Illegal Monavie Disease Claims?

A Monavie associate just made a comment on the Monavie Blog here at the MLM Blog Network. Have a look at the comment...

Alicia Miller:

I'm looking for people who are suffering from asthma, high blood pressure, diabetes, Monavie drink, has the #1 anti-oxidant to help peaple who suffers from these diseases...go to the site and order...It will give you energy and we're also looking for New Distributors..only $39 for a wholesale account plus the purchase of the product..for more information please call: 1-888-213-2735

Alicia, Alicia, Alicia.

You didn't just say that Monavie will "help people" who suffer from "asthma, high blood pressure, diabetes". Oops, ya did.

Did you know that the FDA and the FTC does not like it when you make this type of health claim?

Officials at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Food and Drug     Administration (FDA) say health fraud promoters often target people who are  overweight or have serious conditions for which there are no cures,     including multiple sclerosis, diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, cancer, HIV and     AIDS, and arthritis.

Aside from the illegal claims, let's look at the "#1 anti-oxidant" statement about Monavie.

I'm not sure how Alicia can claim that Monavie is the #1 anti-oxidant when it takes 9 ounces of Monavie to equal 1 concentrated ounce of Xtra in anti-oxidant level. In fact, Xango (Magosteen) has a higher ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capaicity) than Monavie (Acai).*

Not to mention that fact that you can get Mangosteen and Acai at Costco for 1/4 of the price of the Network Marketing product.

Can we learn from all of this?

Of course we can.

Don't make any claims that your product is intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. You will get in trouble.

* ORAC level testing performed by Brunswick labs.

Update: The MLM Blog Network has launched a new forum to allow for uncensored comments about MonaVie.  You can promote your MonaVie business, post your comments and opinions and have a spirited debate with no modoration (outside of outright spam). Sound like fun?

Check out: MonaVie Uncensored

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Comments

[Aaron Cook]

Great post Ty. Can we say OOOPS!

And that's quite a BIG oops she made. Good way to get Monavie to drop you like a bad habit!

Shine on,
Aaron

[Alicia]

First of all , I said ..HELP PEOPLE WHO ARE SUFFERING, NOT CURE..and I'm sorry, I didn't know that I couldn't get leads from this site..Obviously, I found this site "MONAVIE BLOG" on a Google website..I didn't know that I would catch a beat down from this!!nor am I trying to get dropped from MONAVIE..I will contact my upline to advise of these sites who claim they can get you MONAVIE LEADS!!!

[Joe]

Alicia, I wouldn't get upset just yet. Check the traffic stats on your Mona Vie site over the next couple of days. A link from this blog is bound to send some visitors your way......

[Korey King]

Yep. Can't avoid it.

In any network marketing business, the majority of promoters make claims similar to these - which has spawned the often-used phrase 'network marketing is a business driven by people who don't know how to market and don't know how run a business'.

Alicia - as a Monavie distributor myself, I know a major target market of ours is predominantly those who suffer from arthritis, HBP, diabetes and a host of other health problems. But our product really doesn't help with these problems. Monavie simply provides the anti-oxidants and phyto-nutrients from 19 varied fruits, assisting our bodies to heal themselves.

Any product, or any prescription drug for that matter, does not cure anything (legally and literally).

As for the '#1 anti-oxidant' claim, I'd imagine this was a miscommunicated 'acai - the world's #1 super-food' claim, which is true according to Dr. Nicholas Perricone, as well as repeated by Oprah.

The acai used in Monavie (Opti Acai) does have the highest ORAC score known today (1027 per gram), but Monavie itself is a blend of acai with 18 other health-promoting fruits from all over the color spectrum as identified by our CSO Dr. Ralph Carson. Add a pinch of esterified fatty acids and a dash of glucosamine which have been shown to promote joint health, and you've got a quality product that you can't find at your local Costco.

But yeah. Watch them words. I don't think Monavie will 'drop you like a bad habit' for this one little thing, Alicia. But you should definitely re-evaluate your marketing strategy on the internet if you expect 1) to be successful in our business, and 2) to be taken seriously by people looking to you for help. Know the facts first. Then start the massive blog commenting campaign. Or, you know. Whatever's clever.

[Ty]

Wel said Korey.

[David Speake]

I love fruit, lots of people love fruit...don't make any claims about what monavie does. Best thing is to let people try the juice for themselves they will either feel something or they won't.

[Ty]

MonaVie is a good juice product. The goofy claims might help in the short run, but they will cause more harm in the long run.

[Joe]

I pray that all MonaVie representatives remember the family that gave us the opportunity to distribute their product.
Please do not make any claims that will bring harm to such a great organization as well as the Larsen Family. Our product will speak for itself just work the program that was designed for success.

[Rob]

Nice - bash someone on a claim, then make your own un-supported claim... that Xango has higher ORAC than MonaVie. Does it? Where is that study? And have you looked into the study for faulty testing, or from where the antioxidants come from? Have you read the review of antioxidant supplement studies showing that antioxidants from supplements may actually be harmful? Does Xango spike it's blend with synthetic supplements to get a higher score? Maybe, maybe not. So show us your study if you're going to make claims, and mis-quote other's claims as Alicia so rightly re-states what she said and didn't say. Sorry Ty, I normally like your posts... this one was ill conceived even though I understand, and support your point, that anyone marketing a non-medicine should avoid making "cure" claims.

[Ty]

The study I have from Brunswick shows Noni at 427, Monavie at 518 and Xango at 627 and it is published at:

http://www.oasisoffice.com/_Library/librdoc/ASPbook.pdf

As for Alicia, I'm not sure how this statement can be misquoted:

"I'm looking for people who are suffering from asthma, high blood pressure, diabetes, Monavie drink, has the #1 anti-oxidant to help peaple who suffers from these diseases.."

Is she or is she not saying that MonaVie will help people with asthma, high blood pressure, and diabetes?

[BS]

So, Ty, you get your "research" from an article promoting another health drink?

"Not to mention that fact that you can get Mangosteen and Acai at Costco for 1/4 of the price of the Network Marketing product"

Come on, man, really?

[BS]

Not to mention, the "research" you quote says ACAI, not MONAVIE...
Come on, man, really?

[BS]

Alicia stated: "#1 anti-oxidant to help people"

Key word: Help
Not: Cure

[Ty]

There is a reason that MonaVie corporate has started to come down on associates using the web...you can not say that a natural product "helps" with any disease or the FDA will consider it a drug and that will open up a big mess for MonaVie.

What product do you think was used in the Brunswick testing of Acai?

If the numbers are wrong, what is the ORAC value of MonaVie?

[Kathy]

The ORAC score in MonaVie is 1026.

[Cook]

I loved Korey's response to Alicia. There is a lot to learned from this seasoned network marketer! All I can say is that when you get into a network marketing company you must be careful what claims you do make about your product. That is how "MLM's" get a bad wrap. We don't want people to misrepresent our company or the products we sell. As long as we are honest and we have a good product that helps people then we don't have to make claims. Of course I am not saying that Alicia said anything that was false but sometimes it is how you say it that can me misunderstood or misrepresented! Good luck with Mona Vie Alicia!

[Arthur]

Do some more research on Acai, independent of any MLM companies research departments. The source of the anti-oxidants in Acai is measured in it's freeze dried form because that is it's only stable form. When in a liquid form this breaks down in about 12 hours. That is why most reputable research institutions haven't worked with the fruit itself and only the freeze dried form. The fruit is usually processed and consumed immediately, where available, because it doesn't keep well.

[formerNFLer#29,40,31]

I seemed to have stumbled onto the right sight! When are people going to realize that network marketing was meant to be a face to face business! Myself included! I came up with an idea this morning from an experience I had at work. Im a loan officer, I work from 9:30 in the morning until 8:00pm at night. I was getting teased by the guys at work because I brought my monavie with me everyday. They called me juice boy and said I had the majic juice! Well to make a long story short I signed up all 14 of the loan officers my boss and the Area Manager in the office over a two month period. My Area Manager being the most difficult one. Six of us ended up ganging up on him destroying any rebutles that he thought of and he had no choice but to sign up. So after experiencing that, I decided to get six of my downline who have placed bottles with people and have peaked people's interest or have people that they think would want to jump on board with us to meet up and we all go pitch them together. You know strength in numbers. The first week we signed up 7 distributors together and guess what....... those 7 are coming with us next week! Let me know how ya'll feel about this strategy it worked in the first week for me and my downline and we're so excited we don't plan on stopping!

[Disgusted with MonaVie]

What a scam this entire MonaVie thing is! I am in the downline of the most successful people in MonaVie and they have mislead thousands upon thousands of people by NOT telling them the truth about their MLM experience PRIOR to joining MonaVie. They are very disceptive and are selling the "easily duplicatable" concept which is a SCAM! MonaVie corporate does nothing to discourage the deception. On top of all that, the SECOND most successful couple in MonaVie make their money from the sale of promotional products! The conveniently don't tell you that they are in litigation with another MLM company that they were with previously and that the $ is made in the sale of promotional materials, NOT in the sale of the juice. RUN from this company. It is WRONG for people that are presumed to be in a leadership position, to mislead and deceive others who are looking for accurate information. To convenientley leave out HUGE portions of their background and previous MLM experience and down-play their already proven sales abilities is a total scam. What a great way to get people to join your team... Just tell them a bunch of 1/2 truths, cry a little, lie a little and run to the bank with a smile.

[AmbientHealth]

I am a first time MLM person who never thought I would buy an MLM product let alone become part of one. But I have been so impressed with MonaVie - both the product and the company. It has been an incredibly positive experience for me. I don't understand people like the last poster. I'm not sure what his expectations are/were but you really do have to work in this business and like most sales and marketing you are at an advantage if you're a self-starter with good social skills and a lot of friends. I happen to be an engineer and most of my friends are very analytical and don't jump quickly onto anything. I know I will go more slowly than some at business building, but every person I have turned on to MonaVie has had a positive experience for their health and that is a fabulous thing for me. In particular my mom, who us under regular medical care, had a 31 pt drop in her cholesterol level after 5 weeks drinking the juice and her thyroid score was up so her doctor chose to reduce her medication. That made me so happy!!
Sure MLMs will attract some "get rich quick" people who jeopardize the legitimacy of the business, but this product is just too great to pass up simply because it's sold by MLM. You don't have to join to buy - but because I joined, and shared, I am getting my juice for free. Starbucks doesn't do that for it. I dig it. And considering that a pint of blueberries at Whole Foods costs me $4.99 and a 1oz shot of wheat grass is $1.50, I think MonaVie is a great value too. That's my $0.02.

[stillundecided]

I am thinking about joining the MonaVie team. It all seems so confusing. Can anyone offer advice?

[KingsForHealth]

stillundecided - If you know of anyone that has noticed a difference in how they feel, then try the juice for yourself. If you have tried the product and you notice a difference in how you feel, then join. Try before you buy! For many people, the product itself brings them in as distributors.

[Zheka]

This one is for formerNFLer#29,40,31.

I know precisely whom you are talking about. And have a suggestion for you"---please don't take it as an offense------"

You should come more often to the open meetings, and listen to some CD. Every time, these guys mention that they DID have previous experience with MLM. How much more truth do you want?

Second. They themselves said that the documentation you are buying from the support group is written by them. It does not take a genius to figure out, that yes, they do get profits from that company. So what? I'd rather pay for the material that has been tested and go with it to build my MonaVie business, and not complain about something this insignificant.

Good luck with your business, and keep your spirit high.

MonaVie is great. Do it right, read the MAP book and full speed ahead.

[Zheka]

Sorry. This blog is for the Disgusted with MonaVie

[wrong-sided]

Is there anything like being put on the wrong side in this MLM? such as being put on someone's left in a right-leg upline?