MonaVie Scam? |
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[MonaVie has threatened legal action against me twice in an attempt to prevent you from reading this article below. Probably more important, the 3600+ comments which follow this article are jam-packed with research. While the organization of the comments are not ideal, you can find a subset of that information in a more organized form at the MonaVie Scam website.]
Is MonaVie a Scam?
Is MonaVie a Scam?
Was my wife targeted to buy snake-oil? Hundreds of people weigh in.
My wife is an active member in a nation-wide, young adults group. I am a member as well, but I'm not nearly as active (lack of time, plus my Laziness kicks in). The groups' goals are very noble. They aim to help members with public speaking and event planning skills while raising money for charity through local businesses. Recently my wife went to a meeting and was gone longer than usual. I got a little concerned, so I called her to find out how the meeting was going. It turned out that it wasn't a typical meeting any more - one of the members had invited some business acquaintances of his. When she got back, she told me about the meeting. It turned into a presentation of an energy/antioxidant juice called MonaVie.
About MonaVie
This juice is a blend of 19 juices with the most referenced being the açaí (a-sigh-eee) berry. The açaí berry supposedly has many, many antioxidant properties. I like to be as healthy as I possible, so why wouldn't I incorporate MonaVie into my diet?
The Price of MonaVie
The business behind the juice detracts from its value. The juice itself is not cheap. It's $40 a bottle with a bottle lasting only around one week. That means you can expect to pay around $175 a month for this juice. For many people, that's a significant car payment. For this kind of money, one would expect some sort of guarantee, perhaps a popular, publicly-traded, pharmaceutical company standing behind it. The company also doesn't publish how much of the acai berry is each bottle.
MonaVie and Multi-Level Marketing (MLM)
Beyond MonaVie juice being expensive, it is sold by distributors who are compensated in based on a multi-level marketing structure. Some of you familiar with Amway or Quixtar might understand how this works. For those who are new to multi-level marketing, the goal of the organization is to recruit more sellers and "incentivize" them for recruiting them. I'm not a big fan of such systems, it seems like the founders of the company always make a fair amount, and the people who join later end up with few sales and no one else to recruit.
The people the other night were trying to coerce my wife to buy two bottles, at nearly $100, and potentially become a distributor. My wife balked at such a thing, largely because she knew that I would want to do some research before spending that kind of money. They ended up giving her two bottles of juice to try for free. I fear that my wife may notice a placebo effect and grow a taste for the expensive juice.
MonaVie: Perhaps not a Scam?
Is it possible that it could work? Well Wikipedia references that Red Sox players Jonathan Papelbon and J.D. Drew as fans. As Red Sox fans ourselves this is high praise. I read an article from Fortune magazine that had high praise of MonaVie coming from Sumner Redstone. That's a very influential person and a very influential magazine. I did find one scientific piece of research, a PDF by AIBMR Life Sciences (update: it seems to have been removed from the site). The clinical research shows that it does indeed deliver more antioxidants than a placebo (update: in the comments it has come out that the researcher of the study was supplying MonaVie with its acai - sounds very biased to me). However, it doesn't compare to less costly solutions, like a multivitamin, V8 Fusion Acai Berry
Update: There have been thousands of comments here... I urge people interested in making a decision about whether to buy or sell MonaVie to read them.
Further Reading from MonaVie Scam:
- MonaVie Medical Testimonies are Pointless - A lot of visitors here leave a testimony about how MonaVie may have been responsible for helping them with some medical conditional. These should not impact your decision whether or not to buy MonaVie and it's explained why here.
- MonaVie Lies about the ORAC score of MonaVie?
- Oprah Sues MonaVie
- Men’s Journal Proves MonaVie Lacks Nutrition
- MonaVie vs. an Apple (Hint: the apple wins easily)
acai, acai scam, mona vie, mona vie scam, MonaVie, monavie scam
... and focuses on:Dumb Purchases, MonaVie
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3,881 Responses to “MonaVie Scam?”
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It seems that with over 3000 comments people are finding this page slow to load and difficult to leave additional comments on. You can find a nearly complete archive of comments here. and can click the "Older Comments" link above for the most recent ones. I highly recommend reading them before posting. There's a high chance your topic has been addressed already.
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Doctor Don Cox is listed as “Vice President of Research and Development” on the Wellmune website, and can be found at the bottom, middle of the page here:
http://www.immunehealthbasics.com/
Be-jeebers Candace. Even with the thing on fast forward, that’s still one hellova heap of tosh you’ve just sat through, and I thank you.
I particularly like the way you’ve hit on Dallin’s words…
“Facts are the enemy of truth”
Crikey. Lets just chuck the scientific method right out now.
Holy Faux Grape Juice indeedy.
I’ll have to watch for the “Facts are the enemy of belief, the enemy of truth.” I could probably go on for 3000 on that sentence right there.
Just outlining a couple of points I’d make…
Facts are the enemy of truth – From the dictionary.com – “Truth: conformity with fact or reality.” Orwell himself couldn’t come up with better example of doublethink.
What does belief have to do with juice? Did MonaVie just mix together some ingredients and believe that to be some magical concoction? Maybe there was some mountain where some deity gave the juice to Dallin and told him to spread the word? Is this what we are supposed to believe? Because it would seem that MonaVie says that they use scientific FACTS to create a better juice. Guess MonaVie wants to play both contradictory roles.
Great job Candace! Much food for thought.
It’s pretty obvious that the kingpins at Monavie are positioning M-mun for the cure/prevention of diseases, just like they did with their previous products. Having faux-doctor Paul Clayton come out on stage at the Anaheim meeting, pretending to be an eminent research scientist, and talking at great length about antibiotic-resistant infectious diseases is further evidence of the company’s deceptive/illegal marketing practices.
Dallin Larsen said: “Facts are the enemy of belief, the enemy of truth.”
Amazing! He actually had the temerity to say this and then to have the video posted for all to see. It sure doesn’t jibe with the company’s claim that they “develop and market scientifically formulated, premium quality nutritional products”. According to Dallin, there is no science; just “belief”. What a jackass! The bottom line is that facts/truth are Monavie’s biggest enemy. This company is looking more and more like Jonestown every day.
An argument could be made for the context in which Dallin made that comment. It was made after Charlie spoke, and the argument could well be that he was referring to her medical condition. However, the speech was made at a MonaVie function, promoting MonaVie business and MonaVie products, and you know that this will be a new catch phrase for distributors in reply to anything factual that might be said against MonaVie.
My thoughts are that if MonaVie or Dallin want to say that his comment has been taken out of context, I contend that the entire speech by Charlie was made out of context, it did not belong at a for-profit business function.
Dallin says “Facts are the enemy of belief, the enemy of truth” (411:51)
How flipin stupid to say something like that.
I always thought facts uncovered the truth…
Thanks for the kind words Candace.
I just got back from posting at Money Blue Book. I encountered a woman named Cheryl there, who used many of the exact same well-worn tactics that other distributors use to refute Monavie skeptics. For example, she suggested that I’m lazy, and that I’m not interested in my health. And somehow she connected a lack of interest in my health with a lack of understanding about how MLM schemes work. It was all very strange stuff.
It’s amazing to me that they continue to drag out these chestnuts when they’ve constantly been addressed and refuted. Do they not understand that constant repetition makes it sound all the more like marketing speak? I mean, you gotta figure that folks are going to get that it’s all pre-prepared schlock when hundreds of tenuously connected people manage to spout nearly the same thing time after time. And yet they never deviate. It’s all the same sad nonsense time after time. It’d be amazing if it weren’t so pathetic.
Is it bad that I wish that they’d all just get together and commit mass-suicide already? They’re already in a cult, right? That’s just the final step towards life on the mothership. :P
Convicted Fraud Artist’s Next Move? Join Monavie, Naturally!
“Noah Sifuentes, 57, pleaded guilty to three counts of securities fraud, a second-degree felony, Wednesday in 4th District Court…in 2005, Sifuentes convinced a couple to invest $320,000 in a venture to sell medical products to Mexican hospitals. Part of that money went into his personal bank account, while the ‘large majority’ of it disappeared, Taylor said. No medical products were ever purchased. As part of his plea deal, in which several other charges were dropped, Sifuentes agreed to pay full restitution of $370,000…’I have been an active part of the Utah County business community for nearly two decades,’ Sifuentes said in the affidavit. A federal judge denied his request to be allowed to continue his monthly recruiting and training trips to Mexico, but said he could travel to Montreal for two days last July to interview for a job as a Utah distributor for MonaVie, a health beverage company. Sifuentes is set to be sentenced on his fraud convictions April 14.”
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700008901/Utah-County-health-products-dealer-pleads-guilty-to-fraud.html
We are OUT of Mona Vie…
Please tell me WHERE I can hear Dallin L. say FACTS ARE THE ENEMY OF TRUTH’
I have some friends that must see that, if true.
These people are Christian Zionist Whackos and the whole thing just feels weird.
Thanks
well i read about the first 150 comments or so on the original article, or at least i think it was the original article, and i have come to the conclusion that many of the ppl that do post are incredibly defensive about there standing. healthy ppl such as candace i believe it was (correct me if im wrong) was angered by someone stating something about junk poisons. even tho your healthy it doesnt mean that others arent. and if they want to drink at their expense im quite sure they realize that they are spending massive amounts of money on it. whether or not to purchase the drink is of course their choice.
lazy man, ive noticed that you have been very inconsiderate with a few of your responses, have a heart. french wine and cavier? not the same as a drink that has fruits in it. you may not remember that comment you made since it was almost a year ago but seriously? keep it professional.
vogel, you seem to be the most dead set against this product. i seriously believe that you would shoot down just about anybody who said that they had a good reaction from it just because that seems to be your personality.
and before any of you attempt to shoot down my input you should know that i possess no connection to the juice at all, i only know what i have read on this blog, i have not taken any links, i have never met anybody thats a “distributer” and honestly i dont really care for the drink at all for i have never seen a bottle of it nor have a tasted any of it. im merely here as an interested person looking to contribute my completely unbaised opinion on the product.
im far to lazy to read through all the 3k+ comments so please feel free to fill me in on any new information that has come up.
Well spotted @Vogel!
The full list of names is in this FBI link http://saltlakecity.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel08/moneylaundering100808.htm along with the potential penalties.
Doing a quick search on Noah takes us to his (still active) Facebook page, and also, a 3-way interview from 2000 about MLM and the very same Mexico pills business which is part of his scam, and which has an interesting Q & A harking back to Lazy Man’s original posting.
Alan: What is your #1 recruiting tool?
Dave: A business opportunity meeting, where people bring their friends.
…or Lazy Man’s wife! Say no more! You’ll find the full interview here:
http://www.mlmknowhow.com/articles/Rothman/hawkins.htm
The FBI charges look pretty severe. I’ll wait and see if Noah actually has enough spare time for Monavie.
Are you telling me that French wine doesn’t have fruit in it? Really?!?! Are you telling me that caviar is unhealthy? It’s quite natural.
I remember the comment from over a year ago. It was not to be taken literally. It was to illustrate the point that no one can try every combination of everything. Because of that, we pick and choose the things that have the best chance of being healthy. Test after test and all objective analysis show that MonaVie is not healthier than other cheap juices (for example: http://www.mensjournal.com/superjuices-on-trial).
Thus there is no better rationale for trying MonaVie (expensive and not overly healthy) than trying french wine and/or caviar. At least the french wine and caviar are considered delicacies.
@Billy,
Watch the video of the MonaVie Anaheim Convention:
http://174.143.41.58/#/player
It is 418 minutes long. At 411 minutes and 51 seconds, you will hear Dallin day “Facts are the enemy of belief, the enemy of truth.”
There is also an entire hour of him talking that I have not listened to or watched, it begins at about the 60 minute mark and ends about 114 minutes. Who knows what you might hear there.
Thank you Candace,
The 1010 MV meeting reminds one of some bad Televangelist ie a feel-good Joel Osteen Prophet Preacher thing.
i still think your overly defensive about the whole thing, in all honestly i believe both sides are too defensive. hell you were even defensive against me saying that it wasnt necessarily nice to say that. i can understand being defensive over something that EFFECTS you personally but other than that there is no reason. just state the facts and mover on. defensive ppl on the internet dont look smart they just look like they are unintelligent. and im not saying your not intelligent, you seem very smart. so just stick to facts and keep it simple. like i said before i dont care what happens to monavie or anybody in it, i also dont care whether or not dumb ppl are losing money for believing in its “miracles” (world needs less stupid ppl anyways) i am only here to give advice on how to represent your article in a more easy-to-understand way that doesnt make you seem like something your obviously not.
Andrew,
This is a debate, so obviously both sides are going to be defensive of their position. You picked one of 3000+ comments, misinterpreted it and then criticized me because of your own mistake. Sorry, but that makes you sound unintelligent.
You didn’t give any advice on how to represent the article. You only critiqued one comment that was probably two years old by this point. I already have realized that the article can be in more a easy-to-understand way. This is why I created the JuiceScam.com website. In the first paragraph I explicitly say that it better organized elsewhere. Please direct your attention to that site if you are simply looking to stick to the facts.
Oh and Andrew, don’t read the comments, because I like to allow for open discussion. I don’t delete comments just because they don’t stick to the facts.
Listen Andrew, I think that the issue for me is that in spite of your claim to the contrary, you’re so obviously behind Monavie 100 percent. I think you did yourself in when you said that you’re “…an interested person looking to contribute my completely unbiased opinion on the product.” just after saying that you only know what you do about the juice from what you’ve read on this blog.
The thing is, if you’ve never used the product, and you only read the first 150 or so posts in this blog, then you couldn’t possibly have any opinions about it, much less any opinions of value. Your posts would be ill-informed at best, and yet you presume to take what I can only interpret as a strangely pro-Monavie stance. Or a stance that seems to be strangely adversarial towards the skeptics, at any rate. It’s a stance that seems awfully unusual for someone claiming to have no firsthand knowledge of the product to have taken.
See, I would imagine that someone lacking any first-hand knowledge of the product should be more open-minded, and yet it was clear in your first post that you’ve chosen to speak out in favor of Monavie. Consider how you took Vogel to task for being dead-set against the product, and how you presumed to disparage his character for no other reason than he’s a very vocal skeptic of the product.
Now does that seem like something that someone with no pre-existing bias would be inclined to do? Nope. Not unless you’re just an asshole. In fact it seems like an awfully heavy-handed accusation to make of someone, unless of course you were pro-Monavie before you ever poked through a handful of the posts committed to this topic to-date. Again, you would hardly be informed enough to make that conclusion if we take your story at face-value, so what are we to make of your posts Andrew, if not that you’re lying to us through your crooked teeth? You’re a Monavie shill Andrew, plain and simple. You’re clearly in favor of Monavie, and likely were long before you ever happened across this blog. I think that’s the major sticking point for me, Andrew. You’re just another Monavie skid-mark.
I didn’t attempt to shoot your posts down, I hit a friggin’ bullseye Andrew.
To all future posters -(posers)- attempting to refute LazyMan and crew’s argument(s): Look, people, don’t you get it??! There is absolutely nothing you can do to change the minds of these people, or to even prove yourself right in some respect while attempting to defend this product. Trying to go against the main idea they are putting forth is useless, as they have so many other solidified arguments that they have developed within their previous posts, it’s not even funny. You try to even so much as pick at one thing, and you pretty much set off the deathtrap. Sometimes their arguments will fly around furiously and form a giant face like at the end of “The Matrix Revolutions”, shouting “YOU DARE TO CHALLENGE ME?!?!” But most of the time you’ll just get wave after wave of said arguments coming at you, pulling you in like quicksand…until you are no more…like poor old ‘Mona Vie User’…*cry*. Unless, of course you are willing to sift through about 4000 VERY LENGTHY comments full of various links pointing to different articles and sites where they draw even more ammunition to add to their already massive pile (all it really needed was the apple beating the Mona Vie daily serving, lol, that was the best). And if you do attempt this feat and manage to accomplish it, (whatever ‘it’ may be), then you deserve an instant degree of some sort, perhaps a Magna Cum Laude for your PhD in Online Argumentation, or at least a medal…hell, I’ll even throw in a free bottle of Mona Vie. That should suffice.
Andrew said:
You want to give advice here? You’re kidding, right? Learn to spell, learn how to use proper grammar, learn some punctuation, Look up word definitions before posting them online, and try not to use the “I post from my IPhone” excuse as to why you can’t make a literate comment. People who make comments such as yours quoted above don’t look too smart, either.
It should be “affects” instead of “effects”:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/affect
Fancy that, the uninformed wishing to give advice.
Utah is the state when all of the snake oil is produced.
A documentary called ‘Bigger, Stronger, Faster’ details it (Netflix).
Senator Orrin Hatch was instrumental in the passing of a law.
Mona Vie and other distributors use something called ‘Proprietary Blend’ to not have Have to disclose ingredients and waive FDA trials, and can then rush a product to market.
Anyone can do just this very thing.
I also learned that the CEO of MV, Dallin Larsen, ran a company in the late 1990s that was later closed down by the FDA and FTC, and fined $2 Million dollars.
Not exactly the company I wish to keep.
MV is about Selling the Dream, the boats, busses and race cars, and the Bonuses that very few except at the top, ever receive.
I believe in juicing and in eating well, but some cranberry or pomegranate juice, berries/plums/acai, fish oil, will achieve the same effects at 1/10th the cost.
Additionally, The Orac value of MV is on the lower end of the range of competitor products in 3rd party independent labs. FACT.
‘Reconstituted’ means added water to concentrate and that is what most of the MV product is. Look at the ingredient list on the bottles label.
lol. this has been a hoot. I recently have been acquired by Mona Vie but I see through there [poop]. it is sad, but what they are doing is no different than any other company.
I detest when someone says learn to spell however, 99% of the world doesn’t know correct spelling. Language in communications can be an elitist tool to justify ones lack perception. Semiotics and critical thinking is vastly under taught, however, pointing out someone’s poor grammar or poor spelling is a poor argument. Spelling is not universal within any language that I know of.
The real scam is the fact that they push their meetings and their way of thinking, and the don’t think because person A has already done the thinking for you. Saying a statement like I don’t care about the idiots who get ripped off, well, sooner or later we all play the role of the fool.
“Love thy Enemy” comes to mind. Be humble, compassionate, have humility, be more spiritual. Be healthy.
The one great thing that comes from discussions and products like Mona Vie is the positive attitude. Plus being active and healthy. Sure you could argue about the contents. But it is more “natural” than the plethora of other products out there. Nothing is the magic cure. Nothing!
Maximus said: “it is sad, but what they are doing is no different than any other company.”
Monavie’s practices are very different from those of other companies. Blatant fraud and illegal marketing is by no means a universal practice in corporate America. I can’t think of any other mainstream beverage manufacturer in the U.S. that resorts to the same type of morally-bankrupt business practices as Monavie.
Maximus said: “Spelling is not universal within any language that I know of.”
WTF are you studying, Swahili? Esperonto? Spelling in the English language is clearly defined. Check the OED some time. Ignorance of proper spelling doesn’t mean that the rules don’t exist. Some people are just more learned than others. It is remarkable that most Monavie proponents on this site are so flummoxed by the rules of spelling and grammar though.
Maximus said: “The one great thing that comes from discussions and products like Mona Vie is the positive attitude. Plus being active and healthy.”
I fail to see how discussing Monavie creates a positive attitude. Outrage, yes; positive attitude, no. It doesn’t make anyone more active or healthy either.
Maximus said: “Sure you could argue about the contents. But it is more ‘natural’ than the plethora of other products out there. Nothing is the magic cure. Nothing!”
First, Monavie is no more natural than any other fruit juice; quite the contrary, due to the inclusion of preservatives like sodium benzoate and use of cheap imported processed juice concentrates. Second, there are lots of cures in medicine, although “magic” has nothing to do with it. Sometimes, however, the results may be so dramatic as to appear “magical”.
[Note: I'm not allowing Andrew's response because it was full of unacceptable language]
Maximus, if only it were that easy. I might be able to muster some civility if only Monavie and its distributors didn’t prey on sick people to sell their overpriced fruit-juice.
I know I probably sound like a broken record by now, but I really hate that they’ve let their greed so rule them that they don’t mind throwing sick folks under the bus to get their little piece of the American dream.
If they didn’t do that, then I might be able to speak to them in a civil manner. However they do, and so I don’t.
Hopefully that explanation helps you understand why I in particular find it so difficult to address these jerkwads with even a small measure of civility.
In response to Maximus’ comment, Vogel said:
“WTF are you studying, Swahili? Esperonto? Spelling in the English language is clearly defined. Check the OED some time.”
I think he was talking about the discrepancies between American-English and British-English spellings of various words, for example the word ’spelled’ (American-English) and ’spelt’(British-English).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spelling
under “Spelling standards and conventions”
Also, oftentimes people will use the insult of “learn how to spell and use proper grammar” as a means of belittling the other person, and undermining their knowledge. However, it is also not uncommon for the person delivering the insult to have grammar or spelling mistakes in THEIR comment as well. Take for example Candace’s words:
“You want to give advice here? You’re kidding, right? Learn to spell, learn how to use proper grammar, learn some punctuation, Look up word definitions before posting them online, and try not to use the “I post from my IPhone” excuse as to why you can’t make a literate comment. People who make comments such as yours quoted above don’t look too smart, either.”
I see two mistakes, though honestly quite minor. One is the capitalization of the letter ‘L’ in the word ‘look’. The other is the capitalization of the letter ‘I’ in ‘IPhone’. It should be ‘iPhone’. I know, that’s being really annoying about the whole thing, but if you’re gonna insult a person about their grammar and such, you know…make sure your comment is perfect first.
NOTE: I am by no means stating that my comments all have perfect spelling and grammar.
Another interesting thing to note from this – because of the way the letter ‘i’ in iPhone is always lowercase, you can’t start a sentence using it. e.g. “iPhones are great!!”
@Maximus
So take nothing then.
To those hung up on my comment to Andrew about his spelling, grammar, or punctuation errors:
Get a grip. You are completely missing the point.
Which is one example of why humans are such easy targets for con-artists. You focus on the leaves on the ground and don’t see the gigantic forest canopy over your heads.
A typo is one thing. A transposition yet another. The usage of slang something else entirely. If English is your second language, then you are far ahead of me. I understand there are special circumstances from time to time.
There are over 3800 comments here, many of which are mine. You’ll see that I’ve been more than tolerant about the writing styles and skills of most people commenting, and I have many typos myself, I am sure.
But when someone comes in here proclaiming to give advice about how to run a blog, how to give out information, and telling people how they should think or act, and yet it is quite obvious by reading this person’s comments that he or she should not be giving advice to anyone…I called them on it. And for some re-donk-u-lous reason, people decide to grieve over my calling a spade a spade.
It is what it is.
How do u spell scam……Monavie.
(British or American)
Let us get back to the facts, you know the ones that prove MV is nothing more that watered down white grape juice. Can anyone disprove the scientific grammer of that?
I would not go so far as to say SCAM.
The product is decent, in that the fiber content helped me lose about 8-10 pounds.
Granted, I didnt have that healthy of a diet to start so it was a good substitute.
But $135 per month for 4 bottles of “JUICE”?
I dont drink $40 of wine. Why should I consider fruit juice at nearly that cost?
Its insanity…But we are lining the pockets of upper level distributors.
Wiki had some interesting history on The Company and its claims and seemed to be objective. I was surprised.
He was shut down by the FDA and FTC, at CE in the late 1990s, fined $2 Million.
That speaks volumes.
Mona Vie is about Selling a Dream, and those they have doing it, do a good job at it.
But sadly, 90% of those participating, make little to nothing for their efforts.
MLM should be Banned imo.
What Utah and Orrin Hatch did remains unethical and unsound in terms of business practices.
Billy it’s worth noting that MonaVie has less than one gram of fiber per serving. Fiber One cereal has around 14 grams a serving. A serving of Fiber One is cheaper than a serving of MonaVie.
That’s a MonaVie Fiber Fail.
@Lazy Man
Isn’t that fibre? ;-)
Or even fibber?
To promise one “health and wealth” for a product that is nothing more than watered down grape juice and 20 times over priced…sorry but that is a scam.
If the company would tell the truth about the amazing drink, well then the only thing amazing would be the lawsuits filed against them.
All of this is simple, MV is charging an extremely high price for the drink that has been shown (3 times mind you) to be nothing more than a lot of cheap white grape juice. All we have ask is for someone to come on here with lab tests that prove other wise. All the pro MVer’s have is “testimonies” which mean…. you guessed it, nothing. If anything what facts (none)proves our point, that this juice is a scam.
I think Wikipedia covers all the MV tricks…
A confidence trick or confidence game (also known as a bunko, con, flim flam, gaffle, grift, hustle, scam, scheme, swindle or bamboozle) is an attempt to defraud a person or group by gaining their confidence. The victim is known as the mark, the trickster is called a confidence man, con man, or con artist, and any accomplices are known as shills. Confidence men exploit human characteristics such as greed and dishonesty, and have victimized individuals from all walks of life.
Billy
LM has a “healing” Yugo for sale. It is only 25 times over priced. But dont worry, if you work it right “it will make all your dreams come true” If not,then its your own fault.
DONT FREAK OUT, THIS IS NOT A SCAM!!!
Oh truth and science can be a beautiful thing, especially if you find it on FOX news. I don’t know who to give the original credit to (Vogel, Food Tech, Lazy Man, etc) but congratulations on the Sodium Benzoate discussion that has been raised in the past. The following link to the Ty Tribble’s MLM BLOG brings the issue to the public forefront. Given that this is on FOX NEWS means that a lot of Monavie folks might actaully have seen this outside of the MonaVie cult meetings (opps, my bad!!). Wonder if any of them will bring this up with there upline mentors??
http://mlmblog.net/tag/monavie
Sodium Benzoate – Part I
Excellent find there Unfortunate Spouse. I wrote quite a bit about the benzoate issue with Monavie in past posts here. The bottom line is that it is really ridiculous that Monavie contains benzoate (an ingredient usually found only in very cheap low-end soft drinks) and yet it is being marketed as a “premium health beverage” (whatever that’s supposed to mean) and at a cost that is well in excess of any reasonable definition of “premium price”. I have been unable to find even ONE retail brand of fruit juice that contains it. It’s not used in Tropicana/Minute Maid/Florida’s Natural OJs; it’s not used in Welch’s grape juice; it’s not used in acai juices made by Knudsen and Sambazon; it’s not in pomegranate juices by POM or cranberry juices by Ocean Spray; it’s not in any brand of apple or prune juice; it’s not in any frozen juices.
There is absolutely no reason why anyone in the right mind would spend $45 for a bottle of benzoate-infused garbage juice like Monavie. What is most inexcusable is that the preservative is added because the product is being sold by dodgy distributors who have absolutely no ability to maintain quality control. Given the amount of time it takes to sell a dog of a product like Monavie, the juice would turn to bacteria/mould soup without the addition of benzoate. But that’s no reason to punish consumers, which is what Monavie is doing by selling their chemically-tainted crap. Some shmuck has to drive around with that bottle in his hot car trunk for a year, and rather than risk ultimately poisoning people, the company preserved the hell out of the product instead.
The risks of excessive benzoate consumption arise from the potential direct toxicity of benzoate itself, as well as indirect toxicity from benzene (a carcinogen), which is formed due to decomposition of benzoate. This decomposition process is accelerated in the presence of vitamin C and trace metals (both of which are present in Monavie) and with heating (which undoubtedly occurs when Monavie is left unrefrigerated for long periods -– a likely scenario given the method of distribution). Excess (beyond legally allowable) benzene levels have been detected in soft drinks in the past, and regulatory authorities in the US and elsewhere have taken action against some of these offenders. As has been pointed out already, several (most?) major soft drink manufacturers have voluntarily stopped adding benzoate to their products.
Now, with respect to the FOX broadcast, it struck me as somewhat alarmist, misleading, and scientifically unsound -– not surprising considering the widely-recognized low journalistic integrity of the source. I also typically have little regard for physicians who, like Alvarez, sell-out and hit the airwaves to promote their latest pet theories in books for mass consumption. The vast majority of these books aren’t really worth the paper they are written on, so I wouldn’t expect much from Alvarez’s latest fad-diet book (“The Hot Latin Diet”). That said, his bottom-line advice about benzoate was perfectly sound -– avoid consuming products that are preserved with benzoate.
Sodium Benzoate – Part II
…However, this is where the broadcast was misleading:
1. While Alvarez is discussing the dangers of benzoate, an image is shown of Florida’s Natural OJ. In reality, Florida’s Natural OJ doesn’t contain benzoate or any other added preservatives. If the PR people at Florida’s Natural caught wind of this egregious mistake, they would be royally pissed and would demand that FOX issue a retraction/clarification.
2. Text saying that benzoate “can switch off vital parts of DNA” is flashed on the screen. This is where it gets unduly alarmist. These cellular adverse effects of benzoate have only been demonstrated in a study in isolated cells. There is no in vivo human evidence to corroborate those findings. Science does not currently support the blanket assertion that benzoate switches off vital parts of DNA. Very shoddy work on FOX’s part. This type of irresponsible FAUX-journalism causes unnecessary hysteria, distorted risk perception, and overreaction.
3. Text saying that benzoate “is produced naturally by berries and apples” is flashed on the screen. While it’s true that some fruits (strawberries and cranberries in particular as I recall) produce benzoate naturally, the levels present in those foods are FAR lower than the amounts used in food preservation. This is a very critical detail that should not have been overlooked.
4. Text saying that benzoate “can possibly lead to Parkinson’s disease” was shown. To date, there is no reasonable evidence that benzoate can lead to Parkinson’s or any other neurodegenerative disease. Again, FOX went for eye-catching headlines at the expense of accuracy and insight.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that benzoate is safe; I just take issue with misrepresentation of scientific evidence for the purpose of creating alarmist headlines that help to pull in viewers. That’s irresponsible science and irresponsible journalism.
My take on benzoate as a preservative is as follows:
1. It is probably not as safe as we have been led to believe in the past.
2. It is best to avoid it.
3. It is easy to avoid it.
If benzoate were present in something that I really liked and consumed often and which had nutritional value, like for example, milk or chicken or apples, then I might weigh the risk/benefit equation a little differently. But the most commonly consumed foods that contain added benzoate are low-end soft drinks. That’s a no-brainer – don’t consume low-end soft drinks. In addition, if benzoate-free products sold for 10 times or more compared to the cost of similar products with benzoate, then again, I might have to refactor the cost/benefit ratio. But that’s not the case with Monavie; it’s the opposite – benzoate-free fruit juices all cost 1/10 to 1/25 the price of Monavie. In addition, if Monavie provided far superior nutritional value as compared with other products, then the benefits might outweigh the risks; but Monavie is nutritionally inferior to common inexpensive fruit juices that are all benzoate-free. Lastly, if Monavie were intended to be consumed as an occasional splurge, then the amount of benzoate exposure might not be worth worrying about; however, the company’s literature insists that at least 4 ounces should be consumed EVERY DAY, virtually for one’s entire life. That amounts to a LOT of benzoate exposure – levels that might be expected to cause the chronic neurodegenerative diseases tentatively linked to benzoate.
On a final note, with respect to benzene, the company claims that they test their products to ensure that the benzene levels are below the legally allowable limit. That vague non-guarantee might mean something if it came from a reliable company with a stellar reputation for product quality and fair marketing. However, that’s clearly not the case with the principals at Monavie. They are crooked – a history of resume fraud and dishonest illegal advertising are hallmarks of the company.
Vogel makes excellent points.
I’ve maintained that MonaVie was a poorly designed product to start with. The formulator could not have been very experienced.
I don’t think that they knew what they were doing when they were trying to inhibit microbes. You need to to concentrate on pH, water activity, available oxygen, storage temperatures, pasteurization, distribution dwell time, container headspace, and microbial load of the raw materials.
In my opinion, their biggest mistake was trying to cut costs by not properly homogenizing the product. This creates a problem in juices. Most people think that flash pasteurization kills all of the bacteria in the product. It does not. The temperature is high enough to kill the pathogens, however, many other types will survive.
Having large pieces of plant material floating around reduces the effectiveness of the pasteurization process greatly. I believe that this is the reason that they ended up using potassium sorbate and sodium benzoate.
If they were trying to create an all-natural super-juice, why in the world would they add preservatives? Their shelf life studies, most likely, demonstrated that the product wasn’t going to hold up against osmophilic yeasts and molds, and acidophilic bacteria.
Get rid of the floaties and re-formulate the product properly. The preservatives can and should be eliminated.
Something new is not adding up.
At MonaVie on the Move, there is a new article about Henry Marsh. The article states:
Not only was I completely unable to find anything anywhere written about Mr. Marsh that describes him as “the most prolific distance runner in US history”(other than on the MonaVie On the Move website), I have been unable to confirm the 27 year long American record. In fact, everything I have found tells a different story:
In the following link, the author of that site comes close with a 21 year record. Which, of course, is still impressive.
http://www.squidoo.com/men-ARs
Wikepedia lists him in the steeplechase as a record holder 3 times. It is a list of global record holders, so it changes frequently. Use ctl=f to search. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3000_meter_steeplechase#National_records
http://www.squidoo.com/men-ARs
Wikepedia mentions Henry Marsh’s 21 year record being broken by Daniel Lincoln in 2006 and states:
My comment and the relevancy of it: Speaks to honesty, attention to detail, and integrity in making sure information given to distributors is accurate. Mr. Marsh should certainly know how long he held such an impressive record. One would think he could correct any erroneous info either on Wikipedia or MonaVie On the Move.
But it’s probably just a typo. :-)
I finally found “The most prolific distance runner in US history” statement.
http://www.eaglestalent.com/speaker-bureau,492,presenter,Henry-Marsh,speaker.asp?source=yahoo&OVRAW=henry%20marsh&OVKEY=henry%20marsh&OVMTC=standard&OVADID=1478635012&OVKWID=11238929512&OVCAMPGID=194508012&OVADGRPID=719625900&OVNDID=ND2
And his induction into the USA Track and Field hall of fame in 2001:
http://www.usatf.org/HallOfFame/TF/showBio.asp?HOFIDs=101
Extremely impressive stuff there, so why the need to embellish the truth?
Monavie Causes Heart Palpitations?
I found a very interesting discussion on a breast cancer patient website about how Monavie is causing heart palpitations. Six different participants reported having experienced this adverse event. One said that it felt like the effects of caffeine. Unfortunately, the discussion was heavily spammed by Monavie distributors peddling the juice illegally as a cure for cancer, etc.
http://community.breastcancer.org/forum/86/topic/661606?page=2
I’ve often wondered whether Monavie contains caffeine that isn’t disclosed on the label, because it would explain why some people say that it gives them energy (assuming that there is any truth to their claims).
The palpitations might be caused by the sodium benzoate. Hypersentivity reactions to benzoate, which tend to get worse with repeated exposure, are quite common (occuring in about 10% of the population). It’s also possible that Monavie’s batch control is poor and they end up adding too much benzoate from time to time. But then again, who knows what kind of toxic crap or contamination might end up in that bottle. The execs at Monavie are not the kind of people who should be trusted to make products for human consumption.
you might wanna check your facts because mona vie does infact start how much acai is in each bottle and the system with the company team does work and is not a scam this is the information age my friend so just a hint to check your facts more thouroghly
Then perhaps you can explain why the company website states the following:
“The exact amount of açai, or of the other fruits, contained in our blend is not disclosed. This is considered one of the company’s greatest intellectual assets.”
http://www.monavie.com/Web/US/en/faq.dhtml
This clearly contradicts your assertion. You might want to check your BS statements more carefully before you post them here.
Ryan, you may want to do some fact checking yourself. MonaVie does not state how much acai is in each bottle. Please check the label. The past analysis of this product shows low levels of anthocyanins, so that indicates low levels of acai.
Interesting thought on the caffeine content, Vogel. It certainly wouldn’t be unheard of for a company to “spike” the product with caffeine (energy drinks). It would be stupid, because this is something that can easily be checked.
If I can get a hold of a bottle, I’ll run a caffeine analysis in my lab. If there is an indication of excessive caffeine, I’ll forward the results to the FDA and the local health department.
Excellent idea FT. I’ll look forward to seeing those results. If we can rule out caffeine as a possible cause for the reported heart palpitations, that would implicate benzoate or some other ingredient/contaminant.
Hey fta, I have a full bottle sitting around gathering dust. If you want I’ll send it to you to test. Shouldn’t cost me too much to ship it. Let me know.
I talked to a former distributor, who has a case that he can’t even give away. He said that he’ll give me a bottle.
I can’t wait to hear the results. Could be very interesting.
it’s absolutely a scam. Monavie prizes itself on the freeze-dry process and that 80% of the antioxidant from the Acai Berry is lost if not handled properly.
I just bought a $3.99 bottle of Bom Dia from Bolthouse at Whole Foods. Their slogan is “12 hours from fruit to juice”. They process the Acai Berry into juice within 12 hours making the Monavie “patent processing” irrelevant. So why pay $40/bottle, when you can get it now for $3.99. No need, since Bolthouse preserves now 100% of the Acai’s potency. They also have other great products, which are only $3.99.
First it made sense to me to buy Monavie due to the handling of the Acai Berry. Now there is good alternative and you will still get full use of the potency of the Acai Berry with Bom Dia at WholeFoods.
Recently went to a meeting of Mona Via, I was laughing the entire time. First of all if the claims could be truly substantiated then going through the process of FDA approval would be a HUGE marketing coup. Yet they do not do this. Also anytime you see the words ‘independent’ realize that it is a marketing term and not a real independent lab. In the marketing sense it was a lab they paid money to in order to obtain the results they were looking for. Technically the best independent lab they could go to is the FDA… again they don’t. Most of the time was spent on creating a multi-level market. Look there are good kinds of multi-level marketing that you can do, however those do not get pushed as much because they do not require you to buy anything up front, the managing of the people and training of them is tough, and you actually need to put effort into it. Mona Via kind of multi level marketing is based on the bigger idiot syndrome and causes a collapse starting from the bottom and moving up once the saturation of the idiots hits a critical mass. The main part of the MonaVia assembly this night was to show a new video/internet marketing tool. Basically making it so that people now have a tool that is like an infomercial online that you send to your friends and family and does the selling for you. The tool will work on the ignorant. It worked on many of the people there.
Look fruit juice is a good thing in moderation, I am sure that for those that do not get enough fruit in their diets MonaVia could be a great thing, but so could many other products. THe claims made may be true, but unless you have a study done by an agency that is not paid to do it the results will always be hearsay.
In the end I am not for or against the product, more then anything I am against the form of marketing that the product uses. The kind of marketing where you are in a club and have recurring fees. I understand purchasing a stock and then selling it at a profit but that is not what it is with this. I look down on unconformable claims of long term health benefits when the company has not been in existence long enough to have such a claim capable of being made. In 50 years of using this product vs all the other environmental factors what is the cancer/disease rate vs a control group. If this is as powerful as stated then the results should be huge, but that requires time and study something that a multilevel market system like this does not have.
Again the product be beneficial. It be a preventative of disease. But so many other things.
I believe some people would be incredibly unwise to listen to all the hype that goes on through this web site, especially not having experienced monavie for themselves but please hear me out. I have been in the monavie business for about 2 1/2 months now, have put two other people into the business and I am making a steady 50 dollars a week. I have no problems with monavie. I believe that both sides of the story should be heard, and an equal medium must be the conclusion. Fyi, if things continue the way they are going right now, I will be retired in about 8 months, and I am only 19 years old. So maybe some people here should really dig in to the facts monavie provides as well. Although I will not claim monavie as a miracle drink, I will give my testimony either against or with the will of others. Before I was in this company I lived in a small 18ft long mobile with my pregnant wife. I dropped out of high school my sophmore year due to death threats and parenting issues.(I was forced out by my step-father) Dont get me wrong, I recieved a very good education, but not that which most would consider appropriate. I have lived on my own for the past four years, three of which I tried to make ends meet working in different resturaunts, being those the only places I could find work. An old friend I reconnected with asked me how I was doing and I told him the flat out truth, things suck. We reconnected a little more over time and he finally said(about a week later, after he realized I was determined to do anything) “You know, I think I might have a job for you.” I myself was skeptical at first… Very, very skeptical. I did all the research, I found all the sites like this and finally replied back to him, “This is all I have left, I have to make this work.” So I began working their system and realized that what they, we, I now do is incredibly easy. I believe mostly because of the situation I was in did I have the drive to work this business, now that I have steady cash in my hands and complete faith that the system works, I have no arguments against monavie. Four weeks ago, my letter concerning all of you may have been jumbled, out of place with thoughts everywhere. Now that I have been drinking the juice for two months, speech is no problem. I can speak clearly, think clearly, and present my objectives easily without thought. My dear wife is healthy and happy with our choice, and our baby is healthier than ever. I believe God has answered our prayers.
Sincerely,
Logan S.
This is an interesting thread. Who might offer some help in locating science on this product? I thought I had done enough research, and began drinking MonaVie after signing up as a distributor. I have been drinking it for more than 6 months and aside from some benefit from Active (the glucosomine in it?) I did not realize much benefit. I think some testimonials can be relevant, but I am always skeptical of most. (I actually witnessed first hand a distributor from another MLM company at a meeting one day. The very next week, they were “in” and in front of the room with testimonials…duh…how is that possible? It isn’t. This is when I began to wonder what I had gotten into.
Recent blood tests this year, showed no changes in lipids and inflammatory states. My question is this; it has been stated that the acai berry is high in antioxidants, according to published studies: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/jf0609779?prevSearch=acai&searchHistoryKey=
However, now I believe that because the pulp is then flash pasteurized, most of the benefits are destroyed. I need help on researching this. I don’t know if heat damages glucosamine or not, or how closely “enzymes” relate to antioxidant capabilities. This has not been mentioned, unless it is on an archived post. I know that heating foods over 118 degrees kills enzymes based on much of my research. Some of these might too old, but was looking for related key words. As always, I can stand and be corrected if need be. I am not looking bash or discredit anyone or any product; I simply need to uncover the truth.
http://www.living-foods.com/articles/enzymes.html
http://www.niroinc.com/gea_liquid_processing/pasteurization.asp
Enzymes: http://www.lifestar.com/Pages/whyenzymes.html
http://www.naturalnews.com/021032.html
No result for pasteurization of fruit juices
http://pubs.acs.org/action/doSearch?action=search&searchText=pasturized+fruit+juice&qsSearchArea=searchText
This came up under “heat damage”
http://pubs.acs.org/action/doSearch?action=search&searchText=heat+damage+to+acai+berry&qsSearchArea=searchText
This came up under pasteurization:
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jf00126a040?prevSearch=pasturization&searchHistoryKey=
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jf051943o?prevSearch=sterilization%2Bof%2Bfruit%2Bjuices&searchHistoryKey=
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/bk-1981-0170.ch007?prevSearch=processed%2Bberry%2Bjuice&searchHistoryKey=
I am very disappointed as I have spent a lot of money and have not much to show for it. Glucosamine I can find elsewhere for much less as mentioned here. I don’t know what I am feeling right now, but it isn’t a good feeling.
As for the comments below about proof…no this is not proof. Are blood tests accurate proof? I don’t know; I am not a doctor or a scientist; I just need to know for myself whether the processing has destroyed the true benefits of whole fruit. I can’t fly to Brazil, climb a tree, pick the fruit, freeze it, fly it back frozen, thaw and mix it into room temp oatmeal, then test the next morning or next month. But, my gut tells me the pasteurization is the key element here as to whether any product can deliver its claimed benfits in proccessed, stored and shipped form.
“I am proof that Monavie really works … Been drinking it for 3 months now … (NOT!) I’m a soccer player who grew up overseas , when i moved to the US for soccer they had me playing on turf fields which damaged my ankles … i had surgery on them and still didnt recover fully !! i started drinking monavie Active because its high in glucosamine and i feel a lot better. So i believe monavie really works … if anyone wants to see pictures of my scars i will gladly send them.. so please reply !!!”
“And if you are saying that MonaVie’s glucosamine helped your ankles… you can get glucosamine for much, much cheaper… There’s no reason to pay $45 a bottle for Monavie when glucosamine can be bought at a lot less…”
Logan,
With all due respect, your comment here doesn’t support your point. For instance you say you will be retired in 8 months, but you are only making $50 a week. $200 a month (or $2400 a year) is not a lot of money – even if you were to make ten times as much, you’d still be near the poverty line – not good for providing for family of three.
I think when you said, “This is all I have left, I have to make this work” you convinced yourself this is the answer… and for no logical reasons. Check out what this MonaVie distributor had to say: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlWsInUAr_U.
Good luck Logan. It sounds like you are due some.
Orrin Woodward: “Just Do It”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iN6vjFGhcI
Orrin Woodward: “Why am I more passionate about your life than you are?”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vaOQZsHrfw&NR=1
Nod to Amthrax for posting the first video link on his blog.
Wow! What a bitter, sarcastic, conniving little rodent. I’m glad to hear that he’s on the hook for about $12 million from the Amway arbitration settlement — serves him right. No wonder he’s demanding that Monavie distributors “just do it”; he’s got a hefty bill to pay and needs to sell a bunch of his useless sales tools and motivational event tickets to make a dent. The only thing he motivates me to do is vomit on shoes.
Touch call as to who is the biggest jackass – Orrin or Brigg Hart? Both are incredibly difficult to stomach.
Orrin Woodward’s Twitter Page:
http://twitter.com/Orrin_Woodward
He tweeted about 4 hours ago:
You decide: What exactly is his point?
That’s a really ridiculous quote. If I’m not interpreting it wrong and he actually did intend to suggest that looking for answers is in any way a form of self-deception, then it’s less a matter of what grade of crack he had to be smoking to write something that ridiculous, and more about how long it’s going to be before he gets the whole Monavie crew together and has them poison themselves so that they can all join Marshall Applewhite and the Heaven’s Gate crew on the mothership.
That quote comes across like something a cult-leader would say to his followers. Don’t concern yourselves with data, for down that path lies self-deception. We’ve told you how great Monavie is, so keep the faith and leave the quest for data to the weak-minded skeptics. You’re better than that. You’re better than them. Glory be Monavie.
I could be wrong, but I don’t think that I am. After all, one of the most parroted mantras by Monavie distributors is that you gotta have faith in the product. This quote simply appears to be reiterating that well-worn line of complete and totally self-deceptive BS. Oh, the irony.
A person can say anything they wish to say. They can choose to believe anything they hear, as well. So talk, talk, talk as much as you’d like. Unless you people are willing to uncover a truth for yourselves, you’re just as toothless as the next.
Everything on here makes for a good point. However, a number of my family members and friends as well as myself recently became involved with Mona-vie. It is definitely a beneficial product and company. I gathered that much MYSELF. Placebo? That apple could all be in your head just as easily as any juice could be. In fact, it most likely is. If you haven’t watched ‘Food Matters’ you probably should. That apple is empty. Or google ‘53 peaches’. And the company is only going to put out what you put in. There is no such thing as something for nothing, which is the cause for the ‘70%’ failure or drop out rate. The same thing happens anywhere, anytime. Does Walmart hire and keep 100% of their employees? Well, how about Mary Kay or Amway then? Or even the 7-11 down the street? Human beings are known to be quitters at the first sign of adversity or if there is no ‘instant’ satisfaction, regardless of the area of endeavor. Again, through my own judgements and ruling, I’ve found that Mona-vie can be a significant source of income. It’s work. You won’t be entitled to commissions just because you enrolled. Although, negative people like you do make it hard to share this opportunity for health and business, which is your intent, I’m sure.
Drink it for a month and discover an answer, either way, for yourself. It isn’t a cure. It isn’t a miracle. It’s just a better way to help yourself in more than one way. It’s a little over a hundred bucks a month. Or you can go to the nearest pharmacy and pick up a synthetic fix which has side-effects more detrimental than the original concern and spend just as much. You don’t have a headache because you’re lacking acetaminophen. Common sense.
A failure focuses on the risk, while the successful person will aim for the reward. I guess that’s why it has been a positive experience for me.
You couldn’t be more right!
I’m confused too. I thought from reading Orrin’s blog post about this — http://tinyurl.com/ye3f6uo — he was saying that one needs to show results in order to “qualify” as a leader. If this is the case, I really want to see the financial results of everybody in TEAM, not just the higher-up uplines.
That is confusing. I think I see what he is trying to say, at least according to his blog…Something like “we only trust God, everyone else must provide convincing facts or data to backup their position.”
But if that’s the case, he contradicts himself. Because he is trying to recruit people into a “business” that clearly has no supporting facts on it’s side.
And I agree with Amthrax, show us the financial data.
Ann said:
Ann has apparently not read the comments here nor visited MonaVie Scam. The truth is uncovered.
Ann said:
Please objectively quantify the benefit for us. I have no argument that a nail is beneficial product, but I’m not going to pay $5 for your nail when I get 100 nails for a lot less. MonaVie is a $5 nail compared to the number of juices out there. MonaVie has to prove that it’s nail is worth it or it’s not beneficial. Again, if you had read the comments here or on MonaVie Scam you’d see that scientifically MonaVie is shown to be WORSE than the cheap juices I can buy elsewhere.
Ann said:
The apple isn’t making a medical claim. No one confuses apples with medicine. It’s not delivered in the same once “doses” (as MonaVie distributors call it). Apples are not “taken” (as MonaVie distributors call it). There’s a chasm of difference between the two. Also a single apple delivers the same antioxidant capacity (in ORAC score) as 9.5 ounces MonaVie.
Ann said:
Sounds like you bought into some propeganda about the fruit today being nutrient-depleted. I refer you to the above link about the single apple and the testing done by the RDA just a couple of years ago, which shows the apple being full of more nutrients than MonaVie. So if you want to say the apple is empty and we KNOW that 9.5 ounces of MonaVie is equal to the ORAC of one apple… what does that say about MonaVie? It says MonaVie is even more of a waste of money.
Ann said:
In defense of Walmart and 7-11, they pay minimum wage. It’s clear to see the vast majority barely don’t reach minimum wage. (Just divide the weekly income by the weekly hours. Want to be more amazed? Take out the money for buying the juice that week.) This is why MonaVie is embarrassed by their income disclosure statement and is trying to hide it.
Ann said:
Winning the lottery can be a significant source of income as well. You have pretty much the same odds of any major success. Of course pyramids love to show that there are a few who making signicant income. However, they ingore that MonaVie distributor IDs are in the 2 millions now, and there are very few people making 6 figures a year. Sorry, you can’t just get away with saying that people are lazy and cover up the fact that it’s a horrible, horrible business opportunity that even MonaVie seems to admit (by their aforementioned actions).
Ann said:
Negative is in the eye of the beholder. I have shown that MonaVie is similar to buying a $50,000 1985 Yugo. If you say I’m negative to try to stop people from doing that, I say, “you must be the one profiting from selling the $50,000 Yugo’s.” We could ask 100 people and I bet almost everyone one of them would agree that the person tricking people into the $50,000 Yugo is the one who is a negative influence on society.
Ann said:
Why would anyone try MonaVie for a month, when everything we know about it is that it isn’t up to par with other juices. Even if it showed it was better than other juices in some way, it would still be inferior to fruit. Why? Because it is nothing more than fruit. There’s no magic fairy dust or anything in it. So if you don’t get the mysterious benefit that MonaVie distributors talk about from fruit, you won’t get it from MonaVie. As for it being a little over a hundred bucks a month, if that’s all it is, why don’t we just skip trying it and every MonaVie distributor can give me a little over a hundred bucks a month. My paypal account is lazymanandmoney@gmail.com.
Ann said:
Good to see that you are indeed suggesting that MonaVie has medicinal benefits after all. Just when I thought a MonaVie distributor would go through a whole e-mail without making an medical claim that the FDA hasn’t approved (hence illegal medical claim), you go ahead and do it. You were so close to the end of your rant too.
Ann said:
I aimed to be a center for the Boston Celtics. I’m not very tall, nor athletic, but the biggest thing is that the competition for that job is extremely intense. It wasn’t a matter of thinking positive or focusing on reward. Very few people who aim for the reward of being in the NBA become successful. It’s similar with MonaVie. It’s structured so that even if all aim for reward, a huge (99% or whatever you designate the number of people who made significant money vs. the 2 million MonaVie IDs) will fail. So I’m not going to say that you can’t be successful in MonaVie. I’m going to say that that when you see the few hundred successful ones, remember the millions who tried very, very hard, spending many, many hours and failed. I’m not trying to depress people, I’m trying to get them to be realistic and pursue opportunities where a better percentage of people succeed.
“Although, negative people like you do make it hard to share this opportunity for health and business, which is your intent, I’m sure.”
I’m sorry that the truth hurts your business, try something reputable.
Ann: A person can say anything they wish to say. They can choose to believe anything they hear, as well. So talk, talk, talk as much as you’d like. Unless you people are willing to uncover a truth for yourselves, you’re just as toothless as the next.
make sure you’re not smiling the next time you look in the mirror (you might find your missing a couple of teeth). The fact is, Welch’s Grape juice has more anti-oxidents in it than Monavie (not too mention itcost substantially less and taste better)! Do some research and stop wasting your money on the snake oil.
It’s hard to imagine how Monavie can have the nerve to blatantly lie to the public, claiming that they aren’t violating US law, when in fact, right here on the corporate website, is a video testimonial from some dick distributor named JP Richardson in which he claims that Monavie can treat pain. The video, entitled ‘A Year of Miracles’, quotes Richardson as follows:
“My neighbor knew that I was in pain…she handed me these 2 bottles and said ‘hey, these 2 bottles I want you to try this; it might help your pain and there’s a chance to make money’.”
http://monaviemediacenter.com/blogs/a-year-of-miracles-des-moines-ia/
@Vogel
Give them enough rope and they’ll hang themselves.
That bit you picked up on is at the 30 second mark…. I’m still trying to figure out what all the how’s and why’s mean though… ;-)
I knew we were in for all sorts of illegal claims and testimonials when Dallin said that this year would be “A Year of Miracles”. Completely unsurprising that this is on MonaVie’s own blog.
No medical claim, but false and misleading claim about how easy it is to make money in MonaVie at the 3:10 mark “It just takes a couple of people”
http://monaviemediacenter.com/blogs/a-year-of-miracles-houston-texas/
The very interesting part of this is that these claims are on MonaVie’s own blog site.
The presence of such claims posted to MonaVie’s blog site was addressed in the comments here:
http://www.lazymanandmoney.com/monavie-employee-calls-me-an-annoying-douche/
Wherein Shante states that she is “new to her role and learning quickly”. However, we are still seeing incorrect, inaccurate, false or misleading info posted to MonaVie’s blog site, which Shante is apparently responsible for.
Thank you to the few, the minority of folks out there driving this blog, revealing the truth about Monavie. There are 100,000’s of pro monavie representatives (dupes) out there promoting this product and 10 people fighting back. I intuitively sensed that Monavie was a scam, and had constructed several reasonable arguements to support the scam theory, now it is with great relief to find the facts to back it all up. This blog and the numerous sources and links are priceless.
I thank those individuals that drive this blog and fight back against the monavie madness. People are wasting money, not realizing dreams, missing real health opportunities when they get caught up in the MLM MV profict motive…. and this is bad.
Nothing wrong with the profit motive mind you, but a scam is a scam…..
Anybody know about the recent compeitition MV had that awarded a smart car to the winner of the youtube contest….. do you think the winner got their car? think again.
“a scam is a scam”
I love it!!!!!
[Editor's Comments in line]
Dear Lazyman,
People like you are a dime a dozen. And from the comments I’ve read most of your respondents are as well.
[Editor: This person thinks it's okay to buy and sell people? Good start to the comment.]
First, you should have someone proofread your material. How in the world could you ever be taken seriously when you can’t even organize a simple paragraph. You probably should have had a dictionary close by when you were writing because you can’t spell either.
[Editor: The expectation of a blog is that it isn't edited. It's about spreading ideas quickly and timely. If you want to read something edited, go to your favorite news stand. Millions and millions of edited words are available there. Oh, and there are no mispelled words here based on two separate spell-checkers. Perhaps you can't read.]
Oh, and let’s not forget the math.
$40 a bottle for Monavie? how about $37!
[Editor: MonaVie has different price points. MonaVie Original retails for $37 and MonaVie Active retails for $45 a bottle. I split the difference giving MonaVie the benefit of one dollar to use nice round numbers.]
And when does $40 X 4 = $175. Not only can not you write(pun absolutely intended) but you’re a little math challenged as well!!!
[Editor: Since when does a month have 4 weeks? On average it has closer to 4.5 weeks. 52 weeks in a year divided by 12 is actually 4.3. If you multiple $40 by 4.3 you get $172. That shows my $175 number is a much closer approximation and much more accurate than your "$40 x 4". I was generous to not include shipping charges which probably boost it closer to $200 a month. So who is math-challenged?)
It's true that a bottle does last a week...
[Editor: Actually it is not true that a bottle lasts a week. MonaVie recommends 4 ounces a day. With 7 days in a week, that's 28 ounces. A bottle of MonaVie is only 25 ounces. Again, I gave MonaVie the benefit the doubt of the 3 extra ounces... however since you bring it up, I should restate that downward.]
… but when you’re drinking 4oz of juice a day and the equivalent is the antioxidant capacity of 13 servings of fruits a day, where’s the scam in that?
[Editor: It's worth noting that MonaVie doesn't say what these servings of fruit are. For example a single apple has the antioxidant capacity of 9.5 ounces of MonaVie. So I guess an apple has around 30 times the antioxidant capacity of whatever MonaVie is using as their 13 fruits. For another example the $1.99 bottle of cinnamon that I have in my spice rack has approximately 32 days worth of the "antioxidant capacity" of MonaVie.]
You keep buying your V8 Fusion. That’ll really help you.
[Editor: Can you prove MonaVie to be better? No one has yet. Until you can, why not spend 1/10th the money and get twice the juice?]
You probably drink EVIAN water as well! Did I mention EVIAN spelled backwards is NAIVE?? Kind of like you are! And you probably also believe that the water in those bottles comes from the Swiss Alps right? Right! Try tap water from Old Saybrook Conn.
[Editor: Hmm, in this post I said "Billions of dollars are spent every year on bottled water. It's been widely acknowledged that it's no healthier than filtered tap water." So not only are you wrong in your assumption, but the whole thing has nothing at all to do with the topic of MonaVie.]
And why would Monavie even waste their time with a moron like you? Because you happen to type it into your site.
[Editor: The Consumerist is one of the most popular blogs in the world and is owned by Consumer Reports. If you don't believe that MonaVie is wasting their time on me check out their article. See, you don't have to take my word, but you can take a reputable news organization instead.
Did you know I'm the King of Siam?
[Editor: Congrats!]
[Editor's Comments in line]
And I forgot to ask. What is the point of showing the back of the Monavie bottle exactly???
[Editor: MonaVie doesn't show the nutritional information of it's products on it's website. I thought someone should. Also if you look, you can see very few vitamins and minerals in MonaVie. I think that's something people should know.]
You need another gig, Mr Lazyman.
[Editor: This one suits me fine. Thanks for your concern.]
How is it I got into your site in the first place?
[Editor: You probably searched Google for "MonaVie" - consider it an educated guess.]
What a total waste of time!!!! YOU ARE THE SCAM MY “FRIEND”!
[Editor: And I have shown MonaVie to be the scam in your last two comments. Come up with better material next time.]
Wow, msms,you really aren’t the sharpest tool in the shed, are you? If you’re interested, I’ve got some oceanfront property in Arizona for sell (I’ll even throw the golden gate in free). Just send me an email: boyamistupid@yesyouare.com
Monavie’s Glycemic Index
I just finished reading about Monavie’s latest smoke-and-mirrors trick – an alleged study the company did on the glycemic index (GI) of their juices. The company is claiming that their study proves that their juices have a low GI, and they suggest, therefore, that they are useful for maintaining healthy blood glucose levels and for maintaining cardiovascular health. These were the GI results the company reported:
MV Original = 46
MV Active = 49
MV Pulse = 57
(Source: http://media.monavie.com/pdf/us/Glycemic_Index_Results_Original-Active-Pulse.pdf)
What the company fails to mention is that these GI values are slightly higher than the GIs of common inexpensive fruit juices:
Apple juice = 41
Carrot juice = 45
Pineapple juice = 46
Grapefruit juice = 48
Orange juice = 52
(Source: http://www.southbeach-diet-plan.com/glycemicfoodchart.htm)
And just to have a frame of reference, these are the GIs for some common whole fruits (all of which are considered low GI foods):
Cherries = 22
Apple = 38
Pears = 38
Plums = 39
Grapes = 46
Thus, the GI of MonaVie offers no advantage over other juices, and certainly none over whole fruit, and in fact, Monavie fared worse. Monavie’s GI doesn’t even beat that of a common candy bar:
Snicker’s bar = 40
http://www.snac.ucla.edu/pages/Resources/Handouts/HOGlycemic.pdf
One misrepresentation in the Monavie report that I found particularly disturbing was that they claimed MV Pulse had a “low-intermediate” GI. In fact, the recognized “intermediate” GI range is 55 to 70. Therefore, MV Pulse has an “intermediate GI” not a “low-intermediate” GI. The report also fails to mention that MV Pulse is sweetened with added corn syrup (a less than ideal choice, according to
most health experts)
In Monavie’s GI report, the company trotted out one of their paid-for lackeys to provide a little sound bite for the distributors: “says Penny Kris-Etherton, Ph.D., R.D., MonaVie Scientific Advisory Board member, “This research shows MonaVie’s strong commitment to science and dedication to research that advances knowledge about the health benefits of MonaVie products.”
The truth is that these GI results, like all of the company’s “research” to date, only serve to advance our knowledge about Monavie’s LACK of health benefits and overall value.
Lastly, bear in mind 2 things: (1) the GI data will be used to market the juice to patients with diabetes/hyperglycemia, and (2) the usefulness of the GI index is controversial and the glycemic load has been suggested as a more appropriate and useful parameter – read more from Yale University:
http://www.ynhh.org/online/nutrition/advisor/glycemic_index.html
MSMS said: “You probably drink EVIAN water as well! Did I mention EVIAN spelled backwards is NAIVE?? Kind of like you are! And you probably also believe that the water in those bottles comes from the Swiss Alps right? Right! Try tap water from Old Saybrook Conn.”
It’s called Evian because it originates from the region near the city of near Évian-les-Bains in France. But since you like word puzzles…what do you get when you transpose the “I” and “v” in Monavie? “Mo-Naïve”! Does that mean you are more naïve than people who drink Evian? I would certainly say that you are; you are certainly stupider.
MSMS said: “Oh, and let’s not forget the math. $40 a bottle for Monavie? how about $37!”
Pulse and Active retail for $45, and that price doesn’t even include shipping. Why do you find it so hard to grapple with that simple reality? But why would anyone bother paying even $37 for a bottle of your crap juice when they can buy fresh stock on E-Bay for about $20 a bottle – less than your wholesale price? That’s one of the many reasons why the Monavie business opportunity is doomed to fail.
Sorry to burst the bubble in your head Mr Vogel, but the Evian story is true. You should buy that ocean front property Mcbride has for sale in Arizona. And thanks for throwing in the golden gate Mcbride! Oh you mean the bridge!!! Duh stupider me! What in da wurld was I tinkin!!!
Mr Vogel, stop wasting your time with this totally ridulous site and hook up with Candace. She obviously has nothing better to do either. You’ll make a lovely couple.
By the way??? Monavie is not and will never go away. So you go ahead and buy your stock on Ebay. (But you won’t, because then you’d be a hippocrite now wouldn’t you) But now I see that thats exactly what you are. You probably have a fridge full of the stuff!!!
There are plenty of wanna be “distributors” out there believing this is a get rich quick scheme. But because it isn’t, and they found out it would take a little work, they couldn’t handle it. Kind of like the lazyman here.
Kind of like you! Sorry Candace, but you’ve got to get a life!
And MR Foodtech in CA You must really be a pretty bad tech not to know that the reason Monavie puts Sodium Benzoate is to protect you from the possible microbes that might be present. You do know microbes like to play around in dark places right?
Now let’s tackle autopsies while we’re at it. There is not one documented case of anyone, anywhere, ever dying from Sodium Benzoate poisoning. You guys probably didn’t know that though did you? And if you geniuses ever found out how much Sodium Benzoate was contained in all the fruit out there, you probably wouldn’t eat any more fruit for the rest of your life. Did I mention I’m the King of Siam?
P.S. I can just picture Lazyman, Vogel, Mcbride, cyberxion, candace,(again sorry Candace, you seem like a nice girl) strangely, j-man and Foodtech all sitting in front of their computers right now, drooling all over the keys, breathing heavier as can be, waiting for the next victim to pounce on.
Nice post Ryan, hope to see you in the future and we’ll both be rich and laughing about how stupid we were to ever get ourselves hooked up with these idiots in the first place!
Anybody remember the somewhat famous line in the movie George of the Jungle where the Narrator says “Every story’s gets to have a really big coincidence and here’s ours:” well this blog has a really big coincidence typical of most blogs…. a nuisance pest that thinks he/she is making the case for the other side, and that would be you MSMS
MSMS falls in poop: Classic element of physical comedy. Now comes the part where we throw our heads back and laugh. Ready?
OK… can’t stop laughing now…gotta go.
MSMS.. I have met Mr. Dallin Larsen…shook his hand. I tell you what (with a strong southern twang)… you aint doin him any favors bud.
I honestly have no idea what that meandering load of nonsense was meant to achieve, msms, besides showing us all that in the absense of anything that proves that the crap you’re peddling is legit, you folks aren’t above acting like jackassses. Like Collusionz, I don’t you you’re doing your overlords any favors.
Seems that the majority of msms’s diatribe is nothing more than him blowing off steam. I can understand his frustration. He has a
lot of fruit punch in pretty bottles to sell. His selling points are antioxidants and miraculous cures. Both selling points have been crushed on this, and other blogs.
What’s a scammer to do?
He writes: “And MR Foodtech in CA You must really be a pretty bad tech not to know that the reason Monavie puts Sodium Benzoate is to protect you from the possible microbes that might be present. You do know microbes like to play around in dark places right?”
**We are all aware of the reason that MonaVie uses sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate. You’re not talking to MonaVie distributors here.
The question is: Why is their product conducive to the growth of microbes, when most other fruit juices are not?
Why aren’t Welch’s or Ocean Spray’s juices chemically preserved?
Do you really think that bacteria find MonaVie so lip-smacking delicious?
Of course, I know the answer to the question. I’ve written about it several times.
Poor formulation and antiquated pasteurizing technology.
He writes: “And if you geniuses ever found out how much Sodium Benzoate was contained in all the fruit out there”
**Again, I know the answer. It’s little. Sodium benzoate isn’t added to whole fruits. There are some types that have low levels occuring, naturally.
In MonaVie, sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate and citric acid are all considered chemical additives, according to the FDA’s C.F.R.
If you actually have a point to make, we’d be glad to hear from you again. Right now, I need to wipe the drool off of my keyboard.
MSMS: “And thanks for throwing in the golden gate Mcbride! Oh you mean the bridge!!! Duh stupider me! What in da wurld was I tinkin!!!”
You were thinking? That’d be a first! What was I thinking? I was thinking that it’s a quote from a George Strait song, verbatim (it’s called sarcasm). But then again, what do I know? The reality is, you haven’t given us a single shred of evidence that shows that monavie is any better than the welch’s grape juice I drink every morning (btw, welch’s has more antioxidants per the ORAC scale than monavie; check the earlier posts to see the men’s health magazine article about that.) You follow the monavie cult like Sadie Mae Glutz (aka Susan Atkins) followed Charles Manson (or was that Marilyn Manson?) Remember what your fearless leader said, “Truth is the enemy of belief!” Can I get an amen?!
Btw, Food Tech in CA, that was a great post! I’m still cleaning the drool off my keyboard…
Due to the tip here, I decided to create a post on JuiceScam.
MonaVie Corporate Promotes Juice as a Cure for Pain
msms says:
March 11, 2010 at 8:37 pm
You’re right on the one hand…it’s hard to think of things more rewarding to do with my time than to stop scam artists like yourself and protect consumers from being defrauded. And Vogel is an fine human being, but I am quite taken by someone else already.
So…let me see if I understand your position here…someone has to die before caution should be exercised. Go ahead and apply that logic to the rest of your life…you won’t be around long.
Who cares? I’m the Queen of Egypt, check mate.
Not the only mistaken comment you’ve made here.