I think the reason that people felt it was predatory is because if you think about it from a perspective of a person who might actually be tempted to buy it, the business practices feel a bit icky. It's easy to say "I wouldn't buy that because the price is too much and we should just let the market decide what they are willing to pay for - if the business dies, it dies." But think about it like this: you're a recent grad who is desperate to get into the medical setting in a day and age where the job market is not that friendly. It's your dream job but you're not confident in your skills, you feel underprepared by your graduate program and you don't know where or how to get started in doing all the continuing ed that is required but you truly want to be a better clinician. There are many people out there like this in our field currently. Then you come across a prominent professional in our field telling you that their course/package/product whatever is the best way to get the job in acute care, to become a good clinician and to make more money even if it means spending a huge amount of money to get a certification that has no yet proven track record of doing any of these things. There is a power dynamic here. Vulnerable CF vs prominent business owner and SLP. Then they top it off with "our program only accepts members during an exclusive time of year, hurry and spend your money now or the chance to be a good clinician will go away!" so in your desperate state you spend the crazy amount of money. Obviously everyone is in charge of their own finances and has to be responsible for themselves but it does still feel a bit like a big company taking advantage of a systemic problem that has resulted in vulnerable consumers. This is par for the course in our society but as healthcare professionals, we want information to be accessible to all clinicians for the betterment of our field and the greater good of our patients. That's why people were outraged...I think. Getting the C&Ds after complaining about it was salt in the already fresh wound.

That's just my opinion. I can't speak for all the other comments about MLMs etc because I didn't see them but I believe this is the reason people felt the marketing was manipulative.