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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 1, 1997)
just out ▼ augu st 1, 1997 ▼ 19 Queers looking to get ahead are dipping into the multilevel marketing pool Scott Stapley cott Stapley, 34, says he spent many years grap- pling with aslew of physi cal impairments—from fatigue to persistent joint pain to “se- riouscrashingduring meals” to a lack of mental clarity. Much of that has V changed now, says the |L gay Portland man, K thanks to blue-green gL algae products pro- flL duced by the Klamath Falls-based Cell 5 Tech Inc., a multi- million-dollar com pany that harvests the algae from Up per Klamath Lake and sells it through a network of more than 300,000 dis- fributors. w Enthusiasts wl W tout Cell Tech’s goods, which come in ▼ by Inga Sorensen • photos by Linda Kliewer the form of tablets, caplets and drink mixes, as the ideal blend of protein-rich amino acids, vitamins and minerals, and say they’re easy for the body to absorb. Stapley says a friend turned him on to Cell Tech about two years ago. “I started taking the products just for personal use, which is what most members do,” he says. “I saw immediate results. I now take fewer naps. I have much more energy and less joint pain. It’s incredible.” Around the same period, Stapley began to question his professional future. Sure, working full time as a counselor in a local hospital’s psychiatric unit had its rewards, but Stapley was concerned about the frustrating reality of salary caps. Then there was the fact that his partner (Just Out graphic designer Rupert Kinnard) had re cently become paralyzed in an auto accident. In other words, financial security, as well as independence, were no small concerns for Stapley. That’s when he stepped up his involvement in the world of multilevel marketing, also known as network marketing. Stapley thought, “If this worked so well for me, maybe some of my friends and others can benefit, too. And why not make **^ some money in the pro- cess?” As a member/distributor, Stapley may pur chase Cell Tech products at a discount and con sume them for personal use or sell the products to customers for a profit. (According to Stapley, people become mem- ber/distributors upon signing up, and are required to purchase at minimum $50 worth of Cell Tech goods per month.) Cell Tech promotional materials read, in part. “You sponsor new distributors into your network organization and you earn commissions on all products they purchase, both what they use them selves and what they sell to others.” Distributors earn commissions on the sales of “each new ‘level’ of people [in their) network.” According to a 1995 Oregonian article. Cell Tech, which was founded in 1982 by Daryl and Marta Kollman, “wasn’t going anywhere until 1985, when it started multilevel marketing.” The company then quickly grew into a mega- million-dollar enterprise, becoming one of the country’s top network marketers. (The newspaper says Cell Tech received “na tional attention when Larry Flynt, the publisher of Hustler magazine, championed blue-green algae and made a failed effort to deliver some to Soviet leader Yuri Andropov to try and cure his cancer.”) ention multilevel marketing, and it likely conjures up visions of Stepford Wives- type figures relentlessly pushing consumeristie junk on anything that moves on planet Earth. Stapley, however, says he doesn’t view it that way, at least when it comes to Cell Tech. He says the company has a “global mis- L sion,” one aimed at making the world a better, healthier place. He likes the Mi U l company’s claims that it provides a ¿Am. portion of its profits to good works worldwide. And he’s had positive personal P P S /S t experiences with the products. ‘The product is 100 percent pure f°°d- N o tin g synthetic, all o f the products are M Continued on page