Answering a Reader Question #251

Anonymous Wrote:


hello! I would just love to say that i love your blog! it's everything i need! and the scam article's great. I just wanted to know what's the hype about John Casablancas? I used to go there and people say they're a scam but I'm not so sure... I did pay over a thousand just to be with them but I don't know why people are calling it a scam! 

Hi, Anonymous! Awwww, thank you for such wonderful compliments, you're a sweetie!!! :-)

I think what people don't understand is what the actual definition of a "Scam" is and are wrongly labeling modeling schools like John Casablancas because of that. The definition of a scam is a "dishonest scheme or fraud." While I do not personally care for modeling schools like John Casablances, Barbizon, John Robert Powers, etc. these businesses are NOT scams by definition. Why? Because they do not claim to guarantee success in the modeling industry. They state upfront that they are a school and charge fees for training. This is not something they hide or that you find out about until you're way in too deep--they're being totally upfront and honest, which is the opposite of the definition of a scam.

It is because they are not making false claims about the money or a person's chances about making it in modeling/acting that they are not a scam. They offer services and those services cost money. Plain and simple. If they were a true scam, the feds would have shut them down long ago. There have been many shady organizations put out of business because they were in fact running "schemes" that were dishonest and did not deliver what they promised customers. If John Casablancas charged people thousands of dollars for modeling classes but then never provided that training to the models, THAT would be your scam.

Modeling schools are very clear that they charge a lot of money for the knowledge and training they offer but cannot promise that anyone who pays their fees will get an agent or end up becoming a supermodel. Calling something a "scam" is just easy for people to say but the reality is that JC isn't a scam...it's simply a money making business that charges people for its services. Anyone that pays for modeling schools does so at their own risk.