McDaniels:"Using God to Advance His Financial Interest"

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I know many of you reading my articles are starting to think that I have a bias towards Advocare and their products. I assure you, I do not have a problem with Advocare the business, or their products. Well, I guess I do have one problem with the dietary and weight loss products. They were designed to be supplements, and not an everyday practice. But that is not why I am writing this particular article. Today I am going to question whether or not someone can be truly religious, and promote the deceptive and intentionally misleading market plan. With that, I am going to address what many of the one or two percent income earners have in common. Most people that read my articles already know the Advocare sales pitch used and taught by Danny McDaniel, but I will briefly review it.

The general idea is to get your friends, family, or anyone you speak with to attend an Advocare mixer. At the mixer you will provide them all with a spark drink, give them your product story, and tell them other people’s stories. Then you are trained to talk about the medical advisory board and how they had something to do with the development of the world class products you will be selling. Tell your guest that the products are backed by Informed Choice to ensure the products are free of banned substances. At some point you will talk about the unpaid endorsers, and then deflect any negative comments with “I do not know about that, but what I do know is” statement you learned from Danny McDaniel’s bullet proof shield”. Then at some point you go from trying to sell the product to telling the prospective customers how they can earn an extra income from selling the product. If that does not work, you talk them into signing on just to get the extra discount. The end goal is to get people to sign on as a wholesale customer (distributor). Then at some point, you are encouraged to incorporate God. The question I have is “should people like Pastor McDaniel be selling Advocare using his own deceptive rhetoric, and still claim to be religious? Please allow me to explain.

If you watch Pastor McDaniel’s video, you will notice the McDaniel’s mission statement is as follows:

“But seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all those things will be added unto you. (Matthew 6:33)”.

So, what does that verse really mean? I have read articles from scholars and all of them have similar opinions as this article by Charles Prince. Or you can read the analysis by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson, which is a little bit more confusing, but the end result is the same. I am not going to pretend to be a religious scholar, but what I do know (no pun intended) is that selling Advocare is not congruent with his mission statement. The verse means that McDaniel must put God first, and in doing so he is required to act in accordance to Gods will. That means that he is required to be honest and truthful while performing all business transactions. Is that even possible to do using the prescribed sales plan created by Advocare and McDaniel? I say that it is not, and here is why. 

The Advocare business model is created in such a way it dooms over 98% to certain failure. Year after year, Advocare releases their income disclosure statement supporting that claim. But that fact, does not keep Pastor McDaniel from using God to help him sell for personal gain, and doing everything in his power to circumvent the truth with his deceptive lies. He uses manipulative tactics to circumvent viable questions that neither he nor Advocare can answer. If you do not believe me, please watch the bullet proof shield video I already provided. Why do you think it was designed by him in the first place? Somehow, I get the feeling that is not what the Scripture is telling him. Putting God first means that you are required to tell the truth and if he did that, it would make selling Advocare difficult. He would have to start by cutting out some of the statements he makes on a regular basis.

He would have to remove several videos where he claims everyone can make money selling Advocare, such as his video titled “Advocare Training from Danny McDaniel”. In that video he assures those that are watching that anyone that puts an effort into their independent business will succeed, and to avoid listening to people like me that dare disagree. He goes on to compare Advocare to Franchises, although they are not a franchise. He references the fact that Advocare is on the top 500 franchise comparison chart as if it has anything to do with an independent distributors business. What the Pastor knows, and does not tell the listener, is that Advocares business model has nothing to do with the independent distributors business. They are a separate entity, and the reason they are doing so good is because they have minions like McDaniel to help deceive the American people. See, Advocare has been in business for over 20 years, but each year, 98% of the distributors that join do not make it through the year. He knows that the Advocare business and their products success rely on the 20 plus years of deception to be successful. Yes Advocare is successful, but you distributors are not Advocare. You just sell their products through an invisible business.

He then goes into comparing the costs of starting a franchise with the cost of starting your home business with Advocare. Let us just assume that starting the business is cheaper. He knows for a fact the Advocare independent business model has a 98% failure rate. Go ahead and read the income disclosures, they are in English. There is a two percent chance of making it work.

If you started a franchise that required you to pay a monthly fee, your chances of being successful is around 90%. If you start a business from the ground up, which can be started with little to no money, the success rate is around 15% (source). How is that a caparison? McDaniel claims to be a Pastor? Unfortunately it does not end their!

If you watch his video “How do you become successful in Advocare” you will learn much of the same deceptive material. He blames distributors failure on not attending meetings or training sessions. He indicates that each training session leads to new training and is somehow different, or the listener will learn something different. I am here to tell you that Pastor McDaniel is being deceptive. The only thing you will hear is maybe a new sob story that is supposed to lift your spirits and probably talk you into paying for another more expensive training session. While saying this, he knows in the back of his mind, most people will fail, and it has nothing to do with not trying. In that video he made reference to new up and coming distributors Jason and Angela Pannell, from Tennessee. They claim that they were interstate youth directors making $25,000 a year, and then at some point they were both working 5 jobs and still not able to support themselves. The next thing you know they are on public assistance and all hell breaks loose.

 Jesus Christ, according to Mr. Pannell they were both making the same amount, and if I do the math, that is around $50,000. Not much of a sob story there unless he is leaving something out, like getting fired. Of course they too have aspirations to start their own church, and have followed McDaniel’s implementation of God. In this video he claims to come from a long line of ministers. I am not saying that he is not religious, but I am questioning his ethic values. See, according to the Panell's own words, they made their money primarily from rookie bonuses. That means that they did a whole lot of recruiting. To get a rookie bonus, you have to get to advisor, recruit three new people, and have a personal group volume of 3000 within three pay periods. In this video they talk about expecting to make even more money in the next few months, but then admit that  earning more is contingent on the whole team. To put it simple, he admits that his wealth depends on other independent business’s to be successful. By the time he starts talking to other distributors at the Advocare Success School, it appears as if he had transformed from a shy young man to a McDaniel twin. But I guess I got off course there a little bit. The point is, he claims to be religious, but has no regrets using deceptive tactics to lure people into a business that will only work for 2 percent of the people that join. But what is worse than being religious, and using deceptive practices to sell?

Back in 1999 Danny McDaniel and his wife were part of an Advocare lawsuit. He joined forces with Advocare to try and get certain distributors removed, that would eventually benefit his wife. According to the lawsuit, Danny McDaniel was told to stop preaching at meetings. In response, he gave up his distributorship to his wife Diane so he could continue preaching. Does that sound like a religious organization? It is in the court papers, go ahead and read it.

 In that case Darrell Brown (and others) has his distributorship cancelled because he was not able to produce the receipts he saved due to marital interference. He claimed his wife disposed of them intentionally. I wonder if Advocare had something to do with their separation. Anyway, the court found that all of the products in question were ordered by each person individually online and Advocares records should reflect that fact.

 See, Pastor McDaniel is one of the ones that filed the complaint against the other distributors. Which according to the court, was given considerable weight by Advocare, primarily because he was one of the million dollar men. In order for McDaniel to benefit from the recruiting of certain people, others in the middle had to be removed, which is exactly why they ended up in court. But, getting back to Pastor McDaniel and his use of God to benefit himself, he testified in that particular case on page 13 the following and I quote:

“Danny McDaniel claimed that he saw no conflict of interest in terminating 3 of his best friends and former football heros when their earnings then flowed up to his wife, because he had been instructed (convicted) to do so by the Lord.”

As you can see, McDaniel will use God at any time for any reason as long as it benefits his pocket. What else can I say that will convince everyone that he is not exactly being honest with everyone? Just because someone claims to be of God, does not mean that their intentions are of good.

I have said it before and I will say it again. The Advocare business plan will work for certain people under certain conditions. If he is so religious why doesn’t he talk about the story pertaining to Larry McDaniel? According to the court records he had to be hospitalized as a direct result of the products and gained weight while taking Advocare weight loss products. That resulted in the removal of certain products. Not that it is relevant to my religious argument but they also seem to leave out certain purchases that may or may not be necessary on top of product purchases, such as but not limited too:

1.    Accounting Services

2.    Business Forms

3.    Commission Reports

4.    Retail Sales Reports

5.    Downline Printouts

6.    Override Reports

7.    Bonus Reports

     8. Training Services (success school and conference)


If you did not have a chance to read my other article pertaining to market saturation I would seriously suggest you do so. Or look up market saturation. There is something else to consider that many people do not talk about, and that is what many of the top earners have in common. Many of them, regardless of their sad pre fabricated story, already had money. Please, allow me to explain.

I might just as well start off with Pastor McDaniel and his $35,000 a year. He was working 80 90 hours a week, and Diane was working for a mortgage company. The poor guy paid $400 dollars for rent, and was having a really hard time living off both of their income, which I am going to guess was around $55,000 combined. Then there is Zach and Rachel Vassar, whom both were teachers, and he was a high school football coach. Sound familiar? They claim they joined so they could afford daycare. Here is a list of wealthy distributors and their employment and income prior to Advocare:

1. Keith and Lindy O’Brien      (He was a teacher and coach, and          she was a fulltime realtor)
2, Brad and Cynthia Linder       (Special Education teacher, He also worked but did not say where, but she quit first, so I am guessing he made more, yes that is an intuitive conjecture)
3. Al & Lindie Pulvirenti           (He was a Firefighter)

I could keep going, but many of the distributors that claim to be making money using the deceptive Independent Business Plan implemented by Advocare and its million dollar families, is a long list. Many of these people had money, and could actually afford to keep themselves afloat, although they want you to believe they were so poor. No, I am not saying that everyone started with money. Someone that knows people that have money can be successful. If you know people that have money, and they also know people with money, and they know people with money, that is how it works. You cannot sell this type of product to people that have nothing (I mean really have nothing) because the product is expensive. So let me sum this up as I usually do.

I know I got a little out of sink here and there, but the point is this. Pastor McDaniel and others are using God, as the driving force to sell the corrupt and deceptive rhetoric. They know that if everyone were to follow their lead, the pyramid would only benefit 2% of the people. Yes, if the conditions are right, anyone can make it to the top of the pyramid. Unfortunately, what Pastor McDaniel and others on the top do not tell you are the business model is unsustainable.

Worse than that, utilizing God to advance your financial future and claiming he told you to hang your best friend in court to advance your family income, is shameful at best. Mr. Pastor Danny McDaniel is not even close to being a representative of the church. Until he begins to tell people the following, he will continue to be considered a cultish leader by many.

Things he needs to admit:

1.    Advocare does not support their products with viable research.

2.    The independent business model will not provide any viable wealth for the majority of those that join.

3.    Market Saturation will prevent many from being successful and has nothing to do with effort.

4.    The bullet proof shield was designed to deflect questions that Advocare has been unable to answer.

5.    Advocare and distributors like McDaniels will use the policies and procedures to advance their own agenda.

I could keep going but I think you get the idea. Just because someone claims that they are religious, does not mean that they will not use deception to advance their own interest. Pastor McDaniel and his wife are a fine example. Again, I am not saying that everyone that sells Advocare is a bad person. But, if you are using the information provided by McDaniel, you are no different than he is. Let me say this, at some point, people like McDaniel will be held responsible for their actions in court, and I do not believe it is too far away. That is just an intuitive conjecture, but you heard it here first. If you want to join with a company like Advocare, and have the intention to mislead people like Danny McDaniel does, you probably will be held just as liable. 

I would also like to add that the use of religion is not something we see with just Advocare. Other Multi Level Marketing Companies use God as a means to attract a certain audience as well, and include deceptive and misleading statements to lure people in. That is just the unfortunate truth, sorry!  

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