The Dark Side of Direct Sales

Published: Sept. 13, 2022, 4 a.m.

Big money, glamorous work trips abroad, and becoming your own boss - the world of door-to-door selling and chugging on the high street has been rebooted for the social media age.

The industry has been around for decades, but revenues have seen a boost over the last few years and it is now worth \xa32.6bn a year in the UK.

Some direct selling firms in the UK are jumping on the popularity of trends such as hustle culture to recruit young, ambitious people into entry-level jobs in \u2018marketing\u2019 or \u2018management\u2019 and to work with big, well-known, clients.

But as Lora Jones finds out, the reality is very different. She finds keen young people who have been sold the dream, only to find themselves working 80-hour weeks - for low rates of pay.

So how exactly is that possible - and what's the set-up that can reel in so many hungry young recruits? And what protection do they really have from exploitation?

Reporter: Lora Jones \nProducers: Jim Booth, Samantha Everett, Nalini Sivathasan \nResearchers: Star McFarlane, Jade Thompson \nExecutive Producers: Gail Champion and Kim Rowell \nProduction Manager: Jon Briest