The whole point of a cult is to provide cult leaders with easy, pre-refined access to money, power, and/or sex.
The pyramid scheme scene is a subset of various groups and movements that use a standard set of psychological techniques to persuade downline members to hand over their cash and loyalty.
The more usual variations offer "therapy" or "professional development" at "large group awareness training program" workshops, which typically start free or cheap and then spiral up into ridiculous prices as the more gullible and hopeful members pre-qualify themselves for advanced levels of fleecing.
Herbalife seems to work in a similar way, but with a physical product - which is a good thing, because it's not as vague as promises of spiritual, emotional, or professional empowerment, and most people stop buying stuff when they run out of space to store it.
>If you're selling overpriced tokens, why not make them high-quality?
Because you'll make more money if you don't - because people will buy them anyway.
These schemes have a long and colourful history, and they're especially popular when a lot of people are feeling insecure financially.
What's interesting is that the look and feel of the packaging changes to suit the target audience, but the core get-rich-quick-now-go-recruit narrative is always the same.
These things are really a mental virus - an example of one of many human failure modes.
The whole point of a cult is to provide cult leaders with easy, pre-refined access to money, power, and/or sex.
The pyramid scheme scene is a subset of various groups and movements that use a standard set of psychological techniques to persuade downline members to hand over their cash and loyalty.
The more usual variations offer "therapy" or "professional development" at "large group awareness training program" workshops, which typically start free or cheap and then spiral up into ridiculous prices as the more gullible and hopeful members pre-qualify themselves for advanced levels of fleecing.
Herbalife seems to work in a similar way, but with a physical product - which is a good thing, because it's not as vague as promises of spiritual, emotional, or professional empowerment, and most people stop buying stuff when they run out of space to store it.
>If you're selling overpriced tokens, why not make them high-quality?
Because you'll make more money if you don't - because people will buy them anyway.
These schemes have a long and colourful history, and they're especially popular when a lot of people are feeling insecure financially.
Here's another example:
http://priceonomics.com/when-your-womens-empowerment-group-i...
What's interesting is that the look and feel of the packaging changes to suit the target audience, but the core get-rich-quick-now-go-recruit narrative is always the same.
These things are really a mental virus - an example of one of many human failure modes.