Monavie, The Placebo Effect And Juice Scams
Posted on 25. Nov, 2009 by Dan Mitchell in Network Marketing News
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Here's an excerpt from an interesting article over at the Juice Scam blog on Monavie and the placebo effect:
There are times where people will give a testimony that MonaVie helped them with [medical condition X]. I assert that it is really impossible to tell if MonaVie did that for the individual. If you are being open-minded about MonaVie, you know that other explanations are possible. Perhaps a change in weather made a difference. Perhaps a less stressful life helped. It’s really hard to say, but I’d say that the best explanation is the placebo effect. Here’s what Wikipedia has to say on the Placebo Effect:
“A placebo is a sham medical intervention. In one common placebo procedure, a patient is given an inert sugar pill, told that it may improve his/her condition, but not told that it is in fact inert. Such an intervention may cause the patient to believe the treatment will change his/her condition; and this belief does indeed sometimes have a therapeutic effect, causing the patient’s condition to improve. This phenomenon is known as the placebo effect.”
I added the bolding myself for emphasis. If the power of positive thinking can have a proven therapeutic effect, it is reasonable to assert that drinkers of MonaVie may be experiencing this. Why might people think MonaVie would improve his/her condition? I can think of three reasons (there may be more):
* Distributors or the Internet say is does – You can search Google and find tons of references of MonaVie being linked to supposedly helping people with autism. These are unverifiable claims that may be added by distributors to help sell their product.
* MonaVie’s serving size is medicine-sized – People are used to taking medicine in doses of 1 ounce or less. People drink juices in serving sizes of 8 ounces or more. MonaVie’s juice is in a 1 ounce serving size increasing it’s similarity to juice. You’ll never hear anyone talk about drinking MonaVie as a thirst-quenching beverage like any other juice.
* Distirbutors use language like “taking” MonaVie – You’ll hear people say all the time that they “take” MonaVie in the morning and night. You “take” pills and medicine – not juice. No one says that they “take” a glass of orange juice at night time. You drink juice. Listen for when people say that they are taking MonaVie and you can spot that they may be subtly trying to trick you (or they are unaware that they’ve been tricked themselves) that it’s medicine.
Source: JuiceScam
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8 Responses to “Monavie, The Placebo Effect And Juice Scams”
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Steve
25. Nov, 2009
Or you could base MonaVie’s effects on people to the results of all of the double-blind, placebo tested, peer-reviewed crossover studies that have been done to show that the product does work. Do you honestly think that MonaVie would be the fastest-growing company in the US food & beverage industry, and the fastest network in history to reach $1 billion in sales, and the company that every network wants to be if the product didn’t have a positive effect on people’s health?
Evan Escent
25. Nov, 2009
Steve, not one word of your post was accurate. No studies have shown Monavie to help treat, cure, or prevent any medical condition. It is fraudulent for you to suggest otherwise.
Monavie is not the fastest growing company in any sector of the US economy; you are simply misquoting the results of Inc. Magazine’s list of fastest growing PRIVATELY HELD comanies in the U.S.. There are dozens of publically-traded food/beverage companies that make Monavie pale by comparison.
Lastly, the claim about Monavie being fastest to $1 billion is nonsense. The company doesn’t disclose their financial infomation so these earnings claims are pure fantasy and totally unverifiable. The product has NO effect on health. It is just being illegally sold using claims to the contrary. Shame on you all.
Steve
25. Nov, 2009
First, here are some of the clinical studies: http://www.aibmr.com/resources/articles-and-reports.php
Second, there is PLENTY of evidence to suggest that eating a balanced diet which includes fruits and vegetables will help to PREVENT disease. There is also PLENTY of evidence to show that drinking 4 ounces of MV each day is the equivalent in nutrition as eating 13 servings of common fruits and vegetables.
Third, I suppose we should also be going after companies like General Mills for having the audacity to suggest that Cheerios could help reduce cholesterol, because I’m certain that they wouldn’t have tested their product either. SHAME ON THEM!! Why is that OK, because Cheerios are sold in the store and not by word of mouth?
Fourth, you’re absolutely right. MonaVie showing up on the Inc. Magazine list of fastest-growing PRIVATELY HELD companies (#1 in food & beverage, #3 in revenue, #18 overall) in no way validates what the company is doing or has achieved. It’s just a joke, right? When Microsoft first appeared on that SAME list they came in at #80 overall….and now they are a $60 billion company! Let’s split more hairs about my quote please.
Finally, you’re right on your last point as well. MonaVie lies about their revenue too. They lie about the product, they lie about their financials, they lie about everything!! Only network marketing companies can do all of this lying and get away with it, right??
Too bad folks just can’t except the truth. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em!
Steve
25. Nov, 2009
MonaVie #14 on this list. Only 9 US companies ahead of them, all 25 years old or older! MonaVie…. just 5 years old.
http://www.directsellingnews.com/index.php/site/entries_archive_display/the_100_million_club
By the way….this is a big lie too! Shame on the Direct Selling News for reporting such fantasy!!
Ben
26. Nov, 2009
Friends of mine made good money with Monavie. I almost joined, but was disturbed by them being more interested in selling it than drinking it, and recruiting sellers rather than customers.
As a product – the juice is overpriced and many cheaper alternatives exist.
As a business opportunity I feel the constant need for monthly purchases is a big turn off. It also means people drop out of your downline.
Personally I pursue MLM’s that don’t require monthly subscription (rare but there).
Steve
26. Nov, 2009
Ben…sounds like you were dealing with the wrong people and I don’t think you understand how network marketing works.
mike
12. Dec, 2009
you sound like such a phony steve. bro this stuff is way over priced, why the hell is it 60 a bottle. come on get with the program and stop being brain washed.
Steve
12. Dec, 2009
Mike,
You sound uneducated about the business of network marketing and MonaVie specifically. Nobody pays $60 per bottle, even at retail prices. Please don’t post comments here based on things people tell you. Do some real homework first…better yet, try the product for a month or 2.