Bosley publishes in Truth in Advertising

Stacie Bosley, professor of economics, recently published an opinion piece on self-regulation in multilevel marketing (MLM):  Will the MLM Industry Fix Its Earnings Claims Problem? - Truth in Advertising. In the article, Bosley summarized the findings of recently published research, which analyzed whether MLM companies were following the advice of their own self-regulators with respect to earnings claims and disclaimers. Bosley and colleagues - Greenman, Snyder, and Kotasek ('23) - examined over 2,000 items of MLM marketing content with one or more atypical earnings or lifestyle representations and found the vast majority had no disclaimer that related to earnings, rewards or lifestyle. Of the subset that did, none of the disclaimers fully aligned with self-regulatory guidance. Additionally, Bosley and her team conducted two studies that suggest the lack of clear disclaimers leaves consumers with elevated expectations and artificially inflated interest in the MLM income opportunity. Given the low or negative returns for many MLM participants and the widespread use of earnings claims in the industry, the research concludes that we cannot rely on self-regulation to be the cure for what ails the MLM industry. Bosley finds that regulation, at the state or federal level, is necessary to address the consumer protection issues in this industry.