Holiday Magic was a

multi-level marketing Multi-level marketing (MLM), also called network marketing or pyramid selling, is a controversial marketing strategy for the sale of products or services in which the revenue of the MLM company is derived from a non-salaried workforce selling th ...

organization, founded in 1964, by

William Penn Patrick William Penn Patrick (March 31, 1930 – June 9, 1973) was an American entrepreneur, businessman, and fraudster. He was the owner of Holiday Magic, Leadership Dynamics, and Mind Dynamics. Patrick was a proponent of the sour grapes philosophy ...

(1930–1973) in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. Originally the organization distributed goods such as home-care products and

cosmetics Cosmetics are constituted mixtures of chemical compounds derived from either natural sources, or synthetically created ones. Cosmetics have various purposes. Those designed for personal care and skin care can be used to cleanse or protect ...

. Company distributors were encouraged to recruit other distributors in a

multilevel marketing Multi-level marketing (MLM), also called network marketing or pyramid selling, is a controversial marketing strategy for the sale of products or services in which the revenue of the MLM company is derived from a non-salaried workforce selling th ...

structure, which was later characterized as a pyramid scheme. On May 16, 1974, a compromise settlement with approximately 31,000 class members, establishing a trust fund worth $2,600,381, was approved by the court.MLM Law - Lawyer Grimes & Reese PLLC - Attorney Specializing in Multilevel Marketing - Marshall v. Holiday Magic, Inc. (1977) 550 F.2d 1173
/ref> The organization was dissolved in 1974, subsequent to the death of Patrick in 1973. The company had been investigated by the Market Court of Sweden,

United States Securities and Exchange Commission The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against marke ...

, the Federal Trade Commission, and the State of California.

Organization

Origins

In 1964, after a bankruptcy and several business failures, Patrick (age 33) was walking by a garage in

San Rafael, California San Rafael ( ; Spanish for " St. Raphael", ) is a city and the county seat of Marin County, California, United States. The city is located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's populatio ...

, and noted that fruit-scented cosmetics were being sold. The company called Zolene was about to go out of business. Patrick bought all of the cosmetics supplies for $16,250, and founded Holiday Magic, Inc. After the purchase, Patrick began selling distributorships in his new company. Patrick, a student of Alexander Everett (founder of

Mind Dynamics Mind Dynamics was a seminar company, founded by Alexander Everett in Texas in 1968. The company ceased operating in December 1973 after the death of co-owner William Penn Patrick and the resignation of President Robert White, alongside investiga ...

), used Mind Dynamics techniques as well as the

Silva Method The Silva Method is a self-help and meditation program developed by José Silva. It claims to increase an individual's abilities through relaxation, development of higher brain functions, and psychic abilities such as clairvoyance. It has been va ...

in the Holiday Magic organization.

Legal problems

The State of California filed suit against Holiday Magic in December, 1972. In February 1973, Holiday Magic was sued for

calumny Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...

by Avon Products. In the lawsuit, Avon Products' claimed that "Holiday Magic employees distributed leaflets accusing Avon of goon squads, paying off The District attorney's office.." In June 1973, the

filed a lawsuit against Holiday Magic, charging

Patrick Patrick may refer to: * Patrick (given name), list of people and fictional characters with this name * Patrick (surname), list of people with this name People * Saint Patrick (c. 385–c. 461), Christian saint *Gilla Pátraic (died 1084), Patrick ...

with "bilking some 80,000 people out of more than $250 million through his Holiday Magic cosmetics and soap empire." The company was investigated by the Federal Trade Commission,"The Role of Small Business in Franchising, Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Minority Small Business.", United States Congress. United States House of Representatives. House Permanent Select Committee on Small Business., 1973, P. 127, 137, 157, 203. and in June 1973 the company was found guilty of deceptive trade practices.
William Penn Patrick, a former mentor of Turner's, was charged last month by the Securities and Exchange Commission with bilking some 80,000 people out of more than $250 million through his Holiday Magic cosmetics and soap empire. The FTC found that Holiday Magic was in violation of section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, and section 2 (a) of the

Clayton Antitrust Act The Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914 (, codified at , ), is a part of United States antitrust law with the goal of adding further substance to the U.S. antitrust law regime; the Clayton Act seeks to prevent anticompetitive practices in their incipie ...

. In 1973, Holiday Magic's proceedings were prohibited by the Market Court of Sweden, and a fine of 2 million Swedish kronor was imposed.Micklitz, Monazzahian, and Robler
Door to Door Selling, Pyramid Selling, Multilevel Marketing
, CONTRACT NO. A0/7050/98/000156, A STUDY COMMISSIONED BY THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION, VOLUME II: ANALYSIS. November 1999.; Pages 196, 205, 209, 214, 215, 233.

Pyramid scheme

The company was termed as part of the "big three" scams, in a 1974 United States Senate hearing before the Consumers of the Committee on Commerce that dealt with pyramid sales. 1974 hearings before the Congressional Oversight panel of the Federal Trade Commission described Holiday Magic as a "Multi-level marketer of cosmetics", that used an "unfair and deceptive pyramid distribution scheme". Holiday Magic was also labeled a "pyramid scheme" and a "multi-level distributorship" by the United States Bureau of Domestic Commerce, in their 1976 published book: ''Crimes Against Business: A Management Perspective''. The company was cited by the United States House of Representatives in a 1975 hearing as an example of consumer fraud, again in 1977,"Summary of Testimony and Findings and Conclusions Resulting from Hearings in New York on Drug Law.", United States Congress, Select Committee on Narcotics Abuse and Control, 1977, P.53. and in 1991, in a hearing by the House Committee on Small Business. Katz's ''Everybody's Business: An Almanac'' also referred to Holiday Magic as a "pyramid sales organization". Turner described it as one of the first "pyramid marketing" companies in America. Clarke referred to the company as an "illegitimate" business. Tobias poked fun at the pyramid nature of the organization, in his book ''The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need'', telling readers to be wary of "..Holiday Magic - where the big money to be made was not in selling cosmetics, but in selling franchises to sell franchises (to sell franchises).." Howe wrote in the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The ...

'' that Holiday Magic was "..one of the largest of all pyramid schemes.." Holiday Magic is used as an example in graduate level criminal justice coursework to analyze the nature of corporate scams. According to the ''Duke Law Journal'': "Illegality permeated every facet of the promotion of the Holiday Magic marketing program." One of the ''Holiday Magic Inc.'' cases was also cited by ''The University of Chicago Law Review'' and the ''Columbia Law Review''. The Office of the State Attorney General in Maine, United States cites ''In re Holiday Magic, Inc., 84 F.T.C. 748'' as an example of pyramid schemes. Faltinsky described Holiday Magic as "..the largest pyramid scam of all time.."

Related companies

Leadership Dynamics

In 1967, William Penn Patrick wrote a booklet, entitled ''Happiness and Success through Principle'', and founded Leadership Dynamics based on those principles. Holiday Magic distributors were invited, though not required, to attend the Leadership Dynamics Institute self-improvement sessions at a cost of $1000 each. Those in the positions of Instructor General, Trainer General, and Senior General were required to take the training. Navarro described the training as having "overtones of strict military training techniques. Ben Gay, a high-level instructor at Leadership Dynamics, was President of Holiday Magic in the United States. Though he claimed Leadership Dynamics was a separate company, "..in no way related to Holiday Magic, Inc.", Gene Church pointed out many inconsistencies in this statement, in his book '' The Pit: A Group Encounter Defiled''.

Mind Dynamics

William Penn Patrick bought

in 1970.
Page. 54. :
"Mind Dynamics, founded by Alexander Everett, was the major forerunner of large group awareness trainings. Although Mind Dynamics was only in existence for a few years, it sparked an entire industry of similar trainings." The Mind Dynamics course was described as providing "a means of achieving personal success through the conscious use of the subconscious mind". Distributors for Holiday Magic, who took the course, have considered it as a Holiday Magic Business expense."

Sales Dynamics

Sales Dynamics was another program of instruction for pay available to Holiday Magic Distributors to help them in their business activities.

Ceased operations

In 1974, after almost 10 years in operation and tied to pyramid schemes and controversy, both Leadership Dynamics and Mind Dynamics ceased operations.

Later information

CEO and President Roland R. Nocera pleaded guilty to

securities fraud Securities fraud, also known as stock fraud and investment fraud, is a deceptive practice in the stock or commodities markets that induces investors to make purchase or sale decisions on the basis of false information, frequently resulting in lo ...

, in the case ''United States v. Nocera, et al.'' (unrelated to Holiday Magic). Larry Stephen Huff, another key individual in the company, served two years in a Federal Prison, for charges related to a

Ponzi scam A Ponzi scheme (, ) is a form of fraud that lures investors and pays Profit (accounting), profits to earlier investors with Funding, funds from more recent investors. Named after Italian businessman Charles Ponzi, the scheme leads victims to be ...

(unrelated to Holiday Magic).
"As far back as 1973, Huff helped start one of the largest of all pyramid schemes, a cosmetics marketing business called Holiday Magic, which defrauded investors of $250 million, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission."

Abe F. March Abe or ABE may refer to: People and fictional characters * Shinzo Abe (1954–2022), former Prime Minister of Japan * Abe (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or nickname * Abe (surname), a list of people and ...

held several executive positions for Holiday Magic and parent company U.S. Universal; Regional Vice President, Canada (1971–1972), Vice President, Greece (1972–1973) and Managing Director for Sta-Power, Germany (1973). He subsequently bought exclusive rights for Middle East distribution of Holiday Magic cosmetics and formed his own company, Beauty Magic, in Beirut, Lebanon. In 2006 he published a book (''To Beirut and Back - An American in the Middle East'') dealing, in part, with his experiences. Glenn W. Turner worked briefly for Holiday Magic in 1966. He then started two multi-level marketing companies, Koscot Interplanetary, selling cosmetics, and Dare to Be Great, selling motivational and self-improvement courses.In Re Koscot Interplanetary Inc., 86 F.T.C. 11106 (1975)
/ref>

In popular culture

''The Dream'', a podcast about multi-level marketing, discusses Holiday Magic and

. '' The Last Podcast on the Left'', a podcast about worldwide cults and murder, discusses Holiday Magic. ''Citaded'', a podcast, has an episode about William Penn Patrick (and Holiday Magic).