Better Mileage Through Stem Cells (Jeunesse)

[Thule]

Randy and Wendy are branching out into new areas. They are running another MLM called Jeuness, with pretty much the same crew as FFI.

http://wolfcom.jeunesseglobal.com/dir.aspx
http://www.myffi.biz/t-CorpBios.aspx

The product? Skin creams with revolutionary stem cell technology that will make you young again. They have teamed up with a doctor called Nathan Newman, who claims to be able to isolate stem cells from adult fat.

Scientific support for this theory is low. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons is looking into the procedures, but their president is sceptical.

"This is just part of the quackery that surrounds stem cells," McGuire says. "Stem cells have incredible potential. But nobody knows exactly what they do. So they're marketed to do everything."

http://www.fox2now.com/business/la-he-s ... 0786.story

And true to form, the 'net is flooded with glowing reviews. Or, one glowing review that pops up all over the place. Although they could polish up the language a bit, seems like it's been run through translation software.

Their final challenge created over one hundred million in gross sales quantity more than 2 many years and compensated out 77 Million in commissions.

On top of that to that, they'd the distinction of accomplishing the fastest growing worldwide growth of any Network marketing corporation inside the background of the globe.

Include on the creation of 15 millionaires and it is plain to find out that founders of Jeuness International know precisely what they're performing.
Jeunesse Global Target Market place

http://www.basearticles.com/Art/382698/ ... -Scam.html

[wserra]

They probably use left-over MPG-CAPS. Hey, didn't do anything for cars, why should they hurt people?

As a real on-the-horizon treatment with considerable promise, stem cells are a huckster's dream. 60 Minutes did a piece on it a while back. Just a random sampling of their site shows snake oil galore. For example:

(1) Their own personal search for some specific anti-aging solutions led Wendy and Randy to some break-through and cutting-edge technology involving adult stem cell therapy. "Their own personal search", huh? So I take it that Wendy Lewis and Randy Ray are scientists, likely with their own labs, well equipped to perform such a "search"? Not exactly. They're MLM cockroaches, scuttling from one to another. According to their bios, Lewis has degrees in sociology and psychology, Ray in computer science and psychology. Those psych degrees are important it you're going to sell stuff with no proof that it works. Their work experience is all in MLMs, not science.

(2) "Jeunesse is now anchored in a pivotal and enviable position as the sole owner of the exclusive worldwide rights to some of the most important anti-aging technology of this generation." What technology might that be? And I like the meaningless phrase "worldwide rights". Why, say "patent" and somebody might be tempted to ask you for the number. Can't have that.

(3) "The patent-pending technology of LUMINESCE™ cellular rejuvenation serum". "Patent-pending", huh? A USPTO search of patent applications for "Jeunesse" yields a dozen hits, belonging to two or three applicants with that name. None for our guys. Not dispositive, because the applications could always be under the name of the individual. But why not identify it? Well, one possible answer: remember the company that did ID the application number for their miracle elixir, and it turned out to be for the spray bottle?

(4) "The stem cell conditioned media in LUMINESCE™ cellular rejuvenation serum contains human identical cytokines, which have the same attributes as the cytokines in the human body. This allows for a perfect interaction between our product and natural body processes." A perfect example of the old MLM standby: throw out some scientific-sounding gibberish and count on your target marks not knowing enough to understand that it's meaning-free. WTF does "stem cell conditioned" mean? And cytokines are a very large number of proteins that regulate lots of cell activities. You might as well brag that your stuff contains "nutrients". And where is the proof that smearing the stuff on your skin does anything?

(5) I love this one:

Can you use too much LUMINESCE™ cellular rejuvenation serum?

No - there are no negative consequences for using more than the recommended dosage.

Think these guys have ever heard of a systemic inflammatory response syndrome, AKA
"cytokine storm"? Now, since this stuff likely does nothing more than Jergens, you probably don't need to worry about it. But if it did, you might.

(6) Price. Now, we're all used to how expensive MLM stuff is. Gotta pay that upline. But this stuff is unbelievable: a 15mL spray bottle costs $135. Yes, you read correctly: that's about $270/oz.

Thanks, Thule. This stuff deserves its own thread.

[Burnaby49]

Someone called herrybraun, a first-time poster, just posted this;

I trust only on scientific theories not only words. I really favor natural substances that surely have better mileage.

I deleted the post because it had advertising in the signature.

[eric]

Since today is Wednesday I thought it appropriate to comment on this post. Those of you with a weak stomach please ignore. So what does Wednesday have to do with hair brained stem cell programs? Simple, at the farm it's donuts for testicles day or 'nuts for nuts. Every week a quite reputable group of university stem cell researchers sends up to the farm a grad student bearing large quantities of donuts. In exchange they receive a few hundred pig testicles harvested from very young (a few days old) piglets. A couple of times a year we also receive a request from a Japanese cosmetics manufacturer (they pay real money though) for afterbirth/placenta. I leave it to the reader to invent their own acronym for this sordid yukkiness.

[Arthur Rubin]

I deleted the post because it had advertising in the signature.

The "proper" way to do that is to block his ability to have a signature. I believe a couple of members on moderation are set up that way, in addition to not being allowed to edit their own posts.

Unless, of course, the post was just advertising....

[Burnaby49]

I deleted the post because it had advertising in the signature.

The "proper" way to do that is to block his ability to have a signature. I believe a couple of members on moderation are set up that way, in addition to not being allowed to edit their own posts.

Unless, of course, the post was just advertising....

Essentially all advertising. It was from a first-time poster who's sole point was to praise the virtue of natural remedies (at least as I recall it, I didn't pay a lot of attention). Just by fortunate chance there were links to those natural remedies in the signature.

[wserra]

I deleted him, because he did it again.

[JamesVincent]

What a hard crowd.

[Burnaby49]

What a hard crowd.

I spent 35 years as an income tax auditor. It turned me into what I am today.

[Judge Roy Bean]

What a hard crowd.

I spent 35 years as an income tax auditor. It turned me into what I am today.

A pink beaver?

Wow.

[Burnaby49]

What a hard crowd.

I spent 35 years as an income tax auditor. It turned me into what I am today.

A pink beaver?

Wow.

That was Webhick's doing. My previous avatar was this boring but informative insignia, the Coat of Arms of the City of Vancouver;



Then Web thought it more appropriate that I become what I am today.

So why the Vancouver Coat of Arms when I live in Burnaby? I think the Burnaby Coat of Arms looks silly;

[SteveE]

I've noticed that Facebook posts from a distant friend of mine have lately been all about this "wonderful business opportunity" with a MLM company called Jeunesse. I did a little Google searching and found that this company is another brainchild of Ogale "Randy" Ray and his wife Wendy Lewis, who have quite a history of rather iffy products and schemes. Sadly, my friend is already deep in the quicksand, and when I tried (gently) to pry her loose, another person called Tony Canevero chimed into the conversation to support her. He's likely her sponsor (or whatever they call the superior person in the sales chain) in this organization.

Jeunesse sells cosmetics, with all the usual hype about "reversing ageing", etc. I'm not one who can judge, but I get the feeling that the products are OK as far as that goes. One of their miracle creams purports to have "stem cells" in it, but of course there's no real useful disclosure as to what the actual ingredients are or what they do.

I'd appreciate feedback from any other Quatloosers as to how one might help a friend get free of this pernicious nonsense.

[eric]

One of their miracle creams purports to have "stem cells" in it, but of course there's no real useful disclosure as to what the actual ingredients are or what they do.
I'd appreciate feedback from any other Quatloosers as to how one might help a friend get free of this pernicious nonsense.

In most jurisdictions, cosmetics manufacturers are not required to disclose an exact ingredient list. That being said, in a previous life I spent enough time in their labs to be quite aware of what unusual items may be in their products. The "stem cells" are simply ground up pig placenta and/or testicles from very young (3-4 day) boars. For Halal products just substitute sheep.

[wserra]

We wrote about Jeunesse several years ago. I merged the threads.

"If you read Quatloos long enough, the bodies of all the Frickentards will float by."
- Quatloosian proverb

[SteveE]

I didn't look carefully enough, I guess. Given who the founders of this POS MLM company are, I should have known that there would have been a Jeunesse thread already! Anyway, my apologies....

Any thoughts on de-brainwashing someone caught up in this nonsense?

[Burnaby49]

I didn't look carefully enough, I guess. Given who the founders of this POS MLM company are, I should have known that there would have been a Jeunesse thread already! Anyway, my apologies....

Any thoughts on de-brainwashing someone caught up in this nonsense?

I've been through this with relatives. The answer, from my experience, is no. Once they've been suckered in they have to pursue their own folly and you probably can't change it.

[SteveE]

Yeah, I was kind of expecting to hear that. These outfits prey on people who might be slightly marginalized or lonely. Part of the "package" they are selling is a picture of happiness and success - surrounded by other people who are equally happy and successful. I guess if you believe that your trip to Hawaii with the other "platinum" winners is just around the corner, the last person you want to hear is from some Gloomy Gus who's trying to tell you it's all a sham and a scam.

Sigh.

[GlimDropper]

SteveE, sadly it is far easier to fool someone than it is to show them they've been fooled. Pavlov discovered he could make dogs salivate to the sound of a bell, MLMs achieve the same affect with lifestyle claims and oversized cardboard checks. It's hard to fight that conditioning.

One alternative, try and get your friend to think in real world business terms. Like if they have more than a month's worth of inventory they shouldn't buy more till existing stocks sell. Tell them the magic secret of MLM that his upline will never tell them is how to get their inventory to start gathering dust in someone else's garage. Do not get into multi thousands in debt just for pin rank but focus on sustainable retail sales. If the price structure allows it have your friend start an eBay account that isn't tied, by name or email address to their Jeuesse account and sell the crap at sub retail prices.

It is possible to make honest money in MLM it's just not required or in any way encouraged. Avoid the cult like trainings and focus on the bottom line like any real business has to.

[Hyrion]

Avoid the cult like trainings and focus on the bottom line like any real business has to.

On that last note I'd add: Evaluate the products himself.

If he'd never ( or would rarely ever ) purchase them himself consider the amount of effort he'd face trying to convince someone else to buy the products. Unless he's a "true salesman" - the proverbial used car salesman - I'd recommend not putting himself through the effort of trying to sell something he wouldn't buy himself.

Another question is: Ask himself if he wants to "be in the business of selling X". One of the MLM's someone tried to introduce me to had only one product I would have considered: A vacation. So the question was: Do I really want to be a travel agent with all the associating work (and headaches) that goes with that job? Answer: Nope!

[morrand]

Who's the 13th largest network marketing opportunity in the world? Who's first in their line of business? Who got their hooks set so deeply into the Uber driver I got coming home from the airport this evening that he would not stop talking about them?

Yeah, that's right.

He was so completely excited to have been invited out to some big mover's place in Florida, in a gated community on a lake. Said mover had apparently been the world champion for barefoot water-skiing at some point, and was now pulling over $600k per month from Jeunesse. Or so he said, anyway. Nevertheless, he was all too happy to star in a bit of cell phone video out on the lake, explaining how great it was to live in a place like this, free of the chains of the boring old office lifestyle, and so on, and how great it was to host his friend Mr. Whatshisnameagain from Chicago.

So I got to hear about how wonderful the products are (some of them use stem cells, and others can keep your telomers from shrinking, apparently). Also how great the organization was: apparently my driver had been kicked out of a couple of MLMs in the past for the sin of seeking out opportunities beyond his cult network, but Jeunesse was not so uptight about it. Although it was also such a great opportunity that he'd never think of going elsewhere, of course.

He seemed most impressed that Jeunesse had paid his airline ticket to Orlando and his lodging there, so that he could network with other movers and shakers and Silver Directors (I think it was) within the system. All he had to do, of course, was to pay for an Ambassador package (at only $1,000), but he was still really impressed that the organization would invest in its people by paying airfare and lodging like that. (This is more or less verbatim.)

He is apparently enough in the organization that he was preparing to go out on a Mediterranean cruise (courtesy of Jeunesse or of some other network, I am not sure) in the next couple of weeks. Whether that means he's enough of a factor to have earned real rewards, or enough of a sucker that they are playing him like a fiddle, I can guess, but I don't know.

And there was much more: points, and sponsors, and binary systems with a strong leg and a weak leg, and being able to work an international downline (this guy had gotten a bunch of people on-board by posting to his Polish friends on Facebook), and a lot of other things I really didn't catch. Half an hour's worth of enthusiastic endorsement of Jeunesse, all delivered with him swerving around the road, one hand on the wheel, the other flipping excitedly through his phone, seeking out the videos he had from their seminar in Florida. It only stopped when he finally pulled up to the curb. I got out and wished him luck, and meant it. I also gave him five stars and a good tip despite the sales pitch. Man's gotta eat, after all, even (or especially) if he's up to his eyebrows in Jeunesse.