You're Welcome, Freep
Over the weekend, the Detroit Free Press published an article that took a critical look at GOP gubernatorial nominee Dick DeVos and his leadership of Amway. The article even went so far as to say that the fact that so few of Amway's independent distributors actually make money could make his promises to improve Michigan's economy less believable.
I have to admit that I was tempted to send the Free Press a bill when I read that. I've been arguing the same thing for months and have made several posts about it on this blog.
Of course, I shouldn't harp on the Free Press too much.
They did do a significant amount of independent research for their article. For example, I had frequently pointed out, in spite of DeVos' promises in Amway sales literature to the contrary, the overwhelming number of Amway representatives are left with nothing but a few cases of soap. The Freep managed to track down the exact number of Amway sales represenatives who are able to make a living from selling Amway - 2 out of every 1,000.
0.2%
This, of course, means that the other 99.8% of those who bought into DeVos' promises were left with nothing but disappointment and a few cases of soap.
If DeVos wants to be taken seriously as a gubernatorial candidate, he is going to have to start addressing that issue. He needs to somehow prove to Michigan voters that he really can be trusted to do the job.
Quite frankly, I doubt that television ads will ever be able to do that. If he wants voters to feel that they can trust them, he is going to have to meet them face-to-face; answer their questions and criticisms honestly and directly.
More importantly, he is rapidly running out of time in which to do that.
In the meantime, anyone who is interested can read the Freep's take on this matter here.
