NEWSWEEK Magazine Checks In On Monavie

NEWSWEEK reporter Tony Dokoupil describes the setting of an Orlando, Florida meeting with a 4,000 person crowd as being similar to a big church revival but with one difference, Monavie, a juice made from the acai berry and 18 other fruits, is the focus of salvation. 

Dokoupil suggests there is a cult like following to the Monavie juice with testimonies of health benefits including killing pain, malnutrition and disease. The juice company is a Utah based business with a similar structure to Avon, enrolling family and friends to sell the acai juice product that's not available in stores at approximately $40 a bottle. The company is not required to publish financial data but is claiming to be growing at a rapid rate on five continents, with a million sales people on the books and cumulative sales topping 1 billion this year. 

Monavie appears to be going against the grain in a sliding economy with everyday people claiming millionaire status on the sales commission of the acai berry juice. Not only is Monavie apparently curing people from back cancer, anxiety and symptoms of autism but its making big money for people like previous teachers or flight attendants. And even athletes and celebrities have now jumped into the multi level marketing mix of Monavie. 

But there is always another side, how about the critics? There are many that will call Monavie a legalized scam with the top executives reaping all the benefits. A federally required report of distributor earnings seems to indicate 90% of distributors are really just "wholesale customers" simply drinking the juice themselves, but receiving a discount having distributor status. Apparently only 1 percent received commission earnings, with just 10 percent of those making over $100 per week. An inside source disclosed a drop out rate of 70 percent. 

Along side the ones singing great praise, the juice also has distributors who will claim outrage and trash the product and its validity. A NEWSWEEK reporter stated no great benefit after taking two weeks of the daily dose, two ounces twice a day. Apparently Monavie is able to elude drug regulation by the Food and Drug Administration by not delivering health promises themselves as a company, but it may appear it allows its distributors to talk the "health hype". There is an 18 person compliance department to investigate distributors making false claims, however Monavie says "It's next to impossible, like herding cats".

Source: newsweek.com