Advocare Review – Spark, Cleanse, Shakes

Since you are probably searching for specific information about Advocare, you can easily navigate to any section of your choice using the menu above. However, if you want to join the company as a distributor, l encourage you to read the entire review.

In this Advocare review, l will look at what it all about. l will discuss briefly about the products, compensation plan, complaints and lawsuits. Wrapping it up, l will give my opinion on whether Advocare is a scam, pyramid scheme or legit MLM.

One of the visitors to Avertscams.com asked me to write a review on Advocare. Admittedly, this is one of the supplement based MLM companies that have been around for a while. It has had its own fair share of challenges inherent in companies that follow this type of business model.

What l Liked About Advocare.

•  The MLM company has got lots of products ranging from supplements, energy drinks and meals replacement shakes.
•  Low entry barrier. You can join the company as a distributor starting from $79.
• You can earn money by buying products at a discount and reselling them at retail price without recruiting anyone to join the company.
•  Relatively high commissions. You can earn 40% per product that you push (now you know why you are being pushed to into buying the products).

Advocare Products

As l highlighted in my introduction to this Advocare review, the company has quite a number of products in its inventory. These are products that you can actually purchase and consume. This is totally different to some so called high ticket MLM companies who will rent you a ‘system’ to recruit others so that they can promote the same ‘system’ to others. If you do not make any money, you will leave empty handed.

The review on each product and how useful it is in improving one’s health is beyond the scope of this review. l will leave that to websites that review health products. Avert scams is mainly intrested in the business model that the company is pursuing to promote products. Nonetheless, you can not adequately analyse a company’s business model without looking at its products.

So;

Lets briefly have a look at some of the popular products.

Advocare 24 Day Challenge

This is one of the most popular weight loss packages that is comprised of phases.

You are provided with access to Advocare 24 day challenge guidelines, recipes, meal plan and an app. These will guide you on how and when to take various products included in the challenge.

The products include;

Advocare Cleanse

You start with the herbal cleanse during phase 1 (Day 1 to 10) – the body is detoxified and cleansed as a preparation for the next stage. It is comprised of (1) Probiotic restore capsules,  (2) tablets and  (3) fibers. You will also take (4) OmegaPlex – source of  Omega-3 fatty acids and (5) AdvoCare Spark – multi-vitamin. That is quite a number of products to be consumed in such as short period of time.

There are claims that the cleanse helps in accelerating the process, making it more efficient and improves absorption of nutrients by the body. So if you want a quicker solution, maybe they are worth a try in consultation with your doctor. It is worth noting that there are lots of of positive reviews on the effects of this phase when compared to the second phase discussed below.

On the other hand, the body was engineered with organs and systems that help us get rid of toxins.  This can however be equally achieved by taking fruits such as Ginger , Blueberries , Lemons and so forth. l will not take any ‘cleansing ‘ supplements without any laboratory tests which confirm that my body’s toxicity levels have reached an unsafe level.

Max Phase (Day 11-24)

Now its time to start taking lifetime supplements that phase 1 was preparing you for. These products are said to be optimised for good health by regulating appetite (MNS 3), providing needed energy and will generally lead to the improvement of your well-being.

Meal Replacement Shakes – these are part of the second phase and will help you maintain a balanced diet without skipping meals. This is theory is a great idea since most people skip meals due to work pressure, lack of the will to prepare meals and various other reasons.

Advocare spark – these multivitamins are available in both phases and can help you easily transition to the next phase without a sudden breaks. It is important to note that this product contains caffeine and some of the said ‘improved energy’ can be attributed to this ingredient. Remember, a lot of people find it difficult to sleep after taking caffeine. Without being judgemental, l honestly think any products that contain caffeine can lead to some sort of addiction or dependency. Good for the company as you will buy more products, but this can be detrimental to your health.

There are a lot of complaints by people who started experiencing different problem after reaching this phase. l discussed most of the complaints in the section below. The problems range from feeling nauseated, rash on various parts of the body, allergies associated with intake of caffeine and various others.

It terms of business, the 24 day challenge gets you primed for a lifetime reliance on supplements and gives an opportunity for you to buy additional products as up-sells.

Some of the products that you slowly get introduced to include;

Advocare catalyst – This is recommended for muscle development. The only challenge is, you are recommended to eat healthy and exercise. Surely who would not develop muscle when they are gym addicts and are eating healthy food? You end up questioning if supplements are really necessary. As for me, if l am going to spend money on your weight loss supplements then let me be a foodie, sit and watch movies on Netflix, knowing that l will goble supplements. If you want me to eat healthy and exercise, then let me go that direction without your supplements. How can l tell the efficacy of taking your supplements if l am burning fat at the gym and eat fruits?

ThermoPlus – this will enhance the efficient conversion of food into energy. It is mainly a weight loss supplement.

Carb Ease – addresses the main source of weight gain, which is the consumption of carbohydrates which are later converted to fat. This supplement will assist in regulating the conversion of carbohydrates into fat they by reducing weight gain.

Advocare Compensation Plan

The comp plan is relatively easy to understand even by novices. l always wonder why MLM compensation plans are so complicated including binaries, matrixes, power legs and a lot of other confusing jargon? Probably it is a way for the owners to syphon money out of distributors without making it so obvious.

Anyway, l will not delve deep into the compensation plan and will only look at the five ways you can earn money from Advocare.

1) Retail Profits – this is the usual ‘buy cheap, sell high’ type of business that we are used to and no one has got any beef with such a business model. You can earn up to 40% of every product that you sell

2) Wholesale Commissions – recruit new distributors to do the selling and you will earn 5 to 20% commissions from their sales. This is what MLMers mean when they say ‘you earn passive income’ while you are on holiday. There is someone doing the ‘donkey work’ behind the scenes. Fortunately, there are hundreds of people willing to do the work for others in the ‘hope’ that others will do that for them…

3) Overrides – get commissions from combined sales of team members or downline.

4) Leadership Bonuses – ranges between 3 – 19.75%.

5) Incentive – include various bonuses and sponsored travelling trips.

Advocare Complaints and Lawsuits

Sponsoring of athletes – there is really nothing wrong with supporting sport, BUT when it is done by a company selling ‘weight loss products’ it raises eyebrows. Why sponsor someone who already exercises, eats healthy food and is probably fit anyway? Give it to obese people who and let’s see how it works? There was an athlete Jessica Hardy, who sued Advocare after failing a drug test claiming that their free supplements where tainted with Clenbuterol.

Overpriced products – most often than not, MLMs sell products above the ‘real’ market value of products in order to cover costs for commissions, bonuses and at times even motor vehicles. Since supplements are not regulated as drugs, there is no independent verification of whether the said ingredients are actually included in the products.

Firing of distributors – there have been quite a number of distributors who have been send packing from Advocare for various reasons ranging from misrepresentation of information, overpricing or underpricing of products. The company lost some case and also did win others. It worth reading the judgments before you join the company.

Unsafe child products – the company had a spat with Pediatrician who discovered that Advocare child supplements contained unsafe levels of caffeine. This lead to the company terminating the production of a supplement called KickStart Spark. Heaven knows what could have happened to children if Pediatricians did not discover this unsafe ingredient. A reason why it is not advisable to give children supplements unless they are recommended by health officials. They obviously can not easily identify and report subtle side effects of supps.

Advocare rash – There are people who have complained of developing a rash after consuming some of the products. This is common with when people are on advocare 24 day challenge and are now in the Max phase. At least you know the likely source of rash when you are going through the weight loss challenge. It is good to stop taking the supplements – they are not anti-biotics and seek medical health.

Inconsistent results – the weight loss results are inconsistent. Most of the times, distributors blame people for not following instructions if products do not work or them.

Non-shipment of products – some customers complain about delays in shipment or that they never received the ordered products.

Lack of support – once recruited, some distributors offer minimal or no support to their recruits on how to market their products.

Customer Care

Advocare customer care service is said to be unresponsive and it takes ages to reply emails.

Advocare BBB Complaints –  there are only 24 complaints for the past 3 years, which is not bad. Most of the complaints have been addressed and closed.

Billing Issues – there is also quite a number of complaints about billing issues whereby money is deducted from customer bank accounts without their knowledge. Some even claim to that certain distributors illegally obtain customer credentials and register them with the company against their will.

Unfortunately, the company’s customer care requests for card information so that they can track the fraudulent charges. However, most victims are not willing to surrender to the very company which made the illegal deductions in the first place. On the other hand purchases are made by third parties which the company do not have control over.

Is Advocare a Scam, Pyramid Scheme or Legit MLM?

This is the most controversial part of the review. l am often misquoted as having called a company a scam even if l never did. There are surely some scams that l reviewed that have saved many people a lot of money. While on the other hand l am bashed by distributors for having let their fish (potential recruit) off the hook. Either way, let the truth be told.

Is it a scam?

From the research l have done, l can not conclude that Advocare is a scam. Yes, there are a few distributors who were unfairly kicked out and had their payments forfeited for unjustified reasons. Some successfully sued the company and were compensated. Without being judgemental, this obviously smells bad. Only a few top earners were affected and therefore there is no justification for calling it a scam.

While there are people who call the company a scam because of unauthorised deductions of money from their accounts, l wouldn’t blame Advocare for that. Those are clearly purchases by third parties who are probably desperate to meet their bonus targets. Most of the complaints filed with BBB were amicably resolved.

Is it a Pyramid Scheme?

This company is definitely not a scheme. It has got lots of real products in its inventory. Of course the compensation plan resembles  a pyramid, with those a few at the top fleecing multitudes at the bottom. For example, if you visit Advocare 2015 Income Disclosure page you will realise that almost 80% of distributors earned less than $50 the whole year and 0.15% earned between $7,500.01 – $10,000.00. 

l however admire MLMs for leveling the ground and making sure school dropouts can earn more than professors as long as they either jumped in first or they are good at recruiting new people. The very reason why equating MLMs pyramid structures to 9-5 jobs is lame. The later compensate or reward people who took time to educate themselves and gained valuable experience.

Or is it a legit MLM?

No-one knows if the company hasn’t crossed the red line unless it has been investigated and certified to be clean. Most MLMs just survive because no-one has been pissed off enough to call in the relevant authorities. Vemma MLM business side was closed after 10 years in operation. Herbalife was recently fined $200 million dollars for various offences. Selling more than 50% of products to distributors is a punishable offence and no-one knows if Advocare has got systems to ensure that this does not happen.

Can You Buy Advocare Products From Amazon?

Advocare sells through its products also through Amazon which in my opinion which can significantly increase competition against distributors. People are likely to buy products from such reputable online shops than from individuals who at times inflate prices of products. This is was demonstrated by Advocare law suits whereby some distributors where chucked out for selling products at inflated prices.