I think what Echo was thinking about was companies that send you a catalog and ask you to sell their products by going door-to-door or offering them to your friends and family. They usually target kids, and claim that it's a great way of learning all about money management and such. While in reality they're getting you to bust your butt selling their products for them, and in the end give you a measily $2 or something (which to a kid I guess sounds like a lot).

Those aren't the franchises, they're pyramid schemes. The franchises discussed here are businesses like McDonald's.