It’s been a year and a half since I canceled our membership in Melaleuca. We were not in it to make sales or have a downline. We were attracted to their environmentally friendly face, their use of concentrates that reduced plastic containers, and discounts for “members.” The products themselves were quite adequate.
It was annoying that we were required to purchase a certain amount of produce each month using a point system. The point value of items could change month to month. These required purchases left us with more products than we could use in a month. In fact, we still have a store of various products and won’t run out any time soon.
Then, their ecological packaging fell behind competitors who offered laundry strips and biodegradable packaging. This was not a deal breaker, but it meant we needed less of their plastic packaged products.
I tried their touted supplements that made no difference in my health.
Things took a dark turn for me when I discovered that Frank VanderSloot’s family (the founder and then CEO of Melaleuca) lobbied against marriage equality in California although he lived in Idaho. (I understand that he has had a nuanced change of heart by now and asserts that all should have the same rights. But then to dismiss the dignity of a tenth of the population might not be good for business. I cannot say what’s in his heart.)
With a little research I found the opensecrets.org website. The VanderSloot family has given millions of dollars to organizations and the political party that ever seeks to reduce the government’s ability to regulate businesses that would pump toxins into our environment. The same party wanting to take away women’s rights (already partially successful), to cut taxes for those who need it least, as well as degrading our social safety nets. This is not my idea of wellness since I see personal, environmental, and social wellness to be intertwined. Now, I’m not saying that the VanderSloots’ personal values align with what we see in today’s Republican Party, but they nevertheless enable those who do.
I twice wrote via U.S. Mail to Mr. VanderSloot about my concerns, hoping to hear some justification and to resolve my dissonance, but I received no reply either time.
It seemed that Melaleuca’s version of wellness applied only to the alleged purity of their products while the world in which we live, and our children will inherit, can be poisoned. I began to see the cynical business model built on a façade of promoting wellness but whose profits are used to support the poisoning of our land, waters, air, and body politic. After all, the more toxic the environment becomes, the more valuable becomes organic and non-toxic products.
This was a dealbreaker for me. I want the land, the water, and the air to be clean, our legislators to represent ordinary people, and all people of this world to be respected and valued.
Environmentally safe products are more important than ever and I hope that one day any company that cares about our wellness will recognize the importance of keeping toxins out of the things we eat, use, breathe, drink, and wear.