Background
The company was based in Carrollton, Texas, and chaired by Robert "Bobby" Adler (not the same person as, and not related to Robert Adler), with president Jerris Leonard, who had been a former U.S. assistant Attorney General under Richard Nixon. Products were marketed with claims such as that they helped prevent cancer, AIDS, arthritis, alcoholism and heart disease.
Receiving endorsements from several celebrities, including William Shatner, Chris Evert, and Gary Carter, the company experienced rapid growth in January 1986. It had a team of 140,000 distributors, with new distributors signing on at a rate of over 10,000 per month. The company was earning $US 8 million, and company executives were projecting sales over $100 million in 1986 along with the astounding prediction of $US 1 billion by 1989. Prospective distributors were issued a videotape narrated by Star Trek star William Shatner, with an elaborate sales pitch that both promoted the product, and implied that the modern world with its modern technology had "a deadly price tag" such as toxic chemicals and nuclear waste. The tape promoted USA chairman Robert Adler as a visionary out to change the world. Another tape was targeted towards athletes, and was narrated by Chris Evert, with other athletes such as Bill Rodgers and Gary Carter stating that USA could help distributors to achieve financial security.
USA had a 16-member executive advisory board including notable scientists such as Michael DeBakey and Dr. Alexander Leaf, but these members were paid consulting fees ranging from $5,000 to $20,000, and/or received research grants from the company which could be worth $50,000 to $100,000.
Read more about this topic: United Sciences Of America
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