Profile
Interviewee: Mr. S (man in his 30s)
Interview timing: 2022.4
Relationship with MLM: Mom is an active member (since 2015)
MLM company (Company A): Provides beauty and health products. More than 10 years since launch
Family structure: Father, mother, sister and Mr. S
Trigger
My mother had been interested in fortune-telling and spiritual things since I was a child.
She would sometimes recommend meditation training or books that I couldn't understand well, but at the time I was too young to understand the world, so I simply accepted what she said. My mother was living with anxiety about her lower back, which she had injured when she was a student. She worked as a meter reader for a power company. She often walked during work, and the physical work might have put a strain on her lower back.
In 2015, she quit her job as a meter reader and became a salesperson for Company A (MLM company). She probably started MLM business since the publisher of a spiritual book that my mother loved recommended MLM. I don't know why she chose Company A.
I just thought that she was doing something strange. But at the same time, I thought she could do what she wants since she had worked for us so far and didn't interfere in any way.
I became MLM member
At the same time, a friend of mine from my college days invited me to join another MLM company. I was dissatisfied with my job at the time, and perhaps I wanted to be inspired, so I accepted his invitation and became a MLM member. But soon after, another friend persuaded me to learn about the reality of MLM, and I quit MLM using the cooling-off system.
This led me to understand how MLM business works and its negative image.
Changes in mother
After that, my sister and I moved away from the family home, and only my mother and my father lived together. In April 2021, I got married. Around this time, my mother began frequently advocating anti-vaccination.
She sent me shady YouTube videos, and she stirred up fears that more and more people were dying after being vaccinated. My wedding was just around the corner, so I kept my mouth shut, thinking that telling her that I had been vaccinated would cause trouble. However, my mother kept asking me if I had been vaccinated. When I told her honestly, she said, "Traitor! You are the liar!."
December 2021, when I visited home with my wife, my mother gave us company A products (T-shirts and spats) as gifts. She had given me products several times before, but I accepted them even though I thought I didn't need them. My wife didn't like them either, but she couldn't refuse, so she accepted them.
Conversation with my mother
In February 2022, when I went back to my parents' home alone, I told my mother that I wanted her not to give me company A products anymore. But she said, "It's a present, so you can take it without worrying about it. It's a parental love." When I was asked by her why I couldn't accept them, I told her about the negative public impression of MLM and why it is dangerous.
"It is terrible that you feel bad about my work just because of the public image. I want you to understand the good of the product by using the product and watching company A's seminar video. That's how we get closer to each other.", she said. I also told her, "If Company A's products are so good, it is better to sell them by advertising normally instead of using the pyramid scheme which has become a social problem." But she replied, "Company A is strategically adopting pyramid scheme. Advertising costs money. The company doesn't have that kind of money. If that happens, our jobs will be lost."
Currently, my mother sends me weekly LINE messages saying, "People who used Company A's product improved their health like this!" and articles about vaccines.
I ignore them all.
Relatives' reactions
Recently, my sister seemed to agree with my mother's LINE messages, so I talked to her.
My sister became a member of Company A and purchased the product once a month. She said she and her husband liked using it. When I told her that Company A is a pyramid scheme and that it has become a social problem that even the police have issued a warning, my sister said, "My mother has firsthand experience that work and daily life are boring unless she is healthy. I want you to understand that parents want children (us) to rest well by using Company A products. Also, my father is working now, but they might be senile if my father and mother were at home alone. So, apart from talking about MLM, if they don't have something to do with people or something to live for, they will be ruined."
My father still works weekdays and is not very interested in pyramid schemes.
What I think now
My mother is not so much trying to earn money from pyramid schemes as trying to get people to understand the merits of the MLM products, so she won't listen to anything I tell her. She dotes on the products, so it doesn't make much sense to tell her that she can't earn enough money from pyramid schemes and that people have a bad impression on MLM. My sister, on the other hand, seems to buy the products in consideration of her mother, but her kindness actually increases my mother's dependence on pyramid schemes. I hope my sister to realize this soon.
Through participating in this community of MLM victims association, I have learned that there are many people who have similar concerns. I think all MLM organizations brainwash their members in the similar way. In addition, I feel that it is necessary to change the distance and approach depending on the relationship with MLM member.
In the future, I would like to continue to work as followings;
Tell my sister and father about the dangers of MLM and gain their understanding
Continue to tell my mother that I do not need the MLM product and tell her about the dangers of MLM.
My mother believes that there is no other job she can do besides MLM business. She is in her sixties and her back condition is deteriorating, so the work she can do is limited, but I will look for something.
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