I am sure there are some distributors for MLMs that make false statements about earning potential, but the MLM pitches I have received have put it in terms as "some" or you "can make up to..." If I buy a franchise it is very similar. You buy into the rights of a business model, you contract to use a specific product and you try to sell it.
To talk of the poor consumers as victims and the companies as unethical does not seem to hold much credibility.