Amway - Amway & IBO Accountability?

Over on the Amway Talk forum, the raging debate is how some of the former TEAM members who became Quixtar/Amway critics are being unmasked and how accountable they should be held for statements that may have been false or misleading and possibly damaging to the Amway opportunity/Amway corporation. I agree with this to the extent that the statements were made as facts which were not true and not as opinions or valid experiences. The Amway supporters are decrying these former TEAM critics and claiming they should be held liable for possible loss of business or income that might have been attributable to these possibly false or misleading statements.

And as I said, I generally agree. But I also have another viewpoint on this subject. When has Amway or Amway LOS leaders ever been made fiscally accountable for people who may have suffered financial losses or in some cases, financial ruin as a result of misleading or false statements made that are positive about the Amway opportunity? I'm sure some people, if they were fully informed that some leaders might make up to 90% of their income from the sale of voicemail, books, functions and standing orders, would think twice if that leader is telling you to second mortgage your home or skip a mortgage payment because you "need" to be at the next function. Or if that leader suggests your family skip a meal so you can buy another cd. Who has ever been held accountable for this?

There are certain blatantly false statements made by Amway representatives such as lifelong residual income, willable to heirs, used as a means to entice people to join. I've also heard that the Amway opportunity is a franchise when it is not. I've seen many IBOs lie about their level of income earned thru the Amway opportunity, I suppose as a means to entice prospects to join. Even the profiles of success booklet that the LOSs produce are misleading at times as the alleged wealth depicted may or may not have been a result of income attained thru the Amway opportunity. We even have some supporters making false claims to promote various products such as the perfect water fiasco, or an Amway supporter claimg just last month that Asafa Powell (sponsored by Amway/Nutrilte) was the current world record holder in the 100 meter race, which is completely false. The record holder for the last several years has been Usain Bolt from Jamaica.

Yes, I agree that false and misleading statements against Amway are not right. But one could ask what Amway has done to the possibly millions of people who were enticed to join Amway or purchase Amway goods because of false and misleading statements made by Amway representatives and AMO leaders? I believe that Amway simply pushes the responsibility away by saying they cannot control what their "independent representatives" say and do. But if you cannot control and monitor your sales force, independent or not, then aren't some of these folks "out of control"? If it's out of control, maybe "someone" has to reign control back in?

Maybe it's time for the FTC to review this opportunity again. 1979 was a long time ago and as Amway supporters say, times have changed. (But maybe not for the better?)