European Grouping of Marketing Professionals
Encyclopedia
The European Grouping of Marketing Professionals, widely named GEPM, then renamed CEDIPAC SA, was a multi-level marketing
Multi-level marketing
Multi-level marketing is a marketing strategy in which the sales force is compensated not only for sales they personally generate, but also for the sales of others they recruit, creating a downline of distributors and a hierarchy of multiple levels of compensation...

 company founded in U.S. in 1988 by Jean Godzich, a former member of Amway
Amway
Amway is a direct selling company and manufacturer that uses network marketing to sell a variety of products, primarily in the health, beauty, and home care markets. Amway was founded in 1959 by Jay Van Andel and Richard DeVos...

. In France, its headquarters were based in Fleury-sur-Andelle
Fleury-sur-Andelle
Fleury-sur-Andelle is a commune in the Eure department in the Haute-Normandie region in northern France.-Population:-References:*...

, Eure
Eure
Eure is a department in the north of France named after the river Eure.- History :Eure is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790...

, and it employed approximately 360 employees and 50,000 distributors in France. In 1995, its activities ended and it changed its name after many complaints by former members who presented it as a cult
Cult
The word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices...

, as well as two parliamentary reports.

Doctrine and organization

The GEPM, also called "the Business" by his followers, proposed a series of various daily life products, and seminars, rallies, travels, etc., and asked to recruit new members by canvassing, promising the wealth to the followers. The doctrine developed by Godzich mixed marketing techniques, biblical verses and esotericism. Several status could be reached by members, including 'ambassador', 'excellency' and 'diamond'.

In 1995, the GEPM founded The Grouping, a French professional team of cycling in 1995. Luc Leblanc
Luc Leblanc
Luc Leblanc is a retired professional male cyclist from France. In 1994 he became World Road Champion.-Biography:...

, Ronan Pensec
Ronan Pensec
Ronan Pensec is a former French professional road bicycle racer. He was professional from 1985 to 1997. He became professional with the Peugeot cycling team. His best performances in the Tour de France were in the first editions he competed in, where he finished sixth in the 1986 edition and...

, Pascal Lino
Pascal Lino
Pascal Lino is a French former road racing cyclist, who was born in Sartrouville, Yvelines.Lino turned professional in 1988, and is most famous for being the wearer of the yellow jersey of the 1992 Tour de France for 11 days...

 and Graeme Obree
Graeme Obree
Graeme Obree is a Scottish racing cyclist who twice broke the world hour record, in July 1993 and April 1994, and was the individual pursuit world champion in 1993 and 1995. He was known for his unusual riding positions and for the "Old Faithful" bicycle he built which included parts from a...

 were among its adherents.

Reception

According to some journalistic articles, the GEPM was in connexion with the First Assembly of God Church, deemed by them as a far-right evangelist church, directed in the U.S. by Godzich's brother, and many distributors of the GEPM were baptized in this church. In addition, excessive demands for money and the huge time devoted to the GEPM, that was deemed as harmful to member's family life, led to numerous complaints to the Institut national de la Consommation and to anti-cult associations (UNADFI, CCMM
Centre contre les manipulations mentales
The Centre contre les manipulations mentales , widely named CCMM or Center Ikor Roger, is a French anti-cult association....

, Secticide).

In 1995, the premises of French anti-cult association UNADFI were invaded by members of the GEPM to protest against the accusations of cultic deviances and asked the then president, Janine Tavernier, to explain why the group was criticized. The police was forced to intervene. The group was placed in receivership in 1995.

The group was classified as cult
Cult
The word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices...

 in the 1995 and 1999 reports established by the Parliamentary Commission on Cults in France (under the name CEDIPAC SA, its new name then, then under Federation of the networks of agreement [Fédération d'agrément des réseaux or FAR], a group founded by former members). It was labelled as "evangelical" cult. Sociologist Bruno Étienne
Bruno Étienne
Bruno Étienne was a French sociologist and a political analyst. He was a specialist of Algeria, Islam and anthropology of the religious fact....

 criticized this classification, as the group's activity mainly consists in multi-level marketing. The CCMM, as well as Jean Vernette
Jean Vernette
Jean Vernette , was a French priest of the diocese of Montauban. In 1973, he was appointed national secretary of the French episcopate for the study of cults and new religious movements. He published several books on cults and new therapies...

, then national secretary of French episcopate for the study of cults and new religious movements, also considered this qualification as irrelevant.

In 2007, Godzich was condemned of three-year prison and 500,000-euro fine, for abuse of social goods.
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