Šiandien anksčiau rašiau apie Biznį. Tačiau tik vėliau susigalvojau, jog apie kompaniją Amway reikia pagooglinti. Na Lietuviškuose forumuose mačiau tiek kaltinimų, tiek gyrimų (matosi, jog iš pačių brain-fuckerių about amway). Konkrečių faktų eilinį kartą neradau. Apart kelių. Veikia Lietuvoje beroc nuo 1999 metų, tačiau Lietuvoje neturi ne tik atstovybės, bet jų veikla yra nelegali, nes darbuotojai neturi verslo liūdijimų, o nusipirkęs prekę negali gauti sąskaitos faktūros.

Tačiau įdomiausia informaciją pateikė ne kas kitas kaip Wikipedia. Pasirodo skiltis controversy yra bene pati didžiausia. Net nenuostabi, jei jau JAV įsteigė In re Amway Corp (In the matter of Amway Corporation) kuri domėjosi pačios Amway tiek legalia tiek nelegalia veikla. Viskas baigėsi tuo, kad amway turėjo sumokėti 100 000$. Dabar tai atrodo ne dideli pinigai, tačiau 1979 metais?

Ir toliau seka vien bylų pavadinimai, kur Amway mokėjo baudas…

Canadian Tax case

In 1983, Amway pleaded guilty to criminal tax evasion and customs fraud in Canada, resulting in a fine of $25 million CAD, the largest fine ever imposed in Canada at the time. In 1989 the company settled the outstanding customs duties for $45 million CAD.^{[27] [28]} In a 1994 interview, Amway co-founder Rich DeVos stated that this incident had been his greatest “moral or spiritual challenge”, first in “soul searching as to whether they had done anything wrong” and then for pleading guilty for technical reasons, despite believing they were innocent of the charges. DeVos stated he believed that the case had been motivated by “political reasons”.^[29]

RIAA lawsuit

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), as part of its anti-piracy efforts, sued Amway and several distributors in 1995. The RIAA alleged that copyrighted music was used on “highly profitable” training videotapes. Amway settled the case out of court for $9 million.^{[citation needed]} In a related lawsuit initiated by the distributors involved, the Court established that Mahaleel Lee Luster, who had been contracted to make the videotapes, had violated copyright without the knowledge of three of the five of those distributors.^[30]

Procter & Gamble

Some Amway distributors were involved with an urban legend that the (old) Procter & Gamble service mark was in fact a Satanic symbol or that the CEO of P&G is himself a practicing Satanist. (In some variants of the urban legend, it is also claimed that the CEO of Procter & Gamble donated “satanic tithes” to the Church of Satan.)^[33] Procter & Gamble alleged that several Amway distributors were behind a resurgence of the urban legend in the 1990s and sued several independent Amway distributors and the parent company for defamation and slander.^[34] The distributors had used Amway’s Amvox voice messaging service to send the rumor^{[citation needed]} to their downline distributors in April 1995. After more than a decade of lawsuits in multiple states, by 2003 all allegations against Amway and Amway distributors had been dismissed. In October 2005 a Utah appeals court reversed part of the decision dismissing the case against the four Amway distributors, and remanded it to the lower court for further proceedings.^[35] On 20 March 2007, Procter & Gamble was awarded $19.25M by a U.S. District Court jury in Salt Lake City, in the lawsuit against the four former Amway distributors.^[36][37] On November 24, 2008 the case was officially settled.^[38]

Na ir man labiausiai patikusi dalis buvo ši:

Several groups associated with the anti-cult movement have expressed concern that tactics of some of the organizations that support Amway IBOs may constitute cult-like activity. Steven Hassan’s Freedom of Mind Center lists the practices of some of these groups as potentially abusive according to his controversial “BITE” Model of mind control.^[51] Steven Butterfield, a Vermont English professor, was briefly associated with one of these groups and wrote ‘Amway: The Cult of Free Enterprise’, which a review in the Washington Monthly described as “chilling… Amway somehow devised a method for brainwashing its eager legions into sacrificing their lives to line the company’s pocket, all the while convincing them that they’re crusading for something much different.”^[52]

Apsidžiaugiau. Kodėl? Todėl, kad ne man vienam atrodo, jog tai yra grynas brainwashing’as.