Professor Deanna Grant-Smith has appeared in a number of media reports this week discussing how social media has become the new ‘front door’ for many multi-level marketing schemes with people using the platform to sell products, but also to recruit friends for financial gain.
“The business model, which is legal in Australia, typically lures people in by promising them that if they purchase a large amount of product at a near wholesale price, they’ll make a return on their initial investment once they’ve sold more products and in some cases recruited their friends to do the same. But most rarely turn a profit.”
You can read the article in the Daily Telegraph (subscription required).
Professor Grant-Smith has also published a briefing paper with colleagues on multi-level marketing in Australia which is available online.
About Deanna Grant-Smith
Professor Deanna Grant-Smith has more than two decades of experience conducting research and providing policy and strategy advice across the areas of participatory planning, community and stakeholder engagement, and access to employment and education.
Her work has informed and enriched public understanding and awareness of exploitative work practices and constraints to equitable access to education and employment across a wide range of issues with a social justice dimension including issues including unpaid work, multi-level marketing, transport disadvantage, employment fraud, employability, and the widening participation agenda.