As of the last Cincinnati Pride in 2019, the largest corporate sponsor of the parade was a Multi-Level Marketing company known as “Pure Romance.”

This petition asks Cincinnati Pride, Inc. to refuse all future sponsorships from Pure Romance, as well as from any Multi-Level Marketing company that seeks to sponsor in the future. We believe the business model of such companies to be detrimental to the lives of most who join them, that allowing them to sponsor Pride events earns them undeserved good will, and that this provides an opportunity to lure members of our community into joining their companies. 

What is an MLM?

Multi-Level Marketing companies, also known as MLMs (not to be confused with Men Loving Men) are a category of businesses that are often compared to illegal pyramid schemes.

Participants of an MLM (such as Pure Romance Consultants) sell goods or services on behalf of the company, and can earn a commission from their sales, as well as from the the sales of those they recruit — also known as their “downline”.

A pyramid scheme is a business model that recruits members via a promise of payments or services for enrolling others into the scheme, rather than from the sale of products or services, or from profits from a real investment. Importantly, as the FTC says here, some pyramid schemes sell products as part of their scheme.

Many MLMs have found themselves in court being sued for allegedly being illegal pyramid schemes, some successfully so.

Here’s a clip from Last Week Tonight with John Oliver discussing MLMs.

What is Pure Romance?

Pure Romance is an MLM that sells sex toys and related products. It is headquartered in Cincinnati.

Taking a look at Pure Romance’s Official Income Disclosure, we can see that about 98% of Pure Romance’s consultants earn less than they would working at a full-time minimum wage job (7.25/hour).*  Of those at the “National Director” level or above, Pure Romance discloses that most of their income, on average, is made by “overrides” — a cut of the sales from their downline, rather than their own. 

Notably, among Pure Romance’s products is “Like A Virgin”, a product described as a 24-hour vaginal tightening cream. The name of this product alone reinforces myths about vaginas and virginity, and by doing so it contributes to a culture of slut shaming, insecurities, obsession with virginity, etc. And that’s not to mention the possible health risks associated with products similar to this one, which are discussed in the video linked below.

More information on Pure Romance.

*This is an imperfect comparison, as we don’t know the average number of hours Pure Romance Consultants work each week.