On 2/14/94, American Journal aired an investigative report on Amway which featured John and Stacy Hanrahan, a Pennsylvania couple who had filed a class action lawsuit against Amway, Bill Britt and Dexter Yager. The report included hidden camera footage taken at Amway open meetings, as well as interviews with the Hanrahans, Pat Henry, whose husband was an Amway distributor, and others.

Here are some excerpts from that show, in the order in which they appeared.

Stacy Hanrahan: I wanted John, our children wanted John, and Amway wanted John, and Amway wanted John at any cost.

Steven Butterfield: Because, let's face it, most distributors in the organization are not going to make money, they're going to lost, so what's going to keep them involved is constant brainwashing and manipulation...cult style tactics.

American Journal: You have to build a network of hundreds of independent distributors before you turn a worthwhile profit ... The first step on getting into Amway is going to an introductory meeting. You're not allowed to bring video cameras, so we went in undercover. There we were told how little effort it takes to make lots and lots of money.

Amway distributor (on hidden camera): So I am talking about $100,000 that you can make in your spare time without giving up what you do during the day.

Another distributor: "Imagine going home tonight and thinking what life would be like being totally free. Can you imagine, Andy, waking up at the crack of noon?"

AJ: Critics say they hook you by telling you over and over again that through Amway your dreams will come true.

Amway distributor: We dream Mercedes-Benz. We dream little Porsches. Maybe if you had big dreams, you'd dream Lamborghini, or Ferrari, or Maserati, or something nuts.

AJ: John says before he knew it, his commitment to Amway became the main focus of his life.

John Hanrahan: You wake up in the morning, you have your Amway toothbrush. You have your Amway toothpaste. You have your Amway deoderant. You listen to your Amway tapes on the way to work. You have an Amvox answering machine system that you call into several times a day to get your motivational messages...

SH: They advise distributors to not read the newspapers. They advise distributors not to watch television. And surprisingly enough, distributors listen.

PH: The deceitfulness that I saw, that the way they taught him to operate. They go through the want ads, people selling things, and they call up acting as if they're interested in buying, but then a week later they call them back. Stop to help someone on the highway...you're a nice person because you stopped to help, but they get names and phone numbers and they call the people back a week later.

AJ: Pat Henry says her husband's personality changed drastically...

PH: I would not go out with him in public. And I knew his real reason for making friends with people...it wasn't for true friendship, it was to get a person to join.

AJ: Distributors are egged on by motivational books and rallies...there are meetings that last well into the wee hours of the morning.

JH: When you get tired you become more receptive to outside influence.

AJ: During the day, you are supposed to listen to tapes that, among other things, give you advice on how to behave...

Bill Britt (on audio tape): We talk about women being in submission to Man, to her husband. Of course that's what God's Word say. But a lot of people want to disagree with that.

SH: It's very personal, private information. For instance, how to interact with your wife, how to raise your children, what your religious beliefs should be.

AJ: Distributors are also told to eliminate what are known as "negatives." JH: Anybody who says anything "negative" about Amway becomes basically they enemy. First of all, they have you make a list of your friends and your relatives and your neighbors and people that you know, and you try to get them in the business. If they don't have anything to do with it, you don't associate with them any more...they're not your friends any more. You're going to have new friends, your going to have an Amway family.

BB: I've been criticized for it, but I'm going to keep on saying, if Peggy would come hone to me and say it's either her or the business, I'd have her pack her bags...But my manhood is worth more to me than Peggy, and I'm not going to become a wimp to make my wife happy.

SH: And John packed his bags and he left, and he left me and our children, for Amway.

AJ: You left your family for Amway?

JH: I did.

AJ: John and Stacy eventually reconciled. So did Pat Henry and her husband, but she says while he was in independent distributor he took his cues from his superiors.

PH: It was like I was talking to a robot. He was programmed what to say.

AJ: So when you said "But you're losing money," he'd say...

PH: "But they all lost money in the beginning, and now they're millionaires."

AJ: And when you said "You're never home with the family," he said...

PH: "But I will be able to retire in the next few years."

Amway distributor (on hidden camera): I want you to understand that the income potential is absolutely unlimited.

AJ: Sociologist Jack Levin in an expert on cults. We asked him to evaluate Amway literature and tapes of their meetings.

Jack Levin: It does exactly the same thing on an economic level that a lot of other groups, like cults, would do on a religious level, or maybe on a self-actualiztion level. But it uses many of the same techniques. It gets people together in a common cause; it surrounds them with social support; it provides charismatic leadership that gives them guidelines for living...

AJ: Amway refused our repeated requests for ran interview, so we confronted Jean Valerio, the senior associate who made all the promises at the introductory meeting. She was with a fellow distributor.

Jean Valerio: This whole business is determined by, the success is determined by whether or not you like yourself, and want more for yourself, and are interested in other people.

AJ: Isn't the success of this business really dependent on how many people you prospect, how many people you bring in, take to meetings...

JV: How many people you share with...

AJ: What are you sharing? You tell them "You come in, then you sign up other people, then they sign up people," and not really doing anything.

JV: Did you understand the meeting?

AJ: What about people who say it's a cult.?

JV: I can't answer you. What about people who say "don't go into business, keep a job because they fix your teeth and you get hospitalization." What about people who are so narrow-minded they can't see beyond the scope of what they know?

AJ: But a job doesn't tell you how to raise your children...

JV: A job doesn't care how you raise your children, and a job doesn't care who you're fooling around with, and a job doesn't care if you drink at night and gamble. A job doesn't care.

AJ: What you're saying is Amway does give you a specific way of life, and isn't that cult-like?

JV: Have you looked up the word "cult" in the dictionary, or do you understand what it is when people are interested in people?

JH: They wanted me to become that person. They want everyone to become that person.

AJ: Describe that person to me.

JH: The person that lives, eats, sleeps, drinks, breathes Amway.

As expected, the Amway Faithful rallied on-line and attacked the credibility of American Journal and everyone who was featured on the show. The Hanrahans were just after money, their marriage was already shaky before John got involved in Amway, etc., etc. All this, of course, was just ignorant conjecture from people who never even met them. It was also claimed that the divorce rate in Amway is lower than in the general population (a claim I've seen made numerous times but never a shred of supporting evidence).

After refusing to be interviewed for the program, Amway chose to make its reply in relative secrecy, on Amway's private forum on Compuserve. With good reason, it turns out, since it was full of inaccuracies. Here is the official statement posted by Tom Eggleston, at that time CEO of Amway Corp., and a response written by Stacy Hanrahan.

ABN 02/15/94            SPECIAL TIDBITS FROM TOM
                           February 14, 1994

Today, "American Journal," a syndicated tabloid news program aired in many
different time slots across the country.  As was expected, the program was 
not a fair or credible job of representing the tremendous business opportunity 
provided by the Amway Sales and Marketing Plan.  Rather, it focused on the 
limited experience of three former distributors.

  1.  John Hanrahan was an "active" distributor for about six
      months.  John's commitment and Stacy's, his wife's,
      disinterest in the Amway business resulted in marital
      difficulties between the two.  Stacy first wrote to Amway in
      July, 1992 after John had left her, blaming Amway for
      "disintegrating" her marriage of fourteen years.  She stated
      that Amway's unethical business practices had cost her
      marriage and it seemed fitting that it should cost Amway a
      great price also.  She vowed to use all her energies in a
      vendetta.  Shortly after, the Hanrahans resumed their
      marriage.  The Corporation attempted to communicate with Stacy
      for a year to resolve her concerns.  However, the Hanrahans
      declined to participate in any meetings to attempt resolution.
      Clearly the Hanrahans prefer to seek publicity rather than
      resolution.

  2.  Steven Butterfield was a distributor for less than two years
      in the late 1970's.  After his relatively short stint as a
      distributor, he spent the next few years authoring a book
      maligning Amway.

  3.  We are unable to even find in our records the last
      distributor, whose husband was not presented on the program.

We are confident that our decision not to participate in the program remains
the right decision.  Our response has been made to "American Journal" pointing
out their bias and misrepresentations.  Let's keep our energies focused on this
a most profitable year for distributors.  We certainly are proud of Tommy Moe,
the winner of the first Gold Medal awarded at Lillehammer yesterday.  He came
out of nowhere to win the downhill for the Amway sponsored U.S. Ski Team.  He
met many of you at Convention and at your functions last year.

Congratulations to Tommy and to all of you!

ABN 02/15/94




Dear Sidney,

This morning we received several pages (60 Pages) of information that
appeared on INTERNET. Jay Hennigan, who is on INTERNET sent us the
information. He thought it would be helpful and it is. While it is
helpful, it is also full of misinformation from Amway distributors and
the most misinformation has come from the Amway Corporation. In the
past we have chosen to not address this fiction publicly, we now feel
we must. We would like to ask you to post this information as our
official response. It will be lengthy, but be feel it is necessary.
Here goes. The one and only official account of our Amway experience.

First, a bit of background on my husband John and myself. John and I
have been married for 15 years, soon to be 16 years. We have three
beautiful children who are the center of our lives. Our goals were
united and we had a very supportive and nurturing relationship based
on equality and mutual respect. It was a marriage that many would
have envied, and many would have wanted for themselves. Perhaps, you
would have really had to have known us to appreciate how devastating
our Amway experience has been to us as a couple and more importantly,
to our children. Professionally, John has owned and operated a very
successful business for 17 years. He is well educated and well
respected in his field. He has achieved impressive financial success
and has an impeccable work ethic. Until recently, I was a
professional commercial model, which has afforded me the opportunity
to work at my discretion in order to stay at home and raise our
children. Due to the misinformation that has disseminated from this
source, we feel it necessary to set the record straight about several
mistatements. 

John was an Amway Distributor for 1 year. January 1992 to January
1993. He was an active Amway Distributor for 9 months. His upline
Diamond was Rex Renfrow and he was in the Britt Line of Sponsorship. 
Whether John was an active distributor for 9 months or 9 years, his
credibility to relay his Amway experience remains unquestionable.

Misinformation regarding the American Journal Program:

1. The reference of Jean Valerio as a senior associate came from Jean
herself. The senior associate title came from her own group during the
presentation of "the plan". Due to the editing of the hidden camera
footage, this was not made clear.  I find it hard to believe, that you
have taken exception to her being referred to as a senior associate,
but have not mentioned that she said to a large group of prospects that
they can earn $100,000.00 annually in their spare time without giving
up their present occupation, when Amway Corporation literature clearly
states that an active distributor can expect to earn $65.00 per month
before expenses. Obviously, no comment from Amway on that note.

2. Whether the divorce rate in Amway is higher or lower than that of
society in general is not an issue here. Rather, the influence of
upline counseling downline on matters of marriage, is extremely
inappropriate. They are not qualified to counsel and have no
credentials to do so. What effect this has on the marriages of Amway
Distributors is obvious. The mere fact that marital situations are
discussed on tapes and at functions indicates that this is indeed a
problem for Amway distributors. 

3. We did not receive any money for our appearance on American
Journal. They did not offer us any money and we did not ask for any
money. I hope that is clear.

4. American Journal made several requests to the Amway Corporation
for their participation in the program, they declined every request.

5. We have received hundreds and hundreds of calls from all over the
country validating our experience and corroborating others. Many more
have written to us. We have even received calls from Canada. One
experience more heart breaking than the next.

Finally, more misinformation from the misinformed.  It is clear why
so many Amway distributors pass along so much inaccurate
information. Mr. Tom Eggleston, Chief Operating Officer of Amway
Corporation, certainly should have checked his information before
contacting distributors on AMVOX. His information is in error in the
following statements: 

1. My initial correspondence to the Amway Corporation was not in July
of 1992, but rather was dated June 21, 1992. Amway, however, did not
respond to that letter until October of 1992. I wrote to the Attorney
General of Pennsylvania in September of 1992 and I feel that is what
prompted a response to my original letter. If I had not written to the
AG, I would have never received a response to the letter.

2. In reference to my letter, Mr. Eggleston states that "she vowed to
use all her energies in a vendetta". This is simply not true. I
stated that I would use all my energies to expose the unethical
practices that are being practiced by a great deal of distributors. 
This is not a vendetta. It is unfortunate that out of all the
heartfelt words that I wrote in that letter, Mr. Eggleston chooses to
exploit my pain, and misinterpret it as a "vendetta". What I have
done is to inform and enlighten the public, regarding my experience
within Amway. The goal of educating the public, should be in
agreement with Mr. Eggleston's goals of Amway becoming a well
respected company. Without public pressure on Amway by current and
former distributors to revoke the distributorships who gain from the
unethical business of "motivation", Amway will NEVER have a respected
name. To the contrary of what current Amway distribs think of our
efforts, I firmly believe they will be better off in the long run. 
We are not out to destroy Amway--we are trying to change it for the
betterment of all distributors. 

3. "The corporation attempted to communicate with Stacy for over a
year to resolve her concerns, however, the Hanrahan's declined to
participate in any meetings to attempt resolution..."  This is
utterly false, they know it, I know it, and my legal council knows
it. The fact that the Chief Operating Officer of Amway would state
this nationally through Amvox, gives me further reason to believe
that they will never deal with the issues. ALL contact with the
corporation was initiated by us. Any further contact was in response
to our letters, and to have correspondence on record for legal
authorities. They refuse to deal in good faith unless a higher
authority compels them to take action. For the record, our phone
conversations were initiated by me to a Sharon Grider, (in-house
legal council for Amway), who would refuse to  address the issues at
hand. The conversations would quickly deteriorate on her end, as she
acted in a most unprofessional manner. A letter was written by us to
Rich DeVos, one of the co-founders of Amway, in which we went over in
detail the misrepresentations of the plan, the abuse of the Amvox
system, deception in recruiting, and several other issues, the most
important of which was the "tools", especially the Britt tapes, and
lack of retail sales. We got back a short hand-written note stating
deception is un-acceptable, we do follow up on abuses & such is being
done. Love Ya, Rich. We took him at his word, but nothing was
done!  We then offered to have a meeting with them at our expense,
and meet with anyone they wanted to have present. We got back a
letter stating they would not have this meeting, and asking again
what did we want to talk about. We couldn't believe this, we had
just told Rich DeVos our concerns and again they were trying to act
is if they didn't know. We again offered to attend a meeting with
them, and I quote, " ...we are sincerely interested in resolving each
and every matter of concern. In order to demonstrate our sincerity,
we are extending an offer to meet with you, along with, any and all
Corporate Representatives who you feel would be instrumental in the
resolution process. We have however, one condition to our offer,
that being the presence of Mr. Bill Britt and Mr. Dexter Yager, two 
members of The Board of Directors of the Amway Distributors
Association of the United States and Canada, at this resolution
meeting. It remains our position that these two gentlemen are indeed
a significant part of the problem, we feel it necessary that they be
part of the solution as well. We look forward to the opportunity to
present our conditions for a resolution and hope you will take
advantage of this opportunity as well, to avoid protracted and
discrediting litigation."

That letter was dated January 13, 1993, and
to date, more than a year later, they still have not offered a
meeting. It is a sad state of affairs that anyone should have to go
to such great lengths in order for legitimate grievances to be heard.
It comes as no surprise that Eggleston is either misinformed or
outright lying in his Amvox message.

4. As far us seeking publicity, yes we are. The sad truth is we were
forced into this situation by Amway's refusal to even attempt a
resolution. Yes, the show used us for ratings, (they would not air
anything that didn't have public interest) and we used them to get our
point out to the unsuspecting public. It was a fair trade, and I'm
very pleased by the presentation over which we had no control.

We will continue in our efforts until a satisfactory conclusion
results. We appreciate all of your support. Thank you for giving me
the ability to post my side of the story, as I don't personally have
access to Amvox any longer. We wish you all peace of mind and good
health. 

            John & Stacy Hanrahan

Amway, through Eggleston, fails to address a single issue raised in the show. No comment from Amway on their distributors making misleading income claims (something that Amway has been found guilty of at least twice, once by the FTC and once by the state of Wisconsin). No comment from Amway on powerful distributors like Bill Britt preaching his religious beliefs and advising distributors to give up their marriages rather than give up Amway.

Eggleston also "forgets" to mention that the reason Amway found no record of Pat Henry being a distributor was because she wasn't...her husband was. Note that Eggleston does not state that Amway could find no record of Pat's husband, only that he wasn't presented on the show.

As for Butterfield being a distributor for "only" two years, this seems to be one of the standard responses to anyone who criticizes Amway..."Oh, he doesn't know anything, he was only in for one year..." or two, or three, or however long they were in for.

After the American Journal show aired, a number of Amway distributors on Usenet also claimed that the quotes from Bill Britt were "taken out of context," and that his meaning was misinterpreted. Despite repeated requests that they provide the context so as to demonstrate how Britt's meaning was distorted, none was produced. Finally, one disenchanted Amway distributor who had that particular tape provided the full quote. Here it is. This is Bill Britt relating the story of a distributor who came to him for advice because his wife was not supportive of his Amway business:

He came to me and said, "Bill, my wife said it's either her or the
business?", I said, which one you gonna take?

{a short pause}

Now some of you aren't going to like what I'm going to say. And I've
been criticized for it, but I'm going to keep on saying it.

If Peg would come to me and say to me "It's either her or the
business", I'd help her pack her bags. 

{6 second pause}

Now is Peg worth more to me then the business? Yes, Peg is worth more
to me than the business. But my manhood is worth more to me than
Peggy. And I'm not gonna become a wimp and make my wife happy.
Cause I can't make her happy being unhappy. Now if she said, "Look,
we're a family, we're going to fight about this thing". I'd say "I'm
240 what are you".