I'm retired USAF and being as I am female, I did get pressured to go to MLM parties hosted by the spouses of Airmen I worked with. I did buy things to be nice, but stopped when I realized I was being cheated. The big MLM everyone was in was Scentsy (edited to correct the spelling) and I have no sense of smell. Since they knew I had no sense of smell, rather than delivering the actual candles I'd ordered and paid for, they'd just give me much cheaper candles that happened to be the same size and color, figuring I'd never know the difference since I couldn't smell it. They accidentally ratted themselves out by bragging about it in their group on Facebook. Being as I'm not a very confrontational person, I just printed out the post where they bragged about ripping me off and used it as my reason to not attend any more MLM parties.

When my husband was stationed in Japan, I joked you could making a drinking game out of how many cars you saw at the BX and commissary with MLM stickers. Me, I had an actual job at the base daycare and a side hustle running a shopping service for anime merchandise and Japanese goods (yukatas, flavored kitkats, Starbucks sakura mugs etc)

I'm a military spouse and I'm doing a project on military spouses un/underemployment, and after watching this I might include the issue of MLMS in the project

Im a military spouse, i can back that this is a huge issue. Its hard to even make friends when moving to a new base. Its hard to trust people want to be your friend and not just use you

As a military spouse who has really struggled with basically giving up my chances of a normal career, I REALLY want to thank you for making this video. So many wives that I know (including myself) are desperate to be able to work, and it makes us all easy targets for these schemes. I don't blame the women that get sucked into them because they're probably just trying really hard to fill their days with something and looking for a way to make money. It's just sad that military spouses' insecurities about their working careers are exploited by these MLMs. Thank you for talking about this.

I work for Tricare and I’ve actually had several Active Duty spouses try to recruit me over the phone. Its insane.

Thanks for this. As a former (now retired) military spouse I can attest that this has been going on since at least the early 80’s. The pressure from the more senior wives was real. I was sucked into my fair share of MLMs myself when I was younger. My heart breaks when I see on Facebook that MLMs in the military spouse community are still alive and well.

I’ve seen a lot of anger (and hope!) in the disabled community recently as we realize that a great many jobs be done from home, hopefully some kind of reform will also allow military spouses to have legitimate careers that are relatively portable.

I had no idea your husband was in the military! My husband is in the Navy! I run a Navy significant others group on facebook and soooo many of them ask if there is jobs they can do from home but legit things are so hard to come by. People try to join my group just to find vulnerable girls to scam them but I can tell who is the scammers and kick them out lol. I'm lucky that I've been able to always find a job in my career field but it is tough to explain I will only be here for a year 🤷‍♀️

I've been a military spouse for 18 years now. The first 10 years of being a spouse I was always invited to these MLM parties. I would go and buy whatever because I wanted to support the person throwing the party. But there came a point in my life where I decided I no longer wanted to be part of the military community because of mlm and just spouse drama in general was too much. Since then I DO NOT look for military spouse friends. I try to find jobs off base and make civilian friends. I think I'm much happier now then I was before. I have a select few friends who are/were military spouses, and i value their friendship (i'll also add those friendships were also made overseas and being overseas, you find people who will become family because you need that support). Those friendships were not built on MLMs. The spouses I became friends with because of MLM, I couldn't tell you where they are at right now.

You should also talk about MLMs targeting minorities. I am Mexican and I literally grew up with MLMs without knowing it. Tupperware and Avon were the top ones that hosted parties. I actually thought Avon was a high-end brand. My aunts and my mom were a part of it. My aunt even quit and rejoined because she needed money and thought it would be different that time. It didn't work out.

My husband is retired AF, I spent 17 years as a mil spouse and now my daughter is married to an airman. MLMs are crazy prevalent as is spouse unemployment and underemployment (my salary more than double when we left rural NC). I want to preface by saying I'm not defending MLMs but back before online shopping and Amazon, there was a lot of products that you couldn't get unless you traveled or bought from MLMs. The biggest thing that jumps out is adult.... toys (I guess). It was/still is I think, illegal to sell adult novelty items in NC and there wasn't a store anywhere near us. Not that they are a necessity but my husband deployed 8 times, we spent more than 5 years apart so I'm not ashamed to say I own vibrators and an MLM home party was the only local option. But that's why that are so successful in the military community, they are providing products that you can't or couldn't buy locally in some places. I was never comfortable joining an MLM myself because there are rules for fraternization and I didn't want to make it awkward as my husband made rank, and because more than once I was pressured to attend or shop because of a someone's spouse's rank. Thank you for covering this topic and thank you for your sacrifice.

I use to say : I will go to your party, and eat your snacks. But I’m not buying sh👋t. Our post commander banned mlms from our post. Yet it didn’t stop then. Thank you for your sacrifices and your husband’s service.

My husband and I are both Marines, and I am a member of some of our neighborhood community pages. SOOO many girls in my neighborhood are apart of an MLM.

I've been watching your content for a while now and I'm glad you put in your two cents towards this, I would hear jokes about it and I never once would see the explanation about it. And yea, military couples marry younger because (from what I heard) the resources, benefits and other things are easier to have when you are legally attached to them. It's sad that these groups go for people who already in a tight spot.

This is a huge reason I’m pursuing tattooing. My husband is USAF, and I know every military town has at least one tattoo shop nearby that I’d be able to find work at. I’m recently married, not even living on base yet, but I already have seen the MLM issue in the milspo community :/

I’d love to see a deep dive into Lifevantage. I don’t see anyone talk about this MLM, and they’re SO awful. Keep up the great content Madison!!! I love your videos!

the experience of a military spouse sounds very similar to the experience of a third culture kid (children/teenagers who move around internationally a lot/who do not grow up in the culture that their parents belong to)

2:00 kitty on the fridge! Kitty on the fridge! Don't hurt yourself kitty!

I'm glad i found these antimlm channels. Here in my country they have a thing where they ask you out to party or drinks or dinner whatever and suddenly you find yourself on a "meeting". Haha they basically kidnap you to listen to them.

I think it is how my aunt got into MLMs...military spouse, she is.

Active duty female here, and yeah, it's bad. One of my jobs is inprocessing soldiers to my unit and I warn them to keep an eye out for these companies! Btw, I think you'll like Colorado Springs a lot!

Your insight is so amazing! If you’re interested, I would love to see a video about mlms and Christianity since a lot of mlms brand themselves as “Christian companies”. Love your work!

Its really heartbreaking how many Military spouses are targeted by these sorts of things... Its hard enough to make that lifestyle work without companies preying on them.

Just to follow up, I think one way to help end the MLM grip on the military community is they could ban MLMs from base housing. Although I don't know how that would work now that most housing is privatized but I remember you use to need command permission to have a home based business and they could simply crack down using that authority.

Back with another story, shorter this time. We've been on the same base for the last couple years as our first home away from home. My husband is AF, I was medically discharged AF, and we had just the one daughter at the time. Our first Halloween rolled around and we went by the housing office's table so my daughter could get goodies and the manager of the housing office handed me a little baggie saying "And something for Mommy too". It was her Pure Romance card. It was 800 levels of awkward and that was when I learned there's an adult toy MLM... From the woman that handles my rent and housing needs.

So this is why the guard made all of us take anti Mlm classes. We were all very surprised when a anti mom class was mixed in with the suicide prevention, financial help, and anti serial harrasment class

As an Upstate New Yorker, I felt when you said there’s nothing going on. All we have are cows and snow.

I am a Marine wife in Okinawa with my husband, on an air base. I know how this goes. The women are ruthless with these things- like the "college" scammers, for one. I FEEL THIS.

When we were stationed in S. Korea the base we were at had on base housing and leased off base housing. So we were split into two different communities. I was in off base housing, so I don't know how the on base spouses were, I assume the same. All spouses were not allowed to get jobs...it wasn't allowed by the agreement with the government or they would "kick the US military out." (I knew several wives who did have jobs on the economy but I'm sure they weren't ever found out.) So you had a tiny community of say 15 wives and out of them, about 7 had MLMs. It was a constant circle of MLM parties...and if Mary went to your party you then had to go to hers. It was pretty easy to see that any money being made was just changing hands into whomever was holding a party that week. The only folks making any real money were the MLMs. And sadly most wives had a house full of MLM products to add to her weight allowance to move back home with. I had already decided after my first Military MLM party stateside that I was going to avoid the parties at all costs. Luckily while I was frequently invited to parties held by "higher ranking" wives than myself, I was always able to come up with a good excuse to avoid the parties and not order from the catalogs (because that was their backup.)

I'm a military daughter, but once I was old enough, I was talked into joining a couple different MLMs. One was Lia Sophia, which is no longer in business, and the other was PartyLite Candles. The PartyLite one was particularly eye opening for me. They would have weekly conference call pep talks where they would offer advice on how to scam all your friends and family. They would talk about going after people who were in financial trouble and suggested things like just wearing people down if they say no at first. People were nothing but dollar signs to them. Once I quit that one, I swore I would never get sucked in again.

THANK YOU! Sorry my account was down for a bit, changed computers. BUT I'm honored you used my article.

I am active duty USAF, identify as non binary but have typically female body parts, and my spouse is a man who is a USAF veteran. I also used to be Mormon, so MLMs were around me for a big part of my life. My babysitter growing up (who was Mormon) was into BeautyControl, Tupperware, Pampered Chef, Mary Kay, Cookie Lee jewelry, and now Paparazzi. She is an older woman and was stuck at home trying to contribute financially to her household but just lost a shit ton of money in the process. They lost their home and had to move after years of these MLM ventures. I haven’t noticed a lot of MLM talk since entering active duty service, although one of my coworkers has a spouse who does/used to sell Scentsy but is now going back to college to further her education (a much better course of action IMO). Thanks so much for making videos like these - I’ve been bingeing your content for the past 3 days 👌

When you put your 21 rst birthday video I, a 22 years old woman who's single and still in college I'm scared of the situation of a military spouse.

Being a part of this community and still having the lady balls to make this video is amazing. Thank you for talking about this passionately while still being logical. I have friends who are going through this and I am definitely going to share this video with them.

Thank you for the high quality, well researched content that you share with us. Wishing you good health and all things good that you want in life. (I also had shorter employment times and companies straight up rejected an interview without even asking me for resons.)

sooo glad you made this video :) great job calling out what is a totally under-reported issue. Coming from a marine corps family (my dad is now retired) I care about this a lot, but I think most civilians don't understand the unique situations of military members and their spouses and the challenges they face in society. Thank god my mom never got sucked into an MLM after spending 20+ years moving with my dad basically every 3 years.

Military spouse here! I already loved watching your videos but hearing that you’re also a military spouse makes me so happy 😍

Thank you so so much for this video. My husband is out now but when he was active duty it was insane how many MLMs there were, and also how many people fell for them. Really sad. I have always felt like SAHMs and military wives are the main targets because of their vulnerability! And you’re honestly the first person I’ve seen address both. Love your channel so much! PS I always felt like it was so hard to find a nice, normal girl to be friends with on a new base! Thank you for showing the world that military wives aren’t all crazies lol

Wow. I am so happy someone directed me to your video. Both my husband and I serve so I’m both a member and a spouse and I have been introduced to more MLMs than I’d like. I’m so glad someone covered this and sad to have just seen it. The spouse community is over saturated with MLMs and they take it as if we don’t buy from them then we support the big stores and companies. Which if not supporting your MLM means that then sure. I’m going to keep sharing this every time I see someone on the spouse page post about an MLM in hopes of spreading the word 🙌🏽❤️

I'm so glad the algorithm brought me to you - you are AMAZING and I love all the anti-MLM stuff you cover!!!

Excellent video - this has to be one of your best. I'm neither from the US nor anything to do with the military and this managed to capture and explain the MLM/military spouse dynamic in a way that nothing has before and really helped me to see how especially heartbreaking the situation is. Thank you for sharing this content

I’m a military wife too down here in Colorado Springs and the hun bots are crazy

Madison, here' a crazy but possible idea: What if you set up a business(NOT AN MLM) that trains Military Wives to make an income using KZfaq...? You could educate them in all the different areas of youtube(Such as: Beauty, DIY, Daily Vlogging, Lifestyle, Family, Pets, Drama, Product Review, Anti-MLM, Comedy, Finance, Artistic, ASMR, Gaming, Chat Show, Storytime etc. etc.) so that they could find their unique passion and then teach them all the skills they need like camera, lighting, green screen, editing, streaming, advertising, merch etc. etc. to become happy KZfaqrs. They might not all get rich or famous from it but they WILL make more than they would joining an MLM and they will most likely gain a community of friends and followers who are not trying to sell them anything.

I just got a downline recruitment training ad and I’m glad the algorithm is giving you their scammy money 😂😂😂

You brought something new to my attention. I appreciate this contribution to the conversation. Well done

Probably the best way to minimize such a rampant plague such as MLM among Military Spouses, would be knowledge of the issue. These videos go a long way towards that goal, as I'm sure your close friends are aware of your channel and can easily spread the videos easier than explaining what to look out for. Well done.

I am a Navy spouse and own my own photography business- I started out of a passion I had for photography. We lived in Japan and I had nowhere else to work. My business has been something I can confidently promote and stand behind everywhere we move. I have LOADS of friends throughout the years that have tried&failed (and tried&failed) at multiple MLM “opportunities”. I have been invited to party after party. I’ve had so much pressure to purchase/“host” a party. I have lost friendships over refusing to “support their small business like they’ve supported mine”. It’s been the most tiresome cycle to the point where I avoid people who are involved in MLMs. I think they have ultimately damaged relationships and potential for relationships for lots of spouses and have contributed to the already lonesome experience that can come about from being a milso.

I had no idea you were a military spouse as well! My husband is AF. (You will love Colorado Springs!) Thank you for speaking about this topic, it's definitely an issue within the military spouse community. We had the same issues with the on-base military spouse job assistance program at our previous base. It needs some major revamping. I actually worked as a military spouse employment specialist at my previous base through a state grant, where I worked off base and assisted spouses with services and resources to find meaningful employment. This is something I am super passionate about! Great video.

Your content and the content you put me onto is what I love to listen to after work to relax. Great stuff!

19:00 reminds me of that tone deaf meme where a military wife had a sticker in her car saying, "You will address me by my husband's rank" and she was referred to as *petty and second class.*

I came across your channel pretty recently and immediately became obsessed with your videos on MLMs. It seems like most people that aren't in them, hate them, but it's really interesting to see your personal ties to the mlm world. It made me think back on a lot of the women I know that advertise mlm products on Facebook and a lot of them are military spouses. Thanks for bringing such a niche but serious problem more to light!!

I really appreciated your deep dive into how MLMs harm military spouses and their communities. I knew they were a vulnerable to MLM demographic, but I had no idea how deep the exploitation went and really how few options they have on base etc

This hands down the truth about mlms and MilSos. They know that we are a vulnerable group and want to feel “productive” and “useful” by brining an income. I recently started back up again with military content on my channel and I really wanted to tackle this topic on there. I just didn’t know how but this video has given the inspiration ❤️ We as MilSos need to not only inform newer MilSos of all the benefits related to the military but also some of the dangers that lurk within our community.

I was literally about to suggest a MLM in the Military Spouse community video when this one popped up! So well said Madison. Thankfully when I became a military spouse during the height of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan the Family Readiness Groups were at a peak, offering opportunities for young spouses to socialize in low stress (zero sales) environments while our partners were deployed. That's not to say I haven't see my share of MLM "opportunities" over the years. As you said in the video, many military spouses are seeking gainful employment, when there are rather limited options in small military towns too far from the cities to commute and not enough gainful opportunities to go around. I'm hoping the advances in tech will improve the odds for gainful military spouse employment. That's the direction I turned with in my career (thanks to a Military Spouse Career Advancement Scholarship) many moons ago and hope it becomes a more viable option for other military spouses. Thanks for the vid!

I love your videos Madison! It's great you tackle these issues and bring them to light. I hope your channel keeps growing.

Wow this is so sad! Crazy thank you for the info

I’ve been subscribed since your first few videos and I just want to say your growth makes me so so happy. You have amazing content and I can’t wait until you reach over a million!

Boy this takes me back. 30 years I ago so was a new military spouse and everything she’s saying about now was just like that when I first got married. Military spouses (esp female) tend to be very young and ripe for MLM recruiting. I was actually in one before I got married and my dad intervened and got me out. Thank goodness.

Truly sickening how these companies prey on women in tough situations, promising them support and companionship only to turn on them when they can't sustain being in the MLM. As if these Military spouses don't have enough to deal with in their lives already. Stay strong girl! Love your channel and the way you fight against these asswipes!

I'm not a military spouse, but your comments about your experiences with employment services really resonated with me because that has been similar to my experiences with all the employment service offices I've ever been to. That's not to say they don't have some useful help to offer, but if your needs go beyond basic help with resumes/selection criteria, or applying to jobs then they are useless. The best thing that ever came out of one of these offices for me was when they were getting people into volunteer programs. Nowadays they just force people into online learning to pad out their resumes with basic certificates.

I'm late as usual! I'm also a military spouse! My husband is in the navy. Thank you for talking about these issues. I hope you've been well!

Good job, excellent looking out for the community!

Keep up the good work.Enjoying these videos in this unprecedented situations.👍

I’m a Military spouse and us Army Veteran. I’m new to the military spouse role, but I have heard of the MLM community targeting military spouses in particular. Thank you for this information!

The way I literally got an ad for what seemed like an MLM on this video

Love your videos Madison great content delivery and straight to the point!

My first mlm party was in officer housing at Fort Sham Houston. I bought some stuff from the lady. Looking back, I was thirsty for friends. I can’t imagine going through a deployment without the support of the other wives. Luckily, they were not heavily involved in mlms . Isn’t it against the military rules to operate any business out of military housing? Also, I have made some coin flipping things on eBay. I encourage military spouses to look into that avenue. It’s a lot of fun and you don’t have to bug your friends and family. I enjoyed hearing from the other spouses. Take care everyone. 😊👋😷💅🏻

Military spouse here and thank u for speaking on this!! Perioddddd

this is really really heartbreaking to hear I really had no idea. Military spouses went through this kind of thing I mean I've heard some things about not being able to find good work because of lack of stability but I guess when you're not living the life you don't truly know what someone's going through.military spouses fight a different war than their spouses that are deployed and they should be supported to the best of our government's capabilities. But that shows you the government that your loved ones I loved ones are fighting for.

Good stuff young dependa 🤙 But seriously, your videos are great keep it up!

Interesting! Thanks for bringing this up...great info!

As a military spouse I can say this video is 100% TRUE!! Thanks for caring the truth, girl!

THANK YOU! I’m so ducking tired of being approached by them.

Military brat here, my mom sold pampered chef, the big issue she found was that once people bought the products they lasted so long they didn't need to buy new ones. She sold it for a long time probably because so many people came in and out of our town. She stopped selling it when she was no longer making sales because new reps started popping up. Im glad she didn't lose a bunch of money and the products were at least useful it's so crazy knowing that it was an MLM now.

Thank you to your husband for his service and to you for supporting him!!!

Just a small note, at 19:11 the screenshot and what you are reading aloud don't match up. Great video! Important that things like this be brought to light.

Got married to my military spouse this year and literally joked about putting "i will not join an mlm" in my vows.

Great video. It’s very sad. These women should be supporting each other. Just subscribed.

Interesting! I knew that it’s common for military spouses to be involved in mlms, it’s interesting to hear about the reasons behind it. Seems like it’s kind of a perfect storm.

Yes! They are everywhere on posts and FB. It makes trying to find a support system and friends so difficult sometimes.

I never knew that it was prevalent for military spouses to join MLMs. Military spouses requrie more assistance to find quality childcare, good paying jobs that meet their educational standards as well as find friends. Thank you for sharing your story as it shows the importance of these factors and how it affects military spouses.

I’m prior service in the CG (served 8 years). I love this channel because this is accurate. Since my fiancée didn’t live with me, because I lived on my cutter, she didn’t get that much influence but Herbalife and The Nails one is by far the funniest thing we experienced. Since I left to a totally different place I still get email from those Dependas.

Not a military spouse, but an Army Brat - the system consistently fails our soldiers and their families. After my dad retired, he began working for the local VAC and my family volunteers with Gold Star families. It’s a struggle to get veterans health care and access to mental health and housing. I hope you are doing okay right now with covid and that you are receiving proper assistance! 💕

I grew up in Alaska and was the child of a mentally ill mother. We were always in Battered women shelters. Mary Kay visited the shelters often and it felt creepy because who could afford to buy something when they are homeless!!??

It's strange for me to find out that military spouses in the US Army are not being more supported seeing how crazy proud the US is of their military and how much applause soliders get...here in Germany, being in the military is just another (very safe and well-paid) job. I've had to move around all my life due to the military careers of my dad and then my husband so I never grew roots anywhere but I did chose a stable career for myself that I could do anywhere and I never had trouble getting a job or even working from home (not in MLMs). There is absolutely no Support for military spouses here in Germany but at least we're not being fooled into thinking that there should be, seeing as being in the military isn't seen as glamourous and important here as it is in the US

Madison! You should make a video on how MLMs target college kids. I'm from Mexico so the situation might be a little different but, at least since 2017 MLMs shifted from single and stay at home moms to university students, specially Amway and NuSkin. At one point you couldn't go to a class peacefully without a hoard trying to get you to join their team. It's infuriating because you had 40 to 50 year old people convincing 18 to 20 year olds to join these scams with the promise of financial stability and freedom when they knew perfectly those kids would only spend like crazy. Anyway, I love your content. ¡Saludos!

MLMs exploit good organizations in the worst way. They thrive in religious, military, workout, mommy, and even educational communities. It’s so frustrating.

Sick intro missed it. GREAT video as always!

OMG- you must be at Ft. Drum! I was stationed there for a year and grew up in the Albany area. Man, Drum was tough. I remember the 5am runs and coming back with ice coming off of my baklava. It was the coldest year of my life. No wonder they do all of the cold weather training there. Thank you for supporting our military as well. Spouses make a huge difference in morale!

Even working at Walmart, I try not to pressure(or peer pressure) people into buying something. It makes me feel so uncomfortable when people try to break down your will to get you to buy something. Once you notice it, you see how many people try to do it, it happens in everything to KZfaqrs to video game companies to health and beauty companies. It's very predatory

I'm a military kid and while I don't remember how big they were in the 2000s/2010s, I do know the base my parents are currently at outright banned MLMs because they kept screwing spouses over which in turn messes up the active-duty members. I think my mom mentioned they were bigger back in the day but its been so long.

Nice job as always. Can't wait to watch the video 😍😍🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷

I’m about to become a military spouse and I’m pretty young. I feel very isolated due to the fact that I don’t really want to tell people I’m getting married and am going to be an army wife. I think everything you said was very important and informative and I’m glad I watch your videos because it made me feel a little better seeing how you are also a military spouse and so young.

You’re at our last duty station lol! I miss it 😭 and hope we go back, love your videos 💗

Fellow Military spouse here and this is too relatable! After arriving at our first station, I started noticing all these different "consultants" and "managers" selling the same products within local spouses groups. I keep thinking that these all sounded sketchy and starting researching these products and that's when I fell down the anti-MLM rabbit hole lol. I definitely can see the appeal for spouses to join as it can be defeating trying to start a career or even get a job when you don't know how long you will be there and your resume looks like it is all over the place. Now I am afraid to start going to spouse gatherings because they might try to lure me in with free snacks and then attempt to recruit me haha. Thank you for bringing light to this topic because employment struggles are real and it is terrible that there are companies that feed off of it!

I’m a military brat and my mom still has lots of Mary Kay and tubbaware left over from when my dad was stationed over seas over a decade ago. Her friend (who she met in the military) has “recruited” her in a couple different ones recently but thankfully those didn’t pan out.

I know this is an older video but I think you described life as a military mom perfectly. It's something really unique and really indescribable. Although I'm not a military kid, I can relate to it. My dad worked on the Alaskan Pipeline for 2 weeks, and came home for 2 weeeks. Essentially all of the everyday struggles - like getting us to school, getting us fed, washing our clothes, etc was put on my mom and only my mom. I always explain it to people that my dad was in my life and there for me, but my mom was kinda a single mom, even though she was married. Not everyone women can be a military spouse (or a Alaskan Pipeline wife)

My husband is from upstate NY, and was also stationed where I think you might be after basic. We will welcome you to Colorado when you come here. 😊 (Denver here, born and raised on the western side of the state.) You will be moving to our "Bible belt" and MLM/prosperity gospel and Rachel Hollis sheeple abound there. You will be needed. Lol

Hey!! I'm an Army spouse too! The MLM practice in our community is tragic, ughhh