Of pants and pyramid schemes

Last updated on: October 1, 2021 at 8:00 am by Coyle Neal

Of pants and pyramid schemes 2021-09-30T12:54:43-06:00 Coyle Neal

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Image: IMDB

I don’t pay attention to the vast majority of ads, “stories”, livestreams, or announcements that go by on social media. One of the big takeaways from Amazon’s newest miniseries LuLaRich is that my aggressively ignoring most of that sort of thing is both healthy and wise. At the very least it is sound financially. But it also means that when the wife said she wanted to watch the documentary about “LuLaRoe” I assume it was about a kidnapped heiress or something like that, because I’d never heard of that particular kind of stretch pants. Or leggings. Or whatever they are–I’m not clear on all the terms here.

But apparently they were a big deal not all that long ago–particularly in the world of stay-at-home moms who want to contribute to the family income without having to get a full time job. (Possibly also in the world of those who have slightly too much time on their hands.) And frankly, all joking aside I still want to be a little bit careful in claiming that I now “know” about LuLaRoe, since literally everything I know about it comes from this documentary–and obviously the creators have their biases as well.

That said, it’s an excellent show and you should absolutely watch it. Over the course of four episodes, we see a company get off the ground, grow into a billion dollar business over the course of a year, and then… contract (since it’s still around, “collapse” isn’t quite the right word) into something much, well, lesser than it had been. The focus of the series is the charge that the growth was not so much the result of selling a quality product as it was the predatory luring of (mostly) women into investing in a pyramid scheme.

There are all sorts of takeaways from this show, several of which are even mentioned in the series itself. One is the potential market power of a specific demographic–namely stay-at-home moms. (A similar dynamic comes out of Mrs America in its focus on the political power of these women.) Another is the nature of start-ups and their impromptu structure and ad-hoc responses to new challenges as a result of surprising growth. Yet another is the point that LuLaRoe didn’t have to be the pyramid scheme it became. The first few ‘retailers’ the company recruited did quite well, making a small profit for themselves and a small profit for the company. Once it became a pyramid scheme that changed, and the company and a small number of retailers made a lot of money while no one else did. But that wasn’t a necessary transition. Had everyone been content with the modest success experienced in the early days of the company, this story might have had a radically different ending. There also might have been fewer corporate meetings featuring Katy Perry and Kelly Clarkson, but in retrospect that might have been a worthwhile trade. At one point they show a clip from a conference where retailers talk about how they’ve made eighteen thousand dollars in retail and three hundred thousand dollars in bonuses for signing up others. Obviously the focus was on the $300K, but that first number is worthwhile too: she made eighteen thousand dollars selling pants. That’s not nothing–heck, I’d considered selling something part-time for that. But instead they went for ‘growth’ and expansion with the results on display in the show.

From the religious side of things, there are also moments in the series when the Mormonism of the founders of the company is mentioned. I think at the end of the day the filmmakers didn’t really know what to do with it (and may or may not be aware of what Mormonism even is–we can’t all have grown up in Wyoming), so it was mentioned but not much more than that. I suspect it probably tied into the points made in the series about how the business tried to emphasize families all staying at home and working together, and how it tried to encourage the women to get their husbands involved. Which sounds weird for a business, but again: not my world, and not overly emphasized by the documentary.

And this is the point where someone who pays more attention to multi-level marketing than me could talk about the theology of stretch pants, or why there don’t seem to be any of these businesses for men (or are there? again, this isn’t my area), or why the best way to be involved in a pyramid scheme is right at the beginning when the bonuses are big but before they make you go to the big national conference.

In any case, this is a great series and certainly has much fodder for reflection for believers. I don’t know that we Christians are automatically more susceptible to pyramid schemes than others, but I know we’re not less susceptible to them. This needs to change, and being aware of the model, of how it catches on and trends in certain groups, and how it can abuse those who are unwary is important in helping us think carefully and well about our life and witness in the world.

Dr. Coyle Neal is co-host of the City of Man Podcast and an Associate Professor of Political Science at Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, MO

Documentary

TV Show

Amazon Films

Multi-level marketing

pyramid scheme

Previous Post

September 28, 2021

Common Grace, 2.61

Next Post

October 5, 2021 Common Grace, 2.62

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Action AFI Top 100 Animation Best Picture Winner BFI Top 250 Biography Biopic Books Childrens Christian Classics Classics Comedy Crime Documentary Drama Editor's Choice Family Fantasy Fantasy Films Foreign Historical Historical Fiction History Horror Horror IMDB Top 250 Indie Memoir Modern Novel Musical Mystery Non-Fiction Oscars Philosophy Poetry Popular Literature Reading and Writing Reality Romance Science Fiction Science Fiction Silent Sports Thriller TV Show Uncategorized Western Westerns Young Adult

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 June 2017 January 2017 December 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who interpreted Pharaoh's dreams in Egypt?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Joseph Moses David Aaron