Contents1 Critical MLM Studies: an introduction to the field and its faultlines 1Deanna Grant-Smith and Claudia Groß2 Lawful but awful: how the MLM industry has gained andmaintained legitimacy 19Claudia Groß and Dirk Vriens3 Chasing fading rainbows: a brief history of US governmentefforts to regulate MLM 44Douglas M. Brooks4 Information asymmetry in multilevel marketing: candisclosures and disclaimers help? 62Stacie A. Bosley5 Designed for irresponsibility: how multilevel marketingcompanies use their organisational design to exploit gaps inthe legal system 79Claudia Groß, Dirk Vriens and Bettine Wils6 Cultivating connections: how MLMs recruit and socialisetheir participants 100Claudia Groß and Douglas M. Brooks7 Belong, believe, and consume: from the prosperity gospel tonew age spirituality in one MLM 120Melissa Carr8 Motivation or manipulation? How multilevel marketing usespersonal development to attract and retain distributors 136Lucas Dixon9 Femvertising, femwashing, and feminity in multilevelmarketing 157Máire O Sullivan10 Hunzoning: how multilevel marketing messaging strategieson Facebook make targeted women feel 174Naomi Yanike and Máire O Sullivan11 From the field to the field: bearing witness and creatingchange through critical MLM research 191Claudia Groß, Deanna Grant-Smith, Douglas M. Brooks,Melissa Carr, Lucas Dixon and Máire O SullivanEpilogue: What to do about multilevel marketing? An activistperspective 210Robert L. FitzPatrick.