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Parents' Guide to

LuLaRich

By Marina Gordon, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 13+

How FOMO, fear, and Facebook helped fuel a pyramid scheme.

TV Amazon Prime Video Reality TV 2021
LuLaRich Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this TV show.

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What's the Story?

It started innocently enough: DeAnne Stidham was selling dresses with unique patterns for years and doing well financially, then she and husband Mark decide to take it up a level. In a remarkably short time the couple and their vast Mormon family -- they have a blended family of 14 biological and adopted children, two of whom married each other (they weren't brought up together) -- created LuLaRoe, a company built on colorful leggings and the requirement that new consultants bring in other consultants to make money. DeAnne tells a childhood story of her mother literally making it rain money ($5 bills), and the Stidhams did indeed make it rain for themselves and the early participants in LuLaRoe. The company's rapid growth and its business model turned out to be as flimsy as much of their merchandise; many lawsuits followed that have threatened to topple the company.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say Not yet rated
Kids say (1 ):

For every viewer who wonders "How could these women have been taken in by LuLaRoe?" there will be a stay-a-home mom who says "I get it." LuLaRich is as much an indictment of the precarious financial state of so many families in the U.S. and the lure of quick-money capitalism as the company that took advantage of them. LuLaRich documentarians Jenner Furst and Julia Willoughby Nason showed in their Hulu documentary about the comically overhyped Fyre music festival, Fyre Fraud, that people with too much money can fall prey to FOMO. This story is more complicated and touched tens of thousands of "retailers" who wanted to be home with the kids and bring in some income. If your friends on Facebook appear to be showing how to "have it all" selling LuLaRoe, how do you say no?

It's a sign of either their arrogance or their naivete that DeAnne and Mark Stidham sat down with the documentary crew for six hours to describe the LuLaRoe's origin and rapid rise. They seem sunny and enthusiastic -- it's easy to see how consultants fell for them. In contrast are depositions from a State of Washington pyramid scheme lawsuit in 2019 (LuLaRoe settled for $4.8 million in February 2021) and other behind-the-scenes footage that show how leaders and retailers were gaslit and bullied. Regardless, LuLaRoe does still live on, and who knows, there may be renewed demand for their "buttery soft" leggings.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • How are women and mothers depicted in this docuseries? What led to many being lured into a pyramid scheme? What role did social media, particularly Facebook, play?

  • Many LuLaRoe employees and consultants point out that the company focused on White women. Of what significance, if any, is that?

  • Multilevel marketing and pyramid schemes. How are these related? What kind of research can you do into a business before investing your money, time, and energy?

TV Details

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