There’s a fine line in MLM between guaranteeing an income and stating potential earnings. Either way when you pair up a income dollar amount with a business opportunity, you’re implying that this is the ‘standard’ income of those involved in the opportunity.

Most MLM companies acknowledge this and have some sort of income disclaimer and guidelines set in place to stop their distributors making misleading wild income claims.

Polaris Global is no different, the company has a clear income disclaimer and independent distributor agreement addressing this issue.

For the most part Polaris Global distributors are compliant and whilst income potentials might be mentioned, explicit dollar amounts are not.

It appears if you’re the co-founder of Polaris Global however, that these company rules don’t apply to you.

Polaris Global co-founder Rachel Oliver has been credited by fellow co-founder and now boyfriend, Shane Krider, for bringing in 80% of the company’s past revenue. It’s obvious how Oliver stepping down as an independent distributor and taking on a corporate role could harm Polaris Global’s revenue.

After being quiet on the marketing front for the past month, recently Oliver has started advertising the Polaris Global business opportunity on Facebook. Her advertisements have raised the eyebrows of a few people.

One Facebook ad states a commission of $10,000 per sale.

This ad seems acceptable. Despite having a dollar amount represented, it’s factual and simply states a possible commission per sale available through Polaris Global. No worries.

Oliver’s other ad however goes one step further.

Make $3,000-$5,000 per week’? That certainly sounds like if I apply and am successful I can expect to make anywhere between $3,000 and $5,000 a week.

If this job advertisement was put up by a regular Polaris Global distributor they’d probably get the crap kicked out of them by compliance.

Polaris Global’s income disclosure explicitly states that

No incomes are represented or guaranteed in any amount for any participant. Any representation or guarantee of earnings would be misleading.

The Polaris Global distributor agreement’s ‘General Standards of Advertising’ (section 24 h.) guidelines contain similar clauses.

  • Exaggerated, unwarranted, misleading or deceptive statements are prohibited
  • Guarantees or promises of specific results are prohibited.

I don’t know about you but when I see ‘make $3,000 to $5,000 a week’ I’d say that’s a pretty specific representation.

Oliver’s advertisements even appear to be in breach of Facebook’s own advertising guidelines. Section 4b states that

Adverts must clearly represent the company, product or brand that is being advertised. Products or services promoted in the advert must be directly available on the landing page.

The landing page used in Oliver’s Facebook ads is boomingbusinessonline.com. ‘Polaris Global’ nor any of its products and services are mentioned in the Facebook ad or on the boomingbusinessonline.com landing page.

Polaris Media Group, then trading as Liberty League, first cracked down on its distributors advertising dollar amounts back in August 2009. Meanwhile Rachel Oliver has been with Polaris Global since it was Liberty League International. She joined in 2007 and should be well aware of the company’s distributor guidelines and income disclaimer.

Especially seeing as now she’s a co-founder of Polaris Global itself. Of course being a co-founder she’s probably above the naughty stick of Polaris Global’s compliance department. What are they going to do, kick her out of the company?

Abuse of corporate power, flaunting of the rules or innocent mistake…what do you think?