Welcome to Herbalife World. You Will be Assimilated.

By: Laurie | January 24th, 2008

I must have taken my crabby pills this morning, because stuff is pissing me off all over the place today. (Don’t worry, though. I’m working on posts on our new draftees, and I’m sure that this will cheer me up.)

But for now, from the Wow, this is creepy department, by way of Nick Green:

The American Youth Soccer Organization and Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF), a global nutrition and direct selling company, announced a first-ever four-year agreement that makes Herbalife the Official Nutrition Advisor and Official Health and Wellness Provider of the country’s leading youth soccer organization.

Similar to Herbalife’s agreement with the Los Angeles Galaxy Major League Soccer club, the AYSO sponsorship gives Herbalife the rights to display its name and logo on the front of AYSO jerseys, a first for the non-profit national organization. The agreement also includes Herbalife’s presence on the AYSO Web site, signage at games, an on-site presence at national and sectional events, and a nutrition column in Play Soccer, AYSO’s online publication.

If I had a kid in AYSO, I’d be absolutely thrilled by this. Because I SO want my family wearing the logo of a company that’s paid out millions for being an illegal pyramid scheme.

But wait. There’s more.

“With child obesity on the rise, it is imperative to educate children and their parents about proper nutrition and how to have a healthy, active lifestyle,” said Herbalife Chairman and CEO Michael O. Johnson. “Herbalife is on a mission for nutrition, while AYSO provides children, adolescents and teens an outlet to be active.”

Silly me. I’ve been doing this mom stuff all wrong for years. I thought nutrition was about the foods kids eat. Apparently it’s nothing of the sort, and we certainly don’t want our kids to imagine that it is. Because the press release also goes on to tell us that

In July 2006, Herbalife announced the launch of the Herbalife Kids™ line of nutrition products that includes shakes and multivitamins with protein, fiber, and 100 percent of key nutrients kids need daily.

Oh. I get it now.

When the Galaxy signed with Herbalife, it made me a little queasy. But when we’re talking about the Galaxy, we’re talking about adults.

Oh, and Alexi.

This, though? Way to go, AYSO. Feel free to whore out the kids for the almighty dollar.

Some Related Galaxy Posts:

Category: Off the Field

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Jessica G.

I plan on placing duct tape over the Herbalife logo.

1. My kid is NOT a billboard.
2. Herbalife is NOT healthy.

The kids' "protein shake's" first three ingredients are isolated soy protein, sugar and fructose.

That is NOT food.

This is revolting.
JustJack

I'm looking forward to the free gear and chemproducts at the ref tent. As for the logo... I plan on jamming it so it shows the proper "leaf" logo that supports hemp... which is all I can think about every time I see the Herbalife logo.

Seriously though, Countrywide was a HUGE AYSO donor (and they didn't make anyone use their gigantic name across jerseys). And that HUGE amount of denari just went away. I'm not suprised by the Herbalife AYSO deal in light of the substantial loss of financial support. Besides, every Area in CA was hooked up through the Galaxy anyway... that the Borg, I mean, Herbalife found our backdoor and hacked our system... well, it was a matter of time.

Now if I can get USSF to change ref uniforms from OSI to Addidas....