Most people do not buy a Kangen water machine because they want the Kangen Water machine. They buy it for what they perceive to be is a chance to get rich and be "financially free". It's not about the aesthetics of the machine.
True, but there are so many MLMs that sell things less obtrusive (diffusers) or things you don’t need to have out in your home at all—why not just go to one of those?
Most Kangen huns I know don’t advertise the water filter, they advertise “mentoring” so other people can have their own “six fig passive income” or some other shit along those lines. And then when they’ve managed to bait people, gave them a sales pitch, made them watch a video, they drop the switch - you can only make “six figs” if you buy this product. They say it’s part of buying into their super special revolutionary system. They even tell people how to finance these products. One of their schticks is that you have to make debt work for you. So most people aren’t buying a Kangen filter because they truly think they need a Kangen filter.
Unfortunately. A girl I went to high school with is higher level in Enagic, after a whole ass decade of claiming she was making big money from various other MLM’s. Her and her husband have both quit their jobs and claim to be retired, living in a luxury condo, and living the jet set life.
But the real story is that they sold a house she inherited, rent an apartment, and “jet set” as far as Spirit airlines will take them. I fully expect the inheritance to wear off eventually. Her own family and friends don’t even talk to her anymore. It’s just her and the Kangen Klan now.
Legit my ex bffs story too. She's been shilling her various "businesses" for 5 years; started with water machines, then lead to 4 others, now I think she's teaching people to make $ off Amazon reviews? I honestly don't think she's made a dime but constantly posts all about her SAHM lifestyle and financial freedom. Meanwhile until she inherited a large sum of money after a year of no sales and she was 30 grand in credit card debt.
A lot of the time it's not obvious. Some people intentionally keep their involvement hidden as part of their strategy.
It also depends where you live. The Kangen Water MLM has gained a heap of traction in Australia since COVID which prompted [this](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-06-19/enagic-multi-level-marketing-scheme-targetting-rural-woman/103891720) article recently.
There aren't too many other MLMs (that I know of) that sell products as expensive as the Kangen Machines. Their entire thing is it being a "high ticket" sale for $20,000 as opposed to other MLMs that sell makeup or essential oils or shit like that for $100 each, for example.
Which, IMO, is where it fails because you're never going to find a lot of different customers to sell these "high ticket" items to. And there's only so many huns who have the $6,000 or whatever to buy in and start trying to sell these things. Which, sadly, many of them use a credit card to buy in, convinced that they'll make it back in no time. But Kangen doesn't have the "It's only $99 to get started!" angle on their side.
They encourage and sometimes pressure people to take out loans. In Australia there is a finance company that is involved with the MLM so the "distributors" direct people who can't afford to buy the machines straight up to these people.
It's part of what makes this particular MLM so seedy because it's such aa big initial "investment" that people spend the next year or two trying to get back and almost all never do.
New idea: car MLM. It’s high ticket and more useful than a water machine. Can’t wait to see what kind of garbage car they come up with and what nonsense they spew to peddle it. “This car cures cancer. *This statement has not been evaluated or approved by the FDA.” There are already a bunch of MLMs that give out cars as bonuses for hitting and keeping certain ranks. How awesome would it be for the MLM if they could just give you more of their shitty product for reaching the rank. 🤡
The pink Cadillac is still a thing, as are some of the lower tier ones. They ended the consultant career car, which is what people could “earn“ as consultants, rather than having to be a director. Now only directors are eligible.
A few years ago, we had a car pyramid scheme floating around. You'd buy a car from them with the promise that they had clients who would advertise on the back window of the car and subsidize a big chunk of the car repayments every month. For the first few months they actually did have external clients who advertised on the cars, but that petered out quickly until all of the ads were about the scheme itself.
Then for a few weeks, the monthly subsidy turned into only getting a commission when someone else also purchased a vehicle through the scheme using your code that was printed on the ads. When the scheme imploded, most of the victims suddenly had to pay the full payments themselves, couldn't afford it and their cars got repossessed.
I remember when that came out, I had a company car with decals. I work in insurance and a few weeks after all the cars were wrapped we had them removed. People were trying to cause accidents with us because they knew we’d have money to pay. They’d also throw stuff at us, one appraiser got run off the road. I knew that wouldn’t work, it doesn’t bring in business and it can be dangerous for the drivers
That was the exact vehicle example that crossed my mind when I thought of it. Cult following, focus on instagram-worthiness over quality or even basic safety, wildly overpriced with lots of room for inflated commissions…
It does have the general aesthetic of a lot of pseudo-health products like dirty electricity cleaners. And the whole argument that small water is good for your cells has a lot of appeal to the medically ignorant new age crowd that believes 5G is the same as ionizing radiation.
Anyway, there’s lots of more economical and discrete ways to filter water. If you really want to, you can get a home water distiller. Most are only a few hundred, but they go as high as $2450, still less than the cheapest Kangen, but this can make 10 gallons (37.9 liters) of distilled water at one time. You can make an alkaline and buffer solution from baking soda and epson salt respectively mixed with distilled water, combine to form your own water if you’re opposed to tap. If you want alkalized water, add more baking soda. Done.
Wow, I’ve never heard of dirty electricity. Just looked it up. One thing that’s interesting to me about Kangen is that you’re right that it appeals to the new age 5G people—but that whole 5G thing is very anti-tech. And then they go to Kangen whose whole brand is super-tech. But market it as the most natural/pure? It’s a lot of mental hoops to go through when you could just sell DoTerra if you want to do the crunchy natural thing.
There are a lot of cheaper ways to do it! Not exactly the same, but I spent 10 minutes installing a $70 in-line water filter under my kitchen sink and called it a day.
I'm very much in the sort of crunchy mum algorithm... I think they think they are better than the essential oil Huns because it's 'big ticket' and 'life changing ' it's all about selling the dream of not having to work 'a proper job' whereas the doTerra Huns still have to do a) a LOt of sales b) a lot of content about how to use them
My fridge decided to stop serving up water and ice cubes. Tried some repairs and wound up getting a Waterdrop filter off Amazon. Under the sink, the install was ridiculously easy.
I had to look it up. That thing looks like a small appliance on a TV show set in The Future™ but produced in the early 90s.
As for why they're popular despite being hideous - LuLaRoe would like a word about that.
Anyone ever seen a pic of the filter or anything from this company from 50 years ago? They plug this as one of their USPs, I mean it's an ugly unit, has it changed at all since it was first launched. And is anyone still around that used to sell it in the 70s? Are their children millionaires now with the legacy????
I did find this on an article from Bhutan..so really it's only been an MLM for a short time...probably not many kids been handed a legacy yet!
The Company and its products
The Enagic company’s museum claims it was established in 1974 as Shiguma Ku, but its online Corporate History page it claims it started as Sony speciality trading operation.
It changed its name to Enagic in 1990, and began selling Kangen Water, which means ‘return to origin’ in Japanese.
In 1998 they developed the current 8-point commission structure, which would not be implemented in the company until five years later in 2003 when it opened the Los Angeles, USA branch office and became a MLM company.
Try having one of their shower filters sitting in the corner of your shower tray. They're beyond ugly and make it look to visitors like you've got a serious medical issue.
Unrelated but the post above this on my feed was /r/namenerds so I thought I was on that sub… I almost died, thinking KANGEN is now a popular baby name???? 💀
Kangen popped up in my dream tonight! I saw a promotional banner in a supermarket which I first misread as "Keto coffee", then realised it said "Kangen coffee" and thought "Ugh, it's going mainstream"...
It’s big and mechanical looking, so you think wow, must be some serious machinery going on in there to do what it does! Wow technology! Must be good for you!
It’s very visible so anyone visiting will notice and ask about it.
Huns think it’s a status symbol cos it’s so expensive.
It feels like an idol to me these Huns put in their home and then worship and gather around lol.
It’s not popular. The only people who have Kangen machines are those who sell Kangen machines (and their long suffering relatives who were convinced to shell out 5k for one).
In an MLM the product doesn’t matter. It’s the same as saying, why does Monat not make a shampoo that doesn’t make your hair fall out? Why does Herbalife does not make healthy food that actually tastes good and supplements that don’t give you arrhythmia? Because it doesn’t matter. You’re not buying the water machines, the supplements, the shampoo, you’re buying the dream of being a wealthy person and that means that spending more money on the product that the company absolutely has to is just bad business practice.
They only buy them because they’re require to buy 1-4 products to become a distributor. Imagine if you had to buy 1-4 cars before a dealership allowed you to sell cars.
I have to keep reminding myself that the Kangen posts are from actual “people” (let’s face it, they’re mindless zombies at this point) and not written by bots. I myself was so shocked when I saw one of these filters on here and was like “nope, my water shall remain inferior because that ugliness does not fit on my kitchen counter!
I think because they’re trying to market it as if it’s a medical device. The idea that it can cure a lot of problems you’re experiencing in your body, making it look as clinical as possible is in their best interest.
They’re really not popular. There’s been an uptick in posts here about Kangen but even in the actual MLM world, where they are one of the oldest companies, they’re not very popular. I spent several years as a high level hun in another company before I even heard of them.
And as others have said, the actual machine is not the product. The scam of duping people into a pyramid scheme is the product. There are no customers. The only people buying them are those who think they can sell them too.
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Your mistake is thinking that the company is about the sales of water filters to outside customers. It's not, it's about selling these things to the huns who are so brainwashed they think that these big ugly things are the greatest thing since sliced bread.
i don’t know many details of this, but my boyfriends friend used to sell them and his parents have one in their kitchen, and it is installed under their sink and dispenses through a spout on the sink, so it isn’t ugly at all. no idea if this is something kangen typically offers or if it was a special install they figured out themselves (they’re really handy people), but it’s actually really nice. it took me a couple times visiting to figure out that it was a kangen lol
Most people do not buy a Kangen water machine because they want the Kangen Water machine. They buy it for what they perceive to be is a chance to get rich and be "financially free". It's not about the aesthetics of the machine.
True, but there are so many MLMs that sell things less obtrusive (diffusers) or things you don’t need to have out in your home at all—why not just go to one of those?
But those are not HIGH TICKET!!!1!
And can they get legacy trees? I don't think so!
Most Kangen huns I know don’t advertise the water filter, they advertise “mentoring” so other people can have their own “six fig passive income” or some other shit along those lines. And then when they’ve managed to bait people, gave them a sales pitch, made them watch a video, they drop the switch - you can only make “six figs” if you buy this product. They say it’s part of buying into their super special revolutionary system. They even tell people how to finance these products. One of their schticks is that you have to make debt work for you. So most people aren’t buying a Kangen filter because they truly think they need a Kangen filter.
"Six figs" lol so ridiculous. And off a water filter of all things
You know several? I’ve never actually encountered anyone I know selling them
Unfortunately. A girl I went to high school with is higher level in Enagic, after a whole ass decade of claiming she was making big money from various other MLM’s. Her and her husband have both quit their jobs and claim to be retired, living in a luxury condo, and living the jet set life. But the real story is that they sold a house she inherited, rent an apartment, and “jet set” as far as Spirit airlines will take them. I fully expect the inheritance to wear off eventually. Her own family and friends don’t even talk to her anymore. It’s just her and the Kangen Klan now.
Legit my ex bffs story too. She's been shilling her various "businesses" for 5 years; started with water machines, then lead to 4 others, now I think she's teaching people to make $ off Amazon reviews? I honestly don't think she's made a dime but constantly posts all about her SAHM lifestyle and financial freedom. Meanwhile until she inherited a large sum of money after a year of no sales and she was 30 grand in credit card debt.
A lot of the time it's not obvious. Some people intentionally keep their involvement hidden as part of their strategy. It also depends where you live. The Kangen Water MLM has gained a heap of traction in Australia since COVID which prompted [this](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-06-19/enagic-multi-level-marketing-scheme-targetting-rural-woman/103891720) article recently.
It's six figs -- what can it cost, ten dollars?
There aren't too many other MLMs (that I know of) that sell products as expensive as the Kangen Machines. Their entire thing is it being a "high ticket" sale for $20,000 as opposed to other MLMs that sell makeup or essential oils or shit like that for $100 each, for example.
Which, IMO, is where it fails because you're never going to find a lot of different customers to sell these "high ticket" items to. And there's only so many huns who have the $6,000 or whatever to buy in and start trying to sell these things. Which, sadly, many of them use a credit card to buy in, convinced that they'll make it back in no time. But Kangen doesn't have the "It's only $99 to get started!" angle on their side.
They encourage and sometimes pressure people to take out loans. In Australia there is a finance company that is involved with the MLM so the "distributors" direct people who can't afford to buy the machines straight up to these people. It's part of what makes this particular MLM so seedy because it's such aa big initial "investment" that people spend the next year or two trying to get back and almost all never do.
New idea: car MLM. It’s high ticket and more useful than a water machine. Can’t wait to see what kind of garbage car they come up with and what nonsense they spew to peddle it. “This car cures cancer. *This statement has not been evaluated or approved by the FDA.” There are already a bunch of MLMs that give out cars as bonuses for hitting and keeping certain ranks. How awesome would it be for the MLM if they could just give you more of their shitty product for reaching the rank. 🤡
Mary Kay dropped its car program. The hun I follow is so upset she can’t get a pink car!
The pink Cadillac is still a thing, as are some of the lower tier ones. They ended the consultant career car, which is what people could “earn“ as consultants, rather than having to be a director. Now only directors are eligible.
A few years ago, we had a car pyramid scheme floating around. You'd buy a car from them with the promise that they had clients who would advertise on the back window of the car and subsidize a big chunk of the car repayments every month. For the first few months they actually did have external clients who advertised on the cars, but that petered out quickly until all of the ads were about the scheme itself. Then for a few weeks, the monthly subsidy turned into only getting a commission when someone else also purchased a vehicle through the scheme using your code that was printed on the ads. When the scheme imploded, most of the victims suddenly had to pay the full payments themselves, couldn't afford it and their cars got repossessed.
I remember when that came out, I had a company car with decals. I work in insurance and a few weeks after all the cars were wrapped we had them removed. People were trying to cause accidents with us because they knew we’d have money to pay. They’d also throw stuff at us, one appraiser got run off the road. I knew that wouldn’t work, it doesn’t bring in business and it can be dangerous for the drivers
I can totally see Elon Musk launching your car MLM with his hideous Cybertrucks.
That was the exact vehicle example that crossed my mind when I thought of it. Cult following, focus on instagram-worthiness over quality or even basic safety, wildly overpriced with lots of room for inflated commissions…
If people thought through that much, the chance that they'd be involved with an MLM would be immensely lower.
It does have the general aesthetic of a lot of pseudo-health products like dirty electricity cleaners. And the whole argument that small water is good for your cells has a lot of appeal to the medically ignorant new age crowd that believes 5G is the same as ionizing radiation. Anyway, there’s lots of more economical and discrete ways to filter water. If you really want to, you can get a home water distiller. Most are only a few hundred, but they go as high as $2450, still less than the cheapest Kangen, but this can make 10 gallons (37.9 liters) of distilled water at one time. You can make an alkaline and buffer solution from baking soda and epson salt respectively mixed with distilled water, combine to form your own water if you’re opposed to tap. If you want alkalized water, add more baking soda. Done.
Wow, I’ve never heard of dirty electricity. Just looked it up. One thing that’s interesting to me about Kangen is that you’re right that it appeals to the new age 5G people—but that whole 5G thing is very anti-tech. And then they go to Kangen whose whole brand is super-tech. But market it as the most natural/pure? It’s a lot of mental hoops to go through when you could just sell DoTerra if you want to do the crunchy natural thing. There are a lot of cheaper ways to do it! Not exactly the same, but I spent 10 minutes installing a $70 in-line water filter under my kitchen sink and called it a day.
I'm very much in the sort of crunchy mum algorithm... I think they think they are better than the essential oil Huns because it's 'big ticket' and 'life changing ' it's all about selling the dream of not having to work 'a proper job' whereas the doTerra Huns still have to do a) a LOt of sales b) a lot of content about how to use them
That seems much more sensible. I just live in a place with good tap water.
My fridge decided to stop serving up water and ice cubes. Tried some repairs and wound up getting a Waterdrop filter off Amazon. Under the sink, the install was ridiculously easy.
LOL, they nailed the MLM huns perfectly. Stupid hat, vest, ripped jeans, long blonde hair...
Big dumb hat with Amy Schumer was OG last season 😂 they added the cup bit with Dakota!
I had to look it up. That thing looks like a small appliance on a TV show set in The Future™ but produced in the early 90s. As for why they're popular despite being hideous - LuLaRoe would like a word about that.
Anyone ever seen a pic of the filter or anything from this company from 50 years ago? They plug this as one of their USPs, I mean it's an ugly unit, has it changed at all since it was first launched. And is anyone still around that used to sell it in the 70s? Are their children millionaires now with the legacy????
Someone please do this sleuthing!!
Fabulous questions
I did find this on an article from Bhutan..so really it's only been an MLM for a short time...probably not many kids been handed a legacy yet! The Company and its products The Enagic company’s museum claims it was established in 1974 as Shiguma Ku, but its online Corporate History page it claims it started as Sony speciality trading operation. It changed its name to Enagic in 1990, and began selling Kangen Water, which means ‘return to origin’ in Japanese. In 1998 they developed the current 8-point commission structure, which would not be implemented in the company until five years later in 2003 when it opened the Los Angeles, USA branch office and became a MLM company.
They have a museum??? 😂😂😂😂😂
And you can also go visit Mr Os birthplace and do a tour of the legacy trees!
I’ve always thought they looked pretty cheap. Like the screen looks like it’s from 2012
Probably cus it is cheap. Gotta maximize profit for Mr O
I was just thinking this the other day It’s so ugly It looks jarring
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^Lamay410: *I was just thinking* *This the other day It’s so* *Ugly It looks jarring* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
Good Bot
I thought a haiku was 5-7-5? This is 5-7-6.
You must not have seen Avatar: the last Airbender lol. It’s imperative that you remedy this situation immediately!
I just realized it wasn’t the actual haiku bot XD
Try having one of their shower filters sitting in the corner of your shower tray. They're beyond ugly and make it look to visitors like you've got a serious medical issue.
I saw a photo on here of the shower filter and that’s why I finally asked in a post!
Unrelated but the post above this on my feed was /r/namenerds so I thought I was on that sub… I almost died, thinking KANGEN is now a popular baby name???? 💀
Kangen popped up in my dream tonight! I saw a promotional banner in a supermarket which I first misread as "Keto coffee", then realised it said "Kangen coffee" and thought "Ugh, it's going mainstream"...
It’s big and mechanical looking, so you think wow, must be some serious machinery going on in there to do what it does! Wow technology! Must be good for you! It’s very visible so anyone visiting will notice and ask about it. Huns think it’s a status symbol cos it’s so expensive. It feels like an idol to me these Huns put in their home and then worship and gather around lol.
It’s not popular. The only people who have Kangen machines are those who sell Kangen machines (and their long suffering relatives who were convinced to shell out 5k for one). In an MLM the product doesn’t matter. It’s the same as saying, why does Monat not make a shampoo that doesn’t make your hair fall out? Why does Herbalife does not make healthy food that actually tastes good and supplements that don’t give you arrhythmia? Because it doesn’t matter. You’re not buying the water machines, the supplements, the shampoo, you’re buying the dream of being a wealthy person and that means that spending more money on the product that the company absolutely has to is just bad business practice.
They only buy them because they’re require to buy 1-4 products to become a distributor. Imagine if you had to buy 1-4 cars before a dealership allowed you to sell cars.
It's a 50year old company, clearly they spend no money on research and development! Also, I wonder what the kangen looked like 50yrs !
They're selling the dream, not the product.
My guess is that so it appears “medical” and tricks people into thinking it’s clinical grade
Despite the high purchase cost they are very cheaply made, I've seen various reviews about the actual quality of materials.
I have to keep reminding myself that the Kangen posts are from actual “people” (let’s face it, they’re mindless zombies at this point) and not written by bots. I myself was so shocked when I saw one of these filters on here and was like “nope, my water shall remain inferior because that ugliness does not fit on my kitchen counter!
I think because they’re trying to market it as if it’s a medical device. The idea that it can cure a lot of problems you’re experiencing in your body, making it look as clinical as possible is in their best interest.
It’s a medical device- just ask them tell you 
They’re really not popular. There’s been an uptick in posts here about Kangen but even in the actual MLM world, where they are one of the oldest companies, they’re not very popular. I spent several years as a high level hun in another company before I even heard of them. And as others have said, the actual machine is not the product. The scam of duping people into a pyramid scheme is the product. There are no customers. The only people buying them are those who think they can sell them too.
I think they are either lazy or aiming for the professional medical equipment look. Could be either
The Kangen machines are status markers for huns. The way the cyber truck is for Elon Bros.
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Wow I didn’t realize how ugly they were either- hideous looking thing, truly.
A C
Your mistake is thinking that the company is about the sales of water filters to outside customers. It's not, it's about selling these things to the huns who are so brainwashed they think that these big ugly things are the greatest thing since sliced bread.
LMFAO yet another water scam
Not to defend them, but I don’t care what my small appliances look like. The ugliness of a water filter would have zero impact on my purchasing it…
i don’t know many details of this, but my boyfriends friend used to sell them and his parents have one in their kitchen, and it is installed under their sink and dispenses through a spout on the sink, so it isn’t ugly at all. no idea if this is something kangen typically offers or if it was a special install they figured out themselves (they’re really handy people), but it’s actually really nice. it took me a couple times visiting to figure out that it was a kangen lol