Multilevel marketing as we know it dates back to the 1940s, with a vitamin company called Nutrilite. If you worked for Nutrilite, you didn’t just sell vitamins — you were supposed to recruit other salespeople to buy your supply of vitamins and sell it for you. They, in turn, could do the same. The pyramid scheme was born. Since then, this tactic has made a very small number of people extremely rich and made a far, far larger amount of people hemorrhage money. Why do people keep falling for it? Journalist Bridget Read says it has something to do with the very American idea of being your own boss. She’s joining us to talk about how pyramid schemes defined the nation.
GUEST —
Bridget Read | Features writer for New York Magazine. Her new book is called “Little Bosses Everywhere: How the Pyramid Scheme Shaped America.” [Amazon|Bookshop]
Airdate: Weds., July 30, 2025 at 9 a.m. and 7 p.m.