A controversial multi-level marketing (MLM) system based in Canada recently announced the inauguration of a new chapter in Costa Rica. The name of this MLM system is Organo Gold, and its main feature is instant coffee. The Facebook Timeline of Organo Gold Costa Rica posted a message on October 4^th that stated:

 

Today we make history as thousands of people in Costa Rica who have believed in (this MLM) and who have been working diligently during the preopening period welcome Organo Gold’s 37^th nation.

 

At this time, there are 1,527 Facebook followers of the above-mentioned timeline. On the Company page of Organo Gold’s website, the following description is offered:

 

Organo Gold is a global Network Marketing company on a mission to spread knowledge of Ganoderma to the entire world. The company vision is to help people improve their lives by reaching new levels of wellness, prosperity and balance, through the opportunity and products. In just five short years, this vision has helped millions around the world.

 

The products offered by Organo Gold are all based on coffee. Some of the names of its instant coffee brands are: Black Coffee, King of Coffee, Café Supreme, and Royal Brewed. Earlier this year, Mr. Jonathan Berr of CBS Moneywatch reported on this MLM network:

 

Organo Gold, a multi-level marketer of coffee and personal care products that has been dogged for years by consumer complaints, erroneously claimed on its website that it was a pending member of the Direct Selling Association (DSA), a trade group that seeks to burnish the reputation of the $31.6 billion industry.

 

Founded in 2008, Organo Gold has generated a fair amount of controversy in its brief existence. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) records show that the agency has received at least 55 complaints about Organo Gold, according to a Freedom of Information Act request. The complaints allege that the company makes inflated claims about the potential income people can earn as independent distributors of the British Columbia-based company’s wares and that it misrepresents the effectiveness of its products.

 

Some of the FTC complaints cite that Organo Gold seems to be a pyramid scheme that involves a $149 investment but promises thousands of dollars in possible earnings. As expected, Organo Gold denies that they have acted in bad faith with regard to the complaints, who mostly come from people who have joined this particular MLM network.

 

Controversial food-based MLM systems have been arriving in Costa Rica in recent years. Two such alleged systems include Marango and Nutrivida.