Simply put, since Herbalife's incentive structure rewards hiring rather than retailing products, Herbalife is a pyramid scheme. The main difference between a legitimate MLM and an illegal pyramid can be the way they make most of their money and you can catch the scent of their sales tactics. If the company focuses more on recruitment tactics than on sales, it can be a pyramid scheme. It is illegal because it usually sells a promising business opportunity with high returns in a short time when, in reality, most of those who participate lose money.
On the other hand, if the company focuses on selling goods or services and gets most of the revenue from those sales, then it's probably a good MLM. Your small basic 3-ounce chicken breast or a cup of Greek yogurt have about 25 grams of protein and will always be a better choice nutritionally than any pill or powder. Louis Ignarro, PhD, is a member of the editorial board of the Herbalife Nutrition Institute and a member of the Herbalife Nutrition Advisory Council. That said, I don't like the look of their Formula 1 Healthy Meal nutrition shake, which contains the same amount of protein and sugar per serving.
Sure, you could view the Herbalife Family Foundation (also known as the Herbalife Nutrition Foundation) or Casa Herbalife as a marketing tactic and a tax waiver. Although Herbalife primarily sells nutritional pills and powders, it has recently added skin and hair care products to its growing catalog. They will offer a nutritional powder, which you haven't seen anywhere else and which is supposed to make you strong and muscular. And I can't deny the fact that they're literally shipping billions of dollars worth of nutritional supplements to their hundreds of thousands of independent distributors around the world.
Although it was named one of the fastest-growing companies in the U.S. In the U.S., the controversial MLM company continued to receive criticism from doctors, nutritionists, and state and federal agencies. Herbalife is an MLM program that “sells” nutritional and weight management products in 84 countries and has been doing so since 1980.
