First off I want to thank the website for the articles on Mannatech. They saved me from making a bad career choice in customer service call center before things got out of hand.

I worked for Mannatech for two days and walked off the assignment. It was temp to hire assignment. In all fairness, I do not feel the agency was fully aware of situation. Anybody who works temporary jobs is all too aware of the occupational hazard of what was described and what the actual position is something entirely different. It is a reputable firm. I believe the agency should done their homework before taking them on as a client. I did talk to the agency. Even though I sent them articles on Mannatech, they did not see a problem. Needless to say, I longer use their services.

I have been in the anti-cult movement for over 20 years. I was involved in the shepherding discipleship movement. I am all to familiar with Lifton’s criteria and mind control dynamics. I had brushes with multi-level marketing groups, so it did not take me long to smell a rat. I reported to the corporate offices for training. We were waiting in the cafeteria for our trainers. I was wondering what all the pictures in the cafeteria were. There were the top rated associates: distributors for Mannatech product.

There was a two day orientation of Mannatech before training started. The trainers brought out all the products. I did feel some coercion to take the vitamins. I wanted to see the ingredients first. We were watching videos by the founders and researchers of Mannatech. I never majored in biology, but started to sense that the theses proclaimed were academically wonting. I regret that I did not take notes. My father always said if it too good to be true, it probably is. My cult meters were registering. It was announced the managers were in Fort Worth for a planning meeting. This was the first week in July. There was frequent mention of SWOT: Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. The us versus them mentality was prevalent. I can appreciate competition, but there was a sense of we have the answers through Mannatech, the others do not. There was even a brush off of Amway and Herbal Life. I have worked in major corporations, but never felt a competitor was a threat.

The next set of alarm bells was the evangelical terms couched in Mannatech jargon. Faith, hope, integrity, and other evangelical buzzwords. “I thank God and the Lord Jesus Christ for Mannatech. It saved my life.” It was loaded language all the way. Mannatech does draw in evangelical Christians wanting to do service.

The second day of the orientation was most disturbing. How I got out of Mannatech without having a cult flashback was a miracle to me. The videos were ratcheted up that one was going to be in poor and terminal health unless he had Mannatech. I was shocked by the video of the naked four year old boy who supposedly was healed by Mannatech products. My heart goes out to the mother. I read about lawsuit. I thought the picture was disgusting. They also showed two pictures of runners. One was a New York marathon runner who dropped dead of a heart attack after a marathon, and the other of a ninety year old lady. The pitch was you can be like the runner who dropped dead because she did not take Mannatech or ninety year old lady who does.

The afternoon came the associate distribution. The only way one can get the Mannatech products is through a distributor. Before one can get the products, the customer first has to become a distributor. The prospect has to endure a psychologically coercive DVD. The life without Mannatech is in dark black and white. The life with is in living color. There are a hour of testimonies of success stories of how “my life was saved by Mannatech”. The video concludes with “you can reject Mannatech or die, or take it and live”. At this point, alarm bells were ringing all over the place. I was able list examples of cult mind control from everyone of Litfon’s criteria for psychological totalism. I decided if I saw anything on the internet, I was immediately resigning. The search engine lead me to the Rick Ross site. The articles saved me a long agonizing career. I called the agency and asked to be removed from the assignment.

I would be very interested in learning more about your experience with Mannatech. I am personally very concerned about their marketing tactics and would like to hear about their internal training. Is there a way I can get in touch with you. Thanks...

JS