad with peaches, nectarines, olive, white wine vinegar, some minced shallots, and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Saute some broccoli and sprinkle it with some fresh parmesan cheese and lemon juice. There’s lots of tasty recipes you can find online.
Forever Supergreens has only three reviews with an average of 3.7 stars. This is kinda odd to me taking into consideration how popular the company is. The company also fails to provide a nutrition label.
So when I clicked on their key ingredients link, they immediately highlight the main ingredients consisting of spinach, broccoli, and barley grass powder. This product also has Maltodextrin, Gum Acacia, Natural Flavor, Silicon Dioxide, Citric Acid, Stevia and Sunflower Lecithin.
“When shopping for a green powder, first take a look at what is actually in them, and if you see any mention of “proprietary blend” on the label, set it back down on the shelf…, the “proprietary blend” loophole doesn’t require the company to list out the amount of said ingredient—which means you may have a vague sense of what you’re putting into your body… “Anything that has any sort of dye or coloring or additive—those are things that you’d want to steer clear of, too,” says Rothenberg. “Really, anything you can’t pronounce.”- GQ
One particular review of the product on the website caught my attention:
I found a similar product named Amazing Grass Organic Supergreens powder with a simple list of ingredients: organic wheatgrass, organic kale, organic moringa, organic spirulina. The product is certified organic, has 379 ratings with an average of 4 stars, and is 4.8 ounces for a little less than $10.
However, Rothenberg advises to also be cautious about that product also and to take a look at the percentage of vitamins and minerals the product has. He states that it will boost your Vitamin K levels, but fail to provide adequate Vitamin C.- GQ
Another option is Organic SuperGreens on Dr.Axe.com. The product is as low as $35.66 if you subscribe and has an average rating of 4.5 out of 671 reviews.
Forever Living Income Disclosure- Will They Really Make You Rich?
Starting a business with Forever gives you the potential to earn a significant income …in an average month during 2018, 88.6% of purchasers globally did not receive any meaningful compensation or earnings from Forever …
11.4% of monthly purchasers earned a volume-based bonus from the sales made by those they sponsored along with retail profits of 35-48% on all products they have sold personally…
69% of this group earned an average of $105 per month ($1,263 annualized) in bonus earnings.
30% earned an average of $1,493 per month ($17,916 annualized) in bonus earnings.
Our highest earners, <1%, earned an average of $28,512 per month ($342,149 annualized) in bonus and incentive earnings.- Forever Living
Forever Living Marketing/Compensation Plan
They clearly state on their website that to make money with Forever is going to take hard work and is based on these two main actions:
1.Sell to everyone you come across.
2.Build a team and recruit more people under you.
These are three levels that you can earn income:
Retailer: earning a profit on your personal sales.
Team Leader: earning profit and bonuses on individuals you sponsor.
Business Developer: earning profit, bonuses, and overrides on leaders you developed.
Case credits- each unit of product is assigned a case credit which is proportionate to its price. These are accumulated to determine when an FBO reaches a higher discount level or achieves a company incentive.
You start out by registering as a Novus Customer which will give you a 15% discount off the products.
Once you have two case credits by purchasing for two consecutive months, you become a Wholesale Qualified FBO and you will qualify for a 35% discount.
As an assistant supervisor, you can sell the products for a 35% profit.
You can also sponsor Novus customers and receive a 20% profit on their purchases. When they Become Wholesale Qualified, their sales volume is added to your personal sales volume to determine when you move up in the marketing plan.
When your personal sales volume hits 25 case credits over two consecutive months, you’re permanently promoted to the level of supervisor and receive a 3% increase in your retail and Novus profits. You also receive a bonus on the sales of your downline.
You become an Assistant Manager when your total group volume is 75 case credits over two consecutive months which will allow you to earn 43% retail and 28% on Novas and qualify for group bonuses from 5% to 8%.
You become a Manager when you hit 120 case credits over two months. Your profit jumps to 48% retail and 33% Novus plus group bones of 5% to 13%.
What I Like About Forever Living
-They have been around for more than 40 years and are a financially secure company.
-Bonus incentives and rewards are given to distributors like their Global Rally incentive, their Chairman’s Bonus Program, and their Forever2Drive Program which can help you earn money for a brand new car or a house.
-Forever Giving partners with charitable organizations that helps feed and give children the medical care they need.
What Makes Forever Living A Pyramid Scheme
-The majority of distributors are hardly making any money. 69% of this group earned an average of $105 per month ($1,263 annualized) in bonus earnings.
-There are 13 levels in the compensation plan with is disgustingly designed to enrich your upline and impoverish those at the bottom of the pyramid.
-They reward constant recruiting more than anything.
-You have to hand over hundreds of dollars a month to line your uplines pockets and be considered an “active” distributor.
-Their overpriced products have been found to contain lead and they didn’t put this warning. Also, according to the above testimonial, she saw roaches and other foregin materials going in there.
–There are cheaper and better alternatives without any added cancerous chemicals and are certified organic.
Forever Living At A Final Glance
Through my research and the fact that they exposed their customers to toxic lead, I do not trust this product and to me, they’re not worth a penny of my money.
Though I believe in eating real food, there are much better and cheaper alternatives to Forever Products.
They have no morals and they do nothing to make sure that they’re workers are working in a safe environment.
Forever Living deceives their customers by telling them that they can help you achieve your dream, when in fact, there is no opportunity.
The only opportunity is you and a chance for them to scam you out of your money.
Do your body and your wallet a favor and stay away from this company.
I hoped you liked this article, found it helpful, and share it. If you have any questions or have experience with this company, please share your story below to help others. Thank you! 🙂
To Your Success,
Jennifer
Jenniferspassion4internetmarketing.com
