Jenny's Slap on the Wrist from Advertising Standards

Jenny has this knack of starting promotions but never really persisting with them. In the last few weeks this has included her "Christmas Challenge", which as mentioned in a previous post, appeared to be nothing more than her beginning to use the "Booster" product that JP had started selling. The launch date came and went without incident, and nothing has been said of it since.

This also include's Jenny's attempt to stir up attention by posting a fitness jpeg that had a list of exercises she promised to do all of based on each comment the post received. Thus for every comment she would do 20 star jumps, 10 sit-ups, 30 squats, you get the idea. She received 7/8 comments, then said she would carry through with her challenge the next day... and never did. So that was another empty promotion.

Of particular significance was Jenny's relatively short run of doing competitions. You get the idea, like and share the post, enter the competition, hopefully you win a prize. Nothing amazing, pretty much every company does this on social media from time to time and Jenny was no different.

That was, until, she posted this:

My first thought upon reading that was that she had totally lost the plot and was going to be giving away pretty much all of her capsules to people who liked and shared that status. It does, after all, say that this is a freebie promotion for one month's supply of capsules. So basically, like and share, and get your capsules, right?

Well, it worked, people were liking and sharing that post. Buoyed by this reaction, Jenny continued her pitch:

 And again, people did. They wanted their free month's supply of capsules so liked and shared that status. I mean, it's free pills!

Along came the deadline...

 

 

*CAR SCREECH*

Sorry, what?

"will announce the winner of the vineyard capsules tomorrow!

"Thank you to everyone who entered

"Look out for more prizes soon"

"winner... entered... prizes..."

Okay, so despite her previous posts clearly saying this was a freebie for one months supply with no mention of this being a competition, it turns out that this was, apparently, another competition. So no, you didn't get a free supply for liking and sharing the post, as she advertised, you simply got the opportunity to get a free month's supply.

Call me petty - it could well be that she is simply an utter idiot who didn't understand what she was typing - but to me this was out and out false advertising whether she meant it or not. As a result I contacted Advertising Standards and was absolutely amazed when I got this response (red are my edits):

Dear BAJ,

 

Your Complaint: Jenny

 

Thank you for your continued patience and sending the ads to us. I note you raised concerns that Jenny's ads do not make clear that the promotion was a competition, and that only a few individuals would win the prize.

 

We think you’ve made a valid point, and with a view to acting quickly, we contacted the advertiser and requested changes.  I’m happy to advise that the advertiser has provided their assurance that they will ensure all their future promotions will clearly state where there are only a select number of winners.

 

We will now close our files on this matter. Basic information including the company name, the industry sector and the medium in which the ad appeared will appear on our website... in a list with other advertisers that have co-operated in resolving complaints.

 

I do hope that this outcome is satisfactory to you, and finally I’d like to thank you for taking the time and trouble to bring this matter to our attention.

 

 

Kind regards,

 

Betty Smith (edit)

Complaints Executive

 

So, there you have it. Jenny either let her dishonesty get to her head to squeeze out reactions on her page, or she was so stupid she didn't understand basic advertisement ethics. Either way, just like her "Christmas Challenge", just like her exercise-for-comments pledge, the promotions have simply disappeared. It appears that the chances of winning a free supply of capsules... are gone... *sniff*.

 

Facebook page count: 558. I think we're down to the base number now consisting of her friends, family, fellow distributors and people oblivious to the fact that they're members of this page.

 

Updates with Jenny's Juice Plus Scam

I haven't posted anything in the last week or so because I thought we were getting to the stage where Jenny's enthusiasm for JP would fade and the realisation that she has been duped this whole time would set in.

Jenny's relentless posting became one a day, some not even related to JP, and I honestly thought she had put two and two together and figured out the JP scam. But no, not Jenny. In recent days she has gone into recruitment overdrive, posting hardly any product ads and focusing exclusively on finding new members for her "team", you know, where everybody in this team is in direct competition with each other to sell to largely the same catchment area while trying to find even more members to saturate the market. That "team".

Her page's members count is now down to 559. It keeps going down, nobody ever joins. Why can't Jenny figure this out? Well, lay it down to good snake oil sales tactics from the JP marketing machine.

Oh, the Irony

So according to Jenny (well, not her exactly, considering she just copies and pastes whatever her fellow distributors post or she finds herself), having a typical job is a "scam". It is a "scam" because you make "someone else richer", you work for 40 years and you retire on a poor pension.

The solution? Join Juice Plus. Oh, the irony.

Give up your job and join Juice Plus for the benefits of:

- an income that is not guaranteed as it is wholly dependent on your own sales and recruitment figures.

- a company where you are encouraged to recruit anybody, including customers, whereby you are shooting both of your feet by reducing demand and increasing supply at the same time.

- harassing your friends and family and potentially alienating them from your social circle.

- making other people richer because they benefit from your sales, whose uplines also benefit from your sales, whose upline also benefit from your sales, etc, etc, etc.

- getting bored off your pants because your "job" can be done in a matter of minutes, depending on how many posts you feel like spamming in a day.

-  going to conferences where you have to pay for tickets, travel and accommodation to hear people tell you you're going to get rich. Only you never really seem to get rich, let alone make much of a profit.

To date I am yet to see anyone from JP tackle the issue of the company being a pyramid scheme, aka, a scam. The best I have seen yet is a cutesy doodle video Jenny posted where they claim that JP isn't a pyramid because they want to "help" everyone become national marketing distributors, even though that is impossible and would require a never-ending demand for the products.

Sensible, rational people know that JP is a scam. If Jenny truly believes a proper job is a scam and being a JP isn't, then I dare her to quit her day job and focus solely on her distribution sales. Go for it, Jenny, put your money where your mouth is.

Refuting the Responses to Reasons for not joining Juice Plus

Tomorrow, Jenny's "Christmas Challenge" will be launched which, based on the looks of things, is basically just her beginning to use the super duper "Booster" product. She claims that once she starts seeing results she'll be "singing from the roof tops" but considering Jenny has already been using both the capsules and shakes since May, and has GAINED weight since then, the chances of her "singing from the roof tops" are, at best, remote.

Anyway, I have the pleasure of refuting another of her pastejob attempts to recruit people into the "team". Let's begin.

"The main reasons I hear for not joining JuicePlus is that 'it costs money to join', 'I have no time' and 'I don't know who I would sell to'. Now on the outside they seem like completely valid reasons! But let's think about this a minute.... 😉"

Right off the bat this is a strawman. I'll explain why later in this post.

"'It costs money to join JuicePlus' - yes it does, it costs you literally £50 to get your own business!"

And funnily enough the more people who create their "own businesses" the more competition you have to sell products and the more saturated the market becomes. Who wants to compete with their own "team" for customers and pay for the privilege of doing it?

"You get a personalised website for customers to order through as well as an amazing ...virtual office for you to have all the training tools at your fingertips....."

Everyone has this "virtual office". This isn't a unique selling point. Hell, I have my own "virtual office" right now.

"You are getting your OWN BUSINESS for £50 with no other fees"

Except the products you need to bulk buy to sell on to other people.

"no stock to hold"

Except the products you need to bulk buy to sell on to other people.
 
"Pretty good deal when you say it like that huh?"

Not really. All you have said so far is that I get the privilege of spending money joining a pyramid scheme.

"Oh and don't forget that you could make that back as fast as you want, some do it the day they join, personally I earned it back within a week... Since then I've been in completely profit!!"

Wow, as fast as I want? So I can dictate to people that they have to buy my products whether they want to or not? Na, I don't think so.

Also, show us the balance sheet. Every time you guys make these claims you never show us the balance sheets. And I'm not talking about alleged success stories who "made it" to the top and are making £16k+ a month; I want to see YOUR finances.


"Second, 'I have no time' - now this I do understand as I have a busy life, but if you are reading this now, then you easily have time to talk to some people and post some statuses on Facebook through the day"

People come on to Facebook to unwind and talk with friends/family. The last thing they want to do in their free time is harass people into buying junk.

"Lastly we have 'I don't know
who I would sell to'. Again sounds legit but think of it this way... How many businesses start up and only ever sell to the few contacts they already have?? None! We have launched into 25 countries and expanding further next year and you are completely free to sell to anyone from any of those countries! "

Except, as we have already established plenty of times in this blog, the main objective of the company is to recruit more and more and more and more people into the firm. That makes international selling pointless. Why would someone in Switzerland, for instance, want to buy JP products from someone in Canada when there's already thousands and thousands of distributors in their country? It makes no sense. It's a farce.

Furthermore, as more people join, the more saturated the market. It would get to the stage where the latest recruits have nobody left to sell to. That's why JP, like all the others, is a pyramid scheme.

"A lot of us use Facebook as our main platform, but there are so many others! Get chatting to new people and making new friends!!"

People don't make "friends" to be subjected to relentless sales pitches and recruitment drives.

"A lot of things are just a matter of perspective.... Look at things with an open mind rather than a closed one, take a leap of faith and you never know what might just happen."

Sure, let's look at things with an open mind and examine other reasons why people don't join JP but you didn't seem keen on mentioning (hence why it's a strawman):

1) Juice Plus is a pyramid scheme.

2) People don't want to harass their friends and family.

3) People want to engage in proper careers. Careers that extend beyond copying and pasting junk on Facebook. That's not a job.

4) They have no faith in the products. JP products, while it would be perhaps too harsh to say that they are ultimately useless, certainly aren't the revolutionary products the bigwigs claim they are. Furthermore the pricing structure is outright scandalous; for much cheaper you can get more vitamins and nutrients from multi-vitamin tablets, fruit and vegetables.

5) Let me repeat 1): Juice Plus is a pyramid scheme.

Jenny, you have been relentlessly spamming recruitment posts like the above but never seem to get a response. I have counted perhaps three recruits you have made since getting on board JP, one of which quitted soon after joining. People who actually have business brains realise that this is a message from the public, namely, that they do not want to join your scam. You can ask them another ten, hundred, even a thousand times, and the answer will remain the same.

Give it up already and accept that you have been duped. Sort out your diet, join a gym and start to legitimately address your weight instead of blindly chasing a hopeless dream that spreads misinformation about health. You're better than that.

When Jenny takes tabloid stories out of context.

In early October Jenny posted this Sun article as a claim that JP products are more effective in combating weight issues than advice you get from your doctor. Read that sentence again and let it sink in.

What Jenny doesn't seem to realise, or is deliberately ignoring, is:

- Based on that part of the article from her photo (there's no way I'm paying a Sun subscription to read the whole thing), JP isn't mentioned at all. So how she can claim this is evidence that her junk products are worthwhile is beyond me.

- It's from the Sun. For non UK readers the Sun is the gossip magazine newspaper of Britain that is more concerned with boobs and football, not contemporary, relevant issues.

- Based on my interpretation the article is saying that social media is more effective than doctors. What I believe this is based on is the fact that because social media connects us to many people from various walks of life, who can then share their experiences with each other, people learn new ways to address their weight issues and may discover why do date their attempts have been unsuccessful. Above all else, it is likely that people are getting advice about calories-in-calories-out and how this simple but extremely effective system can be the difference between you over-eating, and getting fat, and eating at a deficit and losing weight.

It certainly does not mean that obese people selling over-priced junk on Facebook is more effective than doctors. Above all else, the doctor is the number one person anyone should go to if they are concerned about their health. To claim based on a tabloid article that doesn't even mention your pyramid scheme that it's as good as, if not better, than qualified, expert, medical advice is outright shameful.

Oh, by the way, Facebook count down to 564. That means that since I began posting in the middle of October, Jenny has been losing an average of over one person a day. In a later post I'll do the maths but, regardless, it really doesn't look like attending Brighton for that inspirational (and costly) JP conference has done her sales any good whatsoever.

Translating a Typical Recruitment Pitch...

What Jenny and Juice Plus actually mean with their recruitment pitches:

"Hours to suit you"

This is meaningless considering it takes minutes to copy and paste adverts on a social media page and distributors aren't paid an hourly wage. Their income is based on the sales they make and the people they recruit into the firm.

"Work from home"

As long as you have an internet connection it doesn't matter a jot where you are.

"All from your mobile"

See above. This isn't really a perk.

"Part time hours 1000+ a month"

Makes absolutely no sense. Is that figure 1000 hours or £1000? If it's hours then that is literally impossible as in a typical month there's only 730 hours. Maybe JP distributors have discovered a vortex that allows them to manipulate time? Who knows. If it's money then citation is badly, badly needed. Please show us how the average - emphasis on AVERAGE - JP distributor makes £1000 a month.

"Free holidays"

Why do I have a sneaking suspicion that by "free holiday" Jenny is referring to JP conventions where you buy a ticket, pay for travel, and pay for accommodation to hear people tell you you're going to be rich off selling junk on the internet? Why would any company, let alone a MLM company, give their staff free holidays outwith perhaps rewarding longstanding service or the like?

"Meet amazing people"

People who make money from an unethical business model are not who I would call "amazing". They are con artists who manipulate people like Jenny with false promises of riches and encourage them to engage in a selling practice that can potentially alienate them from the truly amazing people in their lives.

"78k uncapped bonuses"

Again, citation badly needed along with a comprehensive breakdown of how many sales and recruitments the average person would need to make to reach this kind of money. When you make serious claims, you need serious evidence. Unless you're someone like Jenny, I suppose.

"Full training provided"

How to copy and paste cheesy motivational pictures and text for dummies. Training not provided: training in diet, nutrition and lifestyle effects on health. You know, the variables that actually influence a person's weight and wellbeing.

And finally...

"What is Juice Plus?"

A barely legal pyramid scheme that rips off people desperate for quick fixes in their health and/or finances.

A company whose image is all about promoting healthy, active lives... and has obese people like Jenny peddling their products.

A company whose products are completely unnecessary to live a happy, healthy life.

Finally, once again Jenny pitched to everyone on the page to add at least one friend/family member to her page. Considering at the time she had 570 people in the page, she could have theoretically seen a massive jump to 1140.

The figure?

Down to 566. People simply do not want to subject their friends and family to Jenny's garbage. They weren't born yesterday. It was actually 565 as Jenny's own distributor had left the page, only to be readded. Was that a mistake or a "mistake"? Time will tell.

Responding to a Pity Party Pastejob

Okay, so evidently either Jenny has seen her sales dry up, or she's been rightly criticised for her relentless, hypocritical sales pitches, or maybe just saw the above pastejob and liked the sound of it. Regardless, it looks like some MLM distributors have gone on the defensive and tried a new tactic to drum up sales: the emotional pity party pitch. Woah is me, I'm being bullied for spamming adverts to my friends and family, trying to get them to buy or join whatever product I'm selling.

I'm going to run through the post and respond to each point. Lets go.

"ARE YOU SICK OF SEEING WRAP POSTS, JUICE PLUS POSTS, YOUNIQUE POSTS, OR OTHER MLM POSTS? ARE YOU AN EYE ROLLER??"

Yes, absolutely.

"Do you think lower of those in network marketing?? If so ask yourself WHY??"

Because I am smart enough to know a scam when I see one.

"How would you feel if your friends and family constantly attacked you or put you down about your chosen job?"

I would question why people who I know care about me are doing this. If it were one person I'd be dubious; if it were a huge number of my friends and family, I'd kind of think that they would have legitimate reason to criticise my job and not be "attacking" me.

"Refused to support or refer you on to friends in the job that pays your bills and puts a roof over your head? The job that feeds your children?"

Probably because they care about their friends and don't want them to buy your junk products. Furthermore if you rely on a MLM scam for your income then you seriously need to think of an alternative career.

"Maybe you would feel better if the people in network marketing 'Got a real job' that meant leaving their kids at home and doing a job working to make someone else rich?"

Considering there are millions of working families out there who have to arrange childcare for their kids you cannot in any shape or form use this as an excuse for MLM distribution. This is tantamount to emotional blackmail. Furthermore, pretty ironic to whine about working to make other people rich when you are only involved in this scam because you think it is going to make you rich.

"Maybe you would prefer they sat at home and did nothing? Claiming benefit from the 'real job' tax payers (we pay tax too by the way)"

That's essentially what you are doing already unless, like Jenny, you have another job. It really doesn't take much out of the day to copy and paste cheesy crap like this garbage on your social media page. It's not a hard day's work.

"Maybe you think we shouldn't post so much, maybe it annoys you to see people succeeding and wanting more? That we shouldn't do our best to make our dreams come true? I don't think you really think that!! In fact I know you don't when you're honest with yourself! "

Maybe you don't have a clue about how effective marketing works. You can post and post and post this crap until you're blue in the face, but hardly anyone is going to buy products that are overpriced and over-rated. Maybe you're not being honest with yourself.

"If you're in network marketing you're here because YOU SEE A DIFFERENT WAY! A better FUTURE! A way to build your dreams!
HOW MANY OF YOU THINK THAT'S ADMIRABLE?"

It's not admirable, it's sad. You have been duped into engaging in a pyramid scheme where people at the top will make more money off of you and other distributors than they will off product sales. You guys pay the joining fee. You guys pay for bulk products. You guys pay for tickets and merchandise at JP conventions. They make money off it, you don't.

You joined because you think you can make money from doing the bare minimum. Sorry, but it's just not true.

"If you do, then this month instead of scrolling past the posts about candles, wraps, mascara, jewelry or anything else, while rolling your eyes, ask yourself if your willing to help make someone else's dreams come true!
Help someone achieve simply by just liking/sharing or commenting on the post!"

"Help me get rich by buying my over-priced junk! Please! I'm begging you!" Ehm, no thanks.

"A few years ago the campaign to support small businesses was huge!! How about a campaign to support dream chasers, help some parents give children an ace Christmas or make a lifelong dream a reality? I know most of my friends and I know most of you are GOOD PEOPLE!"

There's a big difference between supporting small businesses and MLM distributors. The difference is people behind small businesses actually run their companies. They start it up, or are continuing a business that may have been started further back in time by family members. Their business sells a unique product, or provides a unique service, that may have a reputation for being of good quality. Or they may be a start-up company that has found a niche in the market and need a bit of support to take off and get the ground running.

In other words, they have worked their socks off to get the business off the ground.

You guys, on the other hand, do next-to-nothing in MLM companies. Everything is already done for you - your job is simply to bulk-order products and sell them off online. Your products are over-priced and unnecessary. Furthermore, you try and recruit more people into the scam which begs the question as to how we can support MLM companies when you can theoretically replace customers with distributors - it makes absolutely no sense.

That is why MLMs cannot be supported. They are scams. Small businesses are not. There is no way you can look a small business owner in the eye and say "I know how you feel", because you don't. You know nothing, whatsoever, about business and the risks involved in this sector.

Edit: also, another big difference between small businesses and MLM distributors is that small businesses actually employ people. People are contracted to a set number of hours at a set wage with a set time of payment. Thus, it is absolutely vital that small businesses are kept running not just for the sake of the owners but for the sake of their staff. If these businesses go, so do their staff's livelihoods.

Do MLM distributors get paid like this? No. If JP and other scams go belly-up, you stand to lose nothing but the money you chose to throw at this scheme thinking it was going to lead to long-term riches. It's exactly like demanding that people fork out cash to help a gambler who blew his savings on two cards in blackjack. It's your own fault. Furthermore, I rarely see any distributors fully live on this MLM for their income. Jenny, like many of you, has a proper job and uses this as a supplement for extra cash. How, therefore, is this the same as campaigning for small businesses? It isn't.

"So while you're searching for the perfect Christmas gift this month consider some of these posts! Many offer life changing or lifestyle improving products that could make a huge difference to you or their recipient! Others offer stuff you would probably buy from an online retailer at a higher price"

The problem is your products are not "life changing". With JP I can buy products for way, way cheaper and get much more value for money from my local supermarket. Why would I want my friends and family to buy your overpriced rubbish?

"be savvy this Christmas help those helping themselves and support those wanting to make a difference! It goes a very long way!! "

If you want to make a difference to people then provide them a service that can actually help them. Sitting on your fat ass all day spamming crap on social media isn't helping anyone.

... geez that took longer than I thought. Basically, Jenny is pissed that her sales have dried up and is basically begging people to buy her crap.

I have one question, Jenny.

When's the penny going to drop?