Amway China shenanigans in Taiwan?
A bit of light news today with a report on Amway China’s recent sending of affiliates from China to Taiwan on “incentive trips”. Since March 12th, Amway has rewarded around 2000 of its affiliates (or “employees” as the Taipei Times report refers to them).
Straight out of the “weird files” though, things haven’t exactly gone to plan…
First up is an alleged sexual assault involving an Amway rep staying at a hotel:
A 37-year-old Chinese male tourist was accused of sexually harassing a female hotel employee on Sunday while visiting Taiwan as part of a group comprised mostly of employees from the Chinese branch of multi-level marketing firm Amway.
According to reports by TVBS-N, the man, named Wang Debin (王德斌), allegedly grabbed a hotel housekeeper’s breast when she came in to clean his room at about 10am and forcibly groped her until the doorbell to his room rang.
To make matters worse, Wang made the trip over to Taiwan with his wife… well, perhaps ex-wife after this little stunt. Or maybe not, after police were called Wang denied all allegations made against him.
In other Amway China news, after publicising that they were going to ‘stage a three-hour performance of the Legend of the White Serpent (白蛇傳) by the Ming Hwa Yuan Arts and Cultural Group‘, Amway China hired out the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall (a major auditorium Taiwan’s capital, Taipei).
Amway China booked the auditorium for ‘more than 15 days, which allowed it to pay a discounted rate‘. When the time for the performance came however, ‘it only put on a 10-minute performance and used the memorial hall for five days‘.
One would certainly hope the MLM business side of Amway China is being run better than their social calendar!
Amway is very big business in China and Taiwan. They got themselves certified as NOT MLM by China (MLM is technically illegal in China, apparently Robert Fitzpatrick explained to them so).
I remember a few years ago, when they held a convention in San Francisco, we ended up with about… a few jumbo jets full of Amway tourists in town. The top leaders chartered one of the Hornblower “yachts” (actually a river boat) for “dinner on the bay” and we’re talking dinner for hundreds, complete with lion dancing and more.
However, this case doesn’t really have anything to do with Amway. This is much like that IMF former head’s harassment charges.
Yeah the sexual harassment thing was just a bit off and most definitely not a reflection on Amway itself.
The hiring of the hall though was a bit strange as that was handled by Amway China.