Mike McKenna of Livonia, who said he lost money for three years as a distributor before dropping out, said he was pressured to buy at least a dozen motivational tapes a month, one success-oriented book a month and tickets to weekly motivational meetings and at least one special monthly seminar.

“If you’re not successful, it was always, ‘You have to spend more and get more materials to become successful. That’s your problem,’ ” McKenna said last month.

Company data from 2005 obtained by the Free Press show that about 72% of distributors drop out during their first year, and 96% are gone within five years.

Soap and hope model criticized