EDITORIAL: Animated Attack On Obama Goes Missing From MPB Today Affiliate’s Sales Arsenal; PP Blog Declines Request From Affiliate’s MLM Sponsor To Remove Story That Describes Bizarre Sales Pitch Painting President As Nazi
Regular readers of the PP Blog know that it supports the efforts of President Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force to weed out the purveyors of schemes who brought the U.S. and much of the world economy to its knees. Obama is a Democrat.
What readers may not know is that the Blog is written by a Republican who celebrates America’s entrepreneurial spirit, its market economy, its job-creators, its Great Defenders of Freedom, its Great Guardians of Liberty.
The PP Blog concerns itself with matters of interest to readers who embrace online commerce and see the Internet as an outlet that is pivotal to future economic expansion. How wonderful would it be, say, if Americans and the other peoples of the world who are living in poverty could harness their entrepreneurial spirits and the power of the Internet to engage in legitimate commerce and elevate the standard of living worldwide?
And how wonderful would it be if companies and individuals who already are benefiting from financial success could use the Internet to create a legitimate turbine that generates sustainable jobs that pay a pride-producing wage and freelance sales and vendor positions that create bright financial futures?
Although the PP Blog focuses on business and generally avoids politics, today it makes an exception: When the President of the United States — regardless of party — is attacked to drive business to an online multilevel-marketing (MLM) firm, it must be noted for posterity that the MLM sphere has reached a new and deeply disturbing low.
To call the anti-Obama, animated screed by an affiliate of MPB Today “tasteless” would be a gross understatement. It harms MPB Today, which is the subject of a “review” by the U.S. Department of Agriculture amid affiliate claims the company has been endorsed by the government. Various government agencies — regardless of what political party controls the White House and the Congress — have warned repeatedly for years that one of the scammer’s most important tools is the shovel that plants the seed that the government endorses a “program” or “business opportunity.”
MLM “opportunities” are infamous for planting this cancer-spreading seed. Members of AdSurfDaily, for instance, planted the seed that President George W. Bush had given ASD President Andy Bowdoin an award for a lifetime of business achievement. Bowdoin fanned the pollination of the seed by taking his “award” on the road with him and even posing with it.
The clear aim of the claim was to make prospects believe that ASD could not possibly be a scam because the President of the United States would not give an important business award to a scammer.
It turned out that the “award” actually was a memento for making campaign donations to the National Republican Congressional Committee. In effect, Bowdoin had made the donations to the NRCC in return for banquet tickets. Records show that Bowdoin made the donations during a period of time in which federal prosectors say he was operating an international Ponzi scheme that perhaps ensnared more than 100,000 people.
It is a virtual certainty that Bowdoin, who’d been charged with felonies in Alabama in a previous securities swindle and was given a suspended jail sentence, used Ponzi proceeds to make the donations.
Harm spreads virally when such bogus seeds are planted and take root on the Internet.
But getting back to the matter of the MPB Today affiliate’s Obama-bashing sales pitch . . .
Walmart and Walmart’s Sam’s Club name now have been harmed because the MPB Today affiliate used the name of Sam’s Club in the animated attack, which painted Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as Nazis — with Obama as a cowering Nazi and Clinton as a drunken one wearing “puke colored” clothes purchased from Big Lots, a discount retailer.
This occurred while other MPB Today affiliates were claiming that MPB, which dispenses Walmart gift cards to winners in the MPB 2×2 matrix cycler, was under “contract” with Walmart, that MPB members were “partners” with Walmart, that MPB sells food “vouchers” that can be exchanged for Walmart gift cards and that the MLM program was “Govt. certified with Food Stamps!”
As incredible as it seems, Michelle Obama — the First Lady of the United States — was depicted in the affiliate’s animation as experiencing an embarrassing gas attack in the Oval Office after sampling “beans” at a Sam’s Club store. A dog depicted in the pitch more or less said that the First Lady was stinking up the joint.
Good grief!
The pitch also harms the image of U.S. business in general because it sends the message that “anything goes” in American Capitalism as long as it returns a profit, the precise message U.S. companies now under indictment or investigation were sending when they brought the financial sector to its knees.
Meanwhile, it specifically harms online business. Much of the world already believes the Internet is one giant cesspit, in no small measure because of the business practices of certain MLM programs and affiliates of MLM programs.
At the same time, it harms the Republican party, which is trying to make gains in the upcoming midterm elections. It would be easy, for example, for the Democrats to seize on the message that the sales pitch for MPB Today is just another example of wretched GOP excess and hatred embedded in code. The most bizarre thing about the pitch is that it seems to presume that it is a perfectly acceptable business practice to alienate MPB members and prospects who might be Democrats and Obama supporters — as well as Republicans who actually respect and admire the President even if they disagree with his policies and do not share his political philosophy.
Even though the MPB Today affiliate’s precise party or political affiliation is not known, it seems clear that the affiliate sees nothing wrong with mixing business with inflammatory, divisive politics, and is not enthusiastic about the current Democratic leadership. In this sense, it also harms the Democratic party. Political pranksters and Obama opponents could paint the MPB pitchman as a Democratic saboteur or a Tea Party activist seeking to create dissension in the ranks, something that could inure to the benefit of Republicans.
Most of all, though, the pitch hurts America. Much of the world looks to America for both financial and moral leadership. What the world got in the context of the promotion for MPB Today is yet-another impossibly ham-handed attempt to sell an MLM product at any price — even at the price of American prestige.
Segments of the MLM trade already are infamous for their inability to sell products without lying, for resorting to gutter tactics, for using sales pitches to reimagine products as something they are not and for setting the stage for tens of thousands of people to get fleeced in one spectacular scam after another that goes “viral” on the Internet.
Today the PP Blog received a request from a person who described herself as the sponsor of the MPB Today affiliate who produced the anti-Obama screed to “delete” the Blog’s stories on the reprehensible sales pitch.
“The animated short video on MPB with Hilary and Obama was created by a member I sponsored into MPB and the film has since been taken down,” the sponsor noted. “The member agrees it may have been in poor taste and chose to delete it. Please do the same.”
Welcome to the often-bizarre world of MLM — a world in which the affiliate who authored a political attack on the President of the United States to gain payments from a 2×2 cycler matrix pushed on known Ponzi forums such as ASAMonitor “agrees” only that the pitch “may have been in poor taste” and the dutiful sponsor seeks to make sure the the record gets deleted.
Although the PP Blog verified that the sales pitch had been deleted from the animation site, the Blog is declining to delete its coverage of the matter. All people engaged in MLM need to see it. If they are interested in being taken seriously, they need to condemn it.
MPB Today should issue a statement that condemns it.
In May 2009 — just days after the Obama administration announced a crackdown on international financial fraud — the PP Blog received a request from KINGZ Capital Management to delete a story about the AdViewGlobal (AVG) autosurf’s claim that it had secured KINGZ as an offshore wire facilitator to make it easier for Americans (and other peoples of the world) to send money to an obvious Ponzi scheme that had risen from the ashes of ASD, yet another Ponzi scheme
The PP Blog declined the request. KINGZ later was banned by the National Futures Association for turning a blind eye to the actions of Trevor Cook, a now-convicted felon who operated an international Ponzi scheme that caused investor losses of at least $158 million. The scheme traded on religion. A federal judge called it “wretched, tawdry and cheap.”
History will record that AVG made the claim about its new relationship with KINGZ on the very same day in May 2009 that Obama himself announced the fraud crackdown. By June 25, 2009, AVG suspended autosurf cashouts, taking an unknown sum of money sent in by members with it. It is known that many AVG members also were members of ASD, the subject of a racketeering lawsuit and two federal complaints that sought the forfeiture of more than $80 million. The government won both forfeiture cases. The decisions by U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer now are under appeal by Bowdoin.
It also is known the ASD victims have been targeted in promotions for MPB Today. If that’s not enough, it also is known that at least one MPB Today affiliate’s pitch page includes links to at least 100 “surfing” programs, as well as a link to Data Network Affiliates (DNA).
DNA, yet another MLM program, purports to collect license-plate data that can aid law enforcement and the AMBER Alert program rescue abducted children. Even as DNA and affiliates are claiming to be interested in helping law enforcement, the company says it is selling a spray product that prevents cameras from snapping photographs of license plates at intersections that use electronic systems to enforce traffic laws.
As DNA is doing this, it also is telling churches that they have the “MORAL OBLIGATION” to recruit affiliates for a purported mortgage-reduction program targeted at people who are facing foreclosure. Meanwhile, MPB Today also is targeting foreclosure subjects in sales pitches, and some MPB affiliates are using religion in sales pitches to attract MLM members.
Both MPB Today and DNA are operating in Florida, which has one of the highest concentrations of foreclosures in the United States and is near the top of the list in U.S. bank failures.
So, no. The PP Blog will not delete its coverage of the MPB Today affiliate’s attack on Obama.
All of America — all of the world and all of the MLM universe — needs to see that the President of the United States was right in May 2009 when he announced the fraud crackdown and was right in November 2009 when he announced the formation of the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force.
The PP Blog has no doubt — none whatsoever — that corrupt elements within the MLM universe are doing everything in their power to use the Internet to bleed wealth from hard-working Americans and other hard-working peoples of the world, and that the corrupt transfer of wealth is leading to losses of billions of dollars globally. Simply put, these reprehensible — if not downright criminal business practices — are a money grab on a colossal scale.
Proceeds from fraud schemes are difficult to trace. Money moves at the speed of an electronic impulse. Any number of nefarious enterprises, including narcotics traffickers, organized crime and terrorist groups, could be tapping into the fraud stream. There is no doubt that some of the criminal enterprises are dressed up as legitimate MLMs or employ a direct-sales business model that pays commissions to attract new money.
Stand strong, Mr. President. Your efforts to turn off this criminally gushing Ponzi and fraud spigot not only are commendable, but also are in the interest of U.S. national security, the safeguarding of which is your highest duty to the American people.
The photos below are for posterity. We are publishing them even as we wonder if nothing is off limits if it helps an MLM offer convert — and even as we wonder why the MLM trade seems so willing to repeatedly attribute its image problem to only a “few bad apples” while simultaneously calling the industry’s critics “haters.”
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This is one of the best posts you have written. This Republican is proud of the efforts of the President and his team to drain this national swamp. There are many things he has done that I do not agree with but his administration has been strong on fraud. We are starting to see ponzi schemers get appropriate jail time in federal courts. It is not surprising that those individuals dealing on the edge of fraud are unhappy with the President’s efforts. I say go on Mr. President until this crisis is behind us.
This is possibly the most important post you have made. This Republican is very proud of the President and his teams efforts to root out financial fraud. I haven’t agreed with other programs but the President has been strong on financial fraud. Just look at the sentences being handed out to fraudsters in federal court. This isn’t white-collar time any more. So I don’t think it strange that those engaged in a questionable MLM would pretend office when they attack our President. I say, “Go on” Mr. President, Go on until this scourge of thieves is behind.
Bravo! Bravo! A Standing Ovation!!
Wow Patrick. After reading an editorial like this, I understand the American expression AWESOME. And you achieve the Award of the Three Exclamation Marks.
Brilliant observations and sadly very true. This latest diatribe by a promoter in the MLM “industry” is a sickening reflection of both the kind of people within MLM and also of the level to which extremist American politics has sunk. It must be a source of great discomfort to the thinking members within the Republican Party to see the antics of their extreme right wingers in their name.
We watch open mouthed outside America at the lunatic exhortations of what seems to be a growing minority of the population of the world’s most powerful country. They are demanding freedom from controls and Government intervention, without giving a thought to the fact that intervention only becomes a necessity when self regulation fails. Many people outside the US are angry that they are suffering the direct and indirect consequences of a US led world economic crisis, which was the result of a total failure of self regulation in the finance industry. We live with the results every day of our daily lives.
The Tea Party Gangs and other extremists are doing nothing to reassure the world that the most powerful country in the world is a responsible one which takes its role seriously – quite the contrary.
Your President’s initiative in the stamping out of financial fraud is a laudable one which benefits all american citizens and the citizens of countries outside its borders and it is sickening to anyone who claims to be a patriotic american try to belittle it. Do they really want us to see americans as a people who will justify anything for a fast buck, including crime?
The US Constitution forbids a private bank from issuing money and credit. The Fed Reserve is a private banking cartel (Cooked up in secret on Jekyll Island 1910, codified by Congress in 1913) that violates the US Mint Act. The penalty for such serious abuse, theft, is the death penalty. You are either for the laws of the constitution or your for the bankers. The Federal Reserve is a corrupt institution, in fact it’s a tyranny/Mafia. Period.
And exactly what ‘facts’ do you have to debunk what this scam has been accused of?
“As DNA is doing this, it also is telling churches that they have the “MORAL OBLIGATION†to recruit affiliates for a purported mortgage-reduction program targeted at people who are facing foreclosure”
This is not what DNA has said. They have said that the church would have a moral obligation to make a christian “aware” that a solution might be available (to have a mortgage reduced) where FRAUD can be established. Considering that usury is a crime under Christian common law, then the DNA statement, marketing suggestion is logical.
Christian common law?
Nothing about DNA is “logical,” IMHO. Telling affiliates the DNA license-plate program can help law enforcement and the AMBER Alert program rescue abducted children — while at once telling affiliates they can purchase a “protective spray” that purportedly obscures license plates — well, what’s “logical” about that?
Declaring “GAME OVER — WE WIN” and announcing a “free” cell phone with unlimited talk and text for $10 a month BEFORE it even had studied pricing structures and vendor relationships — well, how, “logical” is that?
Unannouncing the “GAME OVER” declaration and acknowledging it hadn’t studied cell-phone pricing or vetted its vendor before proclaiming to be the world’s low-price leader, well, how “logical” is that?
Missing two advertised launch dates in February before finally launching in March — and then describing the advertised launch as only a beta launch — well, how “logical” is that?
Announcing the departure of the former CEO six days after he left — and then butchering the announcement and misspelling his name — well, how “logical” is that?
Waiting a few more months and then asking members to pretend the earlier launch hadn’t occurred — well, how “logical” is that?
These are DNA’s own words:
“DNA Mortgage Reduction is a SUPER BIG HIT… Sorry only for USA Properties for now… Even the smallest package upon the $1500 payment once we know the person has a case… (remember it is 100% free to see if a person qualifies for the program)… Pays a MINIMUM to ALL Affiliates $100 1st level; $5 on levels 2 to 9; and $50 on level 10… Plus the PROS earn up to 100% Matching Bonus…
“REMEMBER that is the smallest package for homes up to $125,000… There are so many Million Dollar homes out there that qualify and for them the fee is less than ONE MORTGAGE PAYMENT… We estimate that DNA will have tens of thousands of home owners who will purchase this package once they find out they qualify for such… THE SAD NOTE IS: that 9 out of 10 people who do qualify don’t even know this service exist… THAT IS WHERE YOU COME IN… Our DNA Vendor is even offering incentives of $1,000 to $10,000 CASH BONUSES to DNA Affiliates who personally reach multiple sale quantities within a 90 day period…
“THINK OF ALL THE CHURCHES… They have a MORAL OBLIGATION to let their Church Members know about this DNA OFFER… There are Churches that could turn in 100 to 1000 applications in 30 days… ALWAYS REMEMBER IT IS 100% FREE TO FIND OUT IF YOU HAVE A CASE… Statistics say that 85% of all mortgages written from 1996 to 2006 will qualify…”
How DNA arrived at the conclusion its $1,500 mortgage-reduction program was a “SUPER BIG HIT” when it appeared at the time of the pitch to be only days old was unclear. Also unclear are how DNA arrived at the conclusion that churches have a “MORAL OBLIGATION” to point members to DNA, how DNA arrived at its estimate that “tens of thousands of home owners” will purchase its package and the source of the “statistics” DNA used when advertising that “85%” of mortgages written between 1996 and 2006 “will qualify.”
Finally, how “logical” were the testimonials from purportedly happy DNA mortgage-reduction customers who claimed their mortgages already had been written down — only days into the program — when DNA itself said the process could take up to 120 days?
Patrick
And you ALL had a chance to confront the (so called) ” 1 man internet crime wave” LIVE on Aces Live Radio, publicised for months, by Troy Dooly.
No one showed up – How “logical” is that?
Pyramid and ponzi schemes can fail for several reasons. Sometimes the scammer runs off with the money, sometimes there is some sort of legal or evilgovernment action. But often they die due to inactivity, boredom, neglect and lack of interest. I haven’t seen an update drivel from the DNA “management” for a few months, it seems dead to me.
So, I’m wondering why someone called “John” is trying to re-start the 1972 Vauxhall Viva of the pyramid scheme universe? Is there anyone called “John” or “Johnny” who would be trying to get some life out of this rusting heap?
If I were Patrick, I would be looking to see where the IP address of “John” leads to. I wonder if it’s Florida again? I could be wrong.
Brilliant retort, John!
You’ve neatly demonstrated that DNA could not possibly be a scam became neither a radio host nor his listeners asked Piccolo a question about DNA in 60 minutes of airtime.
Or have you?
I listened to the show. Piccolo more or less vomited on the audience and talked about “millions” and other meanderings for the opening 40 or so straight minutes, didn’t volunteer any info about DNA — and wasn’t asked a single question about it by the host. The last 20 minutes more or less were consumed by drivel, as well.
Troy got angry that no one confronted Piccolo — but Troy is the host. He had 60 minutes to ask Piccolo about DNA and, unfortunately, used zero of those minutes to do so.
In any event, your comment seems to imply that, if no one asked Piccolo a question about DNA, then DNA must not be a scam.
The MLM universe is infamous for that sort of construction — and it’s one of the reasons scams now can mushroom globally.
Patrick
“In any event, your comment seems to imply that, if no one asked Piccolo a question about DNA, then DNA must not be a scam.”
The purpose of the call was for the victims to confront Phil. No one showed up. Where are the victims?
Was the call intended to be about DNA? No it was not.
Phil stated that he was offering consultancy to 3 companies, to
suggest Troy start digging into Phils current business, when no one showed
up to complain of past business, it’s absolutely ridiculous.
Again, the purpose of the call was for those with issues
to confront Phil, no one, zero interest.
Dooly is on the take and has no credibility anyway so who cares? He’s as bad as the idiot Clements.
John,
Are you actually going to argue that there are no “victims” because no one asked Piccolo a question on a radio show that has limited reach AFTER Piccolo reportedly threatened to sue the host of show? Piccolo himself planted the seed that he’s going to sue critics — and also talked about writing a letter and picking up the phone when irked by a critic and making a call that hinted he could cause the critic to experience physical pain.
I don’t know what you’d call this; I’ll call it a transparent bid to chill critics.
This show played into so many MLM stereotypes and fallacies of logic that it would be hard to fit all of them into a single column. My unofficial count is that Piccolo used a form of the word “million” 19 times.
No one — NO ONE — knows how many of the listeners/potential callers were either supporters or critics of Piccolo. That Troy described the lines as “lit up” is meaningless. Make that utterly meaningless. Either side of the “debate” could have flooded the lines. Because “Jim” — who spoke in support of Piccolo — was on the line, it leads to a question of whether there were people positioned to derail the show should someone actually call Piccolo out.
Piccolo himself rambled so much that the time for critics actually to confront him was consumed in large chunks. Speechifying by the hosts reduced the time even more.
Meanwhile, the critics were expressly warned of an “Adios, Amigo” penalty for crossing some sort of theoretical line.
After the time allotment of 60 minutes expired, the show continued off-air for another 30 or so minutes. Piccolo wasn’t asked about DNA during that 30 minutes, either — this while DNA is telling the troops that churches have the “MORAL OBLIGATION” to pitch its purported mortgage-reduction service and ads for the company continue to appear online to promote a nonexistent, $10-a-month cell-phone plan. An ad using the image of Donald Trump and Oprah Winfrey also continues to appear online.
And what about the license-plate program” — the one that implies it can help the government and the AMBER ALERT program? That “program” is an MLM confection if ever there was one. It was “working” for Narc That Car — and then, suddenly, magically, another license-plate “program” surfaces in the form of DNA.
One DNA pitchman told the troops during a company conference call to record plate numbers at churches and doctors’ offices and places such as Walmart and Target — and be inconspicuous while doing it. This occurred even as he was criticizing the AMBER ALERT program — the purported benefactor of DNA’s purported social consciousness — for having a purportedly bloated budget that had resulted in the rescue of “ONLY” 500 or so children.
DNA’s top promoter turned out to be a Narc refugee who told the folks to take their cell-phones to Walmart parking lots to snap pictures of license plates — while planting the seed that plate numbers could be given to incoming prospects as an inducement to join the program.
It was sickening. Is that what “Americans” do? Inconspicuously record plate numbers at doctors’ offices and churches and Walmarts to earn MLM commissions while soothing themselves with the bizarre thought they’re helping the AMBER ALERT program?
Troy’s 60-minute program was on the air for more than 41 minutes before the announcement was made that the lines would be opened up momentarily for potential naysayers. Piccolo managed to delay that even longer by saying he had “one more story” to share.
Less than 15 minutes of on-air time remained when the lines did open up — some of which was consumed by a glitch and angry comments from the hosts about the purported lack of willingness by listeners to confront Piccolo.
The leap of logic in that pronouncement is something that approaches breathtaking. It does not follow that, because few people — if any people — were willing to confront Piccolo on a live radio show that was being aired at least in part because of his threat to sue the host for libel or slander, then there are no victims or that Piccolo’s critics consist of a bunch of cowards or people who lack intestinal fortitude.
The guest — Piccolo — wanted the good folks to know that he had a credit card he’d be willing to use to pay a lawyer a retainer to start suing people. Why would anybody want to play that game with him?
All the show managed to do was provide Piccolo a platform from which to intimidate people by threatening lawsuits while wrapping himself in the blanket of Christianity. God may talk him out of suing people, Piccolo suggests.
I listened to the live show (60 minutes) and the recorded show (90 minutes). The feeling I had at the end of both was that the audience had just listened to/observed an excellent gagging — with truth as the casualty.
Sorry, but that show was typical MLM B.S. of the rankest kind. Piccolo talks about money and lawyers and suing people — and the hosts plant the idea that, yes, Piccolo should sue.
And people were supposed to confront Piccolo in that environment?
The show was a joke. It was offensive at so many levels it is hard to quantify them all.
Patrick
We will see, finally, on 10/10/2010 when DNA have their Orlando conference. IF they do in fact manage to move on with 40 or 50 decent quality products at $19.99 pricepoint, what would be wrong with that? People get products, jobs are created, retail sales, commissions generated, a new company established.
What’s would be wrong with that?
[…] PatrickPretty.com 1:17 pm Oct 28, 2010 EDITOR’S NOTE: The PP Blog previously wrote about a promo by an MPB Today affiliate that sought to recruit prospects by depicting President […]
[…] of the promos painted President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as Nazis. Another urged MPB Today affiliates who were not fans of Walmart to lay down their pipe […]
[…] They were doing this on behalf of a business that had any number of reps who apparently licensed themselves to film commercials inside Walmart stores and to use Walmart’s intellectual property to drive dollars to MPB Today. At least two reps declared it best to do business with them because other MPB Today affiliates were lying scammers. Meanwhile, another MPB rep sought to drive business to the firm by creating a script that depicted President Obama and Michelle Obama as welfare recipients aspiring to eat dog food. The President and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were cast as Nazis, with Obama subordinate to Clinton, who also was cast as a drunk. […]
[…] 2010, bizarre promotions for MPB Today appeared online, including one in which President Obama and Secretary of State Hilary Clinton were depicted as Nazis. Clinton was further depicted as a bawling drunk who knocked out First Lady Michelle Obama in the […]