It is back to business as usual for Nu Skin in China, which has announced that it will begin hiring new salespeople and hosting business meetings from May 1.
The company suspended these activities in January after it came under fire from the Chinese government. It was slapped with a US$500,000 fine for selling unregistered products and attacked in the state-owned press, which called it a "suspected illegal pyramid scheme".
While this may seem like an innocuous announcement, both Nu Skin’s recruitment practices and meetings have proved controversial.
A hostile article in the state newspaper The People’s Daily, which indicated that China’s government was turning its attentions to Nu Skin, accused the company of using aggressive sales tactics and said that new recruits were part of a pyramid scheme, and described the company’s recruitment and training meetings as “brainwashing” sessions.
Nu Skin responded that the article contained distortions and inaccuracies.
“China is an important marketplace for Nu Skin and we are committed to operating in full compliance with China’s direct selling regulations,” Dan Chard, Nu Skin’s president of global sales and operations, said yesterday. “We plan to continue working co-operatively with regulatory agencies and refine our training procedures to further educate our sales force on local laws and company policies.”
abouyamourn@thenational.ae
Follow us on Twitter @Ind_Insights
