DSSRC Administrative Closure #243

The Direct Selling Self-Regulatory Council (DSSRC) contacted a direct selling company (“Company”) regarding certain earnings claims and a health-related product claim that were disseminated on social media and online by the Company’s salesforce members. The claims at issue originated from five social media posts disseminated on Facebook and one claim that was posted online and which made significant earnings claims.

Five of the posts identified by DSSRC’s monitoring process presented claims that salesforce members can achieve “unlimited income potential,” gain “financial freedom,” earn “full-time income,” or have the opportunity to earn a “six-figure income.” DSSRC contacted the Company and requested action to address the claims made by their salesforce members.

Section 6 of DSSRC’s Guidance on Earnings Claims for the Direct Selling Industry notes words and phrases commonly used in earnings claims that carry a particularly high risk of being misleading to consumers and thus should be avoided. These words include “unlimited income,” “six-figure income” and “full-time income,” many of which were featured in the posts that were the basis of DSSRC’s inquiry.

The Company promptly responded to DSSRC’s inquiry acknowledging receipt and agreed to contact the authors of the posts. The Company noted that all of the posts included in the inquiry were over a year old and likely remain posted due to salesforce member inactivity or resignation of the authors of the posts. The Company informed DSSRC that it is dedicated to continuing to educate its direct selling distributors and would take action to seek the removal of the posts.

The Company was successful in its efforts to remove five of the six posts identified by DSSRC. The one remaining post originated in the United Kingdom, The Company demonstrated to DSSRC that it made a good faith effort to contact the author of the post to have it removed. Based on these actions, DSSRC administratively closed this inquiry.

Share on LinkedIn