[8] Before founding AdvoCare, Ragus worked as a regional vice president for Fidelity Union Insurance, and as a MLM distributor for Herbalife.

[14][15] Two of AdvoCare’s top promoters also settled with the FTC for $4 million, most of which was suspended, based upon their inability to pay, and were also banned from multi-level marketing.

AdvoCare also sells products under the brand names Trim, Active, Well, Performance Elite, Fit, and 24 Day Challenge.

[23][24] The FTC defines multilevel marketing as a “form of direct sales in which a distributor sells products or services through a network of independent salespeople.”[25] However, after July 2019, citing closed-door discussions with the Federal Trade Commission, AdvoCare voluntarily ceased operating the multi-level aspect of its business,[14] and instead began only compensating distributors for sales of products to consumers.

[3][30] AdvoCare's contracted celebrity endorsers have included soccer player Carli Lloyd; Major League Baseball pitcher Doug Fister; CrossFit champion Rich Froning; NFL players Andy Dalton, Philip Rivers, Alex Smith, Sam Bradford, Wes Welker, and New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees, who was described by ESPN as the face of the company.

[8] ESPN The Magazine described celebrity endorsers as central to "the Bulletproof Shield," a sales and recruitment technique used by the company to deflect questions about the product.

[8] AdvoCare ceased offering KickStart Spark, targeted to youth age 4–11, after pediatricians had expressed concerns about the product containing 60 mg of caffeine.

[36] In 2014, AdvoCare purchased the naming rights of a professional sports practice facility located at The Greenbrier in West Virginia.

AdvoCare disputed the panel's findings, citing the fact that two independent laboratories had not found any evidence of Clenbuterol in the supplements.

[54] In 2009, a Dallas County jury awarded $1.9 million in damages against AdvoCare after finding that the company had engaged in deceptive trade practices and unfairly canceled agreements with two of its distributors.

[55] According to the lawsuit, litigants Bruce and Teresa Badgett of Arlington, Texas, had been active and profitable marketers of AdvoCare products for more than a dozen years before their distributorship was canceled by the company in 2006 "based upon vague and trumped-up charges."

AdvoCare disputed the ruling[55] and on April 30, 2010, filed to appeal the decision on the basis that the plaintiffs were not customers and therefore did not fit the statutory definition necessary to be covered under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act.