| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1995 |
| Headquarters | Phoenix, Arizona |
| Key people |
Ray Faltinsky |
| Products | Himalayan Goji Juice |
| Employees | 220 |
| Website | www.FreeLife.com |
FreeLife International is a multi-level marketing company established in 1995 by Ray Faltinsky and Kevin Fournier that supplies nutritional supplements. FreeLife is best known for promoting Himalayan Goji Juice, made from goji berries.
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In 1995, cofounders Ray Faltinsky and Kevin Fournier, along with a group of investors including Anson Beard of Morgan Stanley/Dean Witter, launched FreeLife International as a direct sales company based on Ray Faltinsky's prior research on that business model.[1] As FreeLife grew, it was listed in 2000 in Inc. 500's List of Fastest Growing Businesses.[2] FreeLife has since grown to include operations in Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Brunei, Canada, Dominican Republic, Fiji, Hong Kong, Macau, Mexico, New Zealand, Philippines,[3] Puerto Rico, Singapore, St. Kitts/Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Martin/St. Maarten, St. Vincent and the Grenadines,[4] Trinidad & Tobago, and the United States.
FreeLife’s product line initially consisted of nutritional supplements, weight loss products, shampoo and personal care products. FreeLife has since changed its product lines, and now focuses on a juice made from goji (Lycium barbarum) and sold under the product name Himalayan Goji Juice, and a newer product named GoChi.[5]
FreeLife operates as an international multi-level marketing company where sale of a consumer products take place person-to-person, away from a fixed retail location, or also known as a direct selling company. These products are marketed to customers by independent salespeople who are paid commissions on their sales and the sales of their downline. The company requires those marketing its products to follow certain guidelines set by the company.[6]
Freelife International is a member of the Direct Selling Association (DSA).. The DSA is the national trade association of the leading firms that manufacture and distribute goods and services sold directly to consumers.
FreeLife's former spokesperson, Earl Mindell, has made several unfounded claims about health benefits of the company's brand of goji juice, including that it has anticancer and anti-aging properties.[7] Mindell's involvement with FreeLife was subject of a CBC hidden camera investigation in January 2007, questioning the unsupported anticancer properties of Himalayan Goji Juice and validity of Mindell's Ph.D. qualification (which was later proved invalid[8][9][10] and removed from Mindell's biography on the FreeLife website).
Claims that undetermined constituents of goji may have a beneficial effect on cancer derive from preliminary evidence of cancer cell inhibition in vitro (i.e. in a dish).[11][12] There is no scientific evidence such effects occur in vivo (i.e. when consumed). H. Leon Bradlow, coauthor of a study that Mindell cites as support for this anticancer claim,[11] says that his original research does not, in fact, prove that goji has any anticancer properties.[8]
FreeLife International has funded and carried out its own research on the effects of its product. This research has, perhaps unsurprisingly, shown positive effects on mood[13] and levels of antioxidants in the blood.[14][15] However, since this research is carried out by the company marketing the product itself, there may be a conflict of interest and other diluting factors, such as experimenter bias and weak experimental design cannot be ruled out as potential explanations for their findings.[16]
On May 29, 2009, a class action lawsuit was filed against FreeLife International, Inc. in the United States District Court of Arizona. This lawsuit alleges false claims, misrepresentations, false and deceptive advertising and other issues regarding FreeLife’s Himalayan Goji Juice, GoChi, and TaiSlim products. This lawsuit seeks remedies for consumers who have purchased these products in recent years.[17][18]
A settlement agreement was reached on April 28, 2010, where FreeLife will take steps to ensure that its goji products are not marketed as "unheated" or "raw.", as well as made a contribution to an educational organization.[19][20]