The Essential Oil Pyramid Scheme Sliding into Your DMs
Maybe you’ve heard about it, maybe you’ve experienced it firsthand, or maybe you’ve seen it in Cole Sprouse’s Instagram bio. People peddling their essential oils on Instagram has become as prolific as influencers pushing strange supplements or people selling Verified badges in the comments section of celebrity posts. What makes it perhaps even more questionable is that these people aren’t just trying to sell essential oils, they’re trying to get you to sell them too. There’s a strange Ponzi scheme brewing in our DMs and I don’t know about you, but I want to get to the bottom of it.
I was first solicited about a year ago, when some stranger slid into my DMs asking, “would you be open to receiving a small gift of essential oils?” He only had about 400 followers and his account was full of photos of essential oils, with a couple photos of his daughter sprinkled in here and there. He was promoting oils from dōTERRA, but his handle nor his bio mentioned any sort of affiliation to the brand. I was confused, but intrigued. Free stuff? Is this what #influencerlife is like? Sign me up!
The more I thought about it, the weirder I felt. Then, I started getting tons of DMs from other people, most of which had less than 100 followers on Instagram. They were pushing all sorts of essential oils and some of them were also trying to sell beauty products. I decided to do some research and found that dōTERRA is a multi-level marketing company (read: pyramid scheme). When you do a Google search, there’s barely any information on reviews of the brand; it’s mostly links directly from the brand itself. They have their SEO on lock. But a couple of interesting links did pop up, and they’re pretty shocking. I initially just wanted to learn more about the brand, but I uncovered so much more.
claims that essential oils “can help those grieving a loss” via Talented Ladies Club
The first link I found is an article from Mother Jones, titled “How Multilevel Marketing Companies Got the Autism Community Hooked on Essential Oils.” Yikes. It tells the story of how a mother got sucked into selling essential oils for dōTERRA after a friend told her the oils might help her son, who is Autistic. “She told me, ‘Think of your boy and hold this oil, and if your heart says get this oil, you should get it,’” the woman recalls. After she saw some improvements in her son, she found herself getting more and more involved in the dōTERRA community, until she finally became a seller herself.
While it’s great that the oils helped her son, there’s very little scientific evidence to back up the claims that essential oils can help treat Autism. Yet, there’s a dedicated dōTERRA Facebook group called “Autism, ADHD, and Essential Oils.” It has over 27,000 members. It’s a closed group, so I was unable to explore what goes on, but I can only guess that it’s full of people peddling various oils to treat mood disorders without any research to back them up.
This became even more startling when I learned that the FDA went after dōTERRA in 2014 for making false claims about their products. The brand warned their salespeople not to make these claims, but it’s hard to control over 3 million salespeople (that stat is as of 2017m according to Wikipedia), and many still preach their personal stories of how essential oils have changed their lives and cured their ailments.
That brings me to the next link I found in my search. It’s a 20 minute YouTube video of a woman explaining why she quit selling dōTERRA. “This particular video is going to be the hardest video I’ve ever had to make,” she starts. “I understand that it’s probably going to upset some people that I’ve considered very dear friends for a really long time…I want these people to know that I still love them and I care deeply for them and I just don’t want to be a part of this anymore.” Right off the bat, it sounds like she’s leaving a cult. Scary stuff, but I watched the whole thing so you don’t have to.
She outlines 5 main reasons for quitting. First is the confusing compensation model and misleading earnings statements. There are different levels of sales and dōTERRA claims you can reach “Elite status” in three months, but it took her closer to 9. Her earnings were also far lower than was stated in dōTERRA’s intro booklet. She runs through tons of different levels and compensation plans and I could barely even make sense of them.
Number 2 is the “always-be-selling mentality.” She felt like her personality was stripped from her because she always had to have her salesperson hat on. dōTERRA told her “you can pretty much say whatever you want as long as it’s behind closed doors,” perhaps explaining why that Facebook group is private. They also told her to “share the products everyday with everyone in your life. Make a list of everyone you’ve ever met. If you care about people, you’ll want the best for them,” and “if you lose friends and family over this then they were probably not a good friend to begin with.” Scary stuff!!
via Gyfcat
Her third point is that she received zero sales education and fourth is the denial surrounding the company; dōTERRA’s denial that MLM is “just like any other business” and the salespeople’s denial that essential oils are the first line of defense against ailments, pushing their products anytime someone mentions they have strep throat instead of telling them to go to the doctor.
Lastly is the illegal activity, false claims, and lack of safety. In the Safety section of dōTERRA’s website, they don’t mention what you shouldn’t do, despite there being lots of things you shouldn’t do with essential oils. She had to create her own safety cards, warning her customers to avoid sun exposure after using citrus oils and advising pregnant women to consult a doctor before using. She also talks about the tons of false claims made my salespeople, bringing us back to the article about Autism. Just a simple Instagram search of “#doterra” will show you people claiming their oils can treat ADHD, heal scars, or even stave off a cold or flu. I did a quick search and found this person, claiming that oils healed their Lyme disease flare up!
Both the article and the video were extremely shocking and hard to swallow. dōTERRA is making over a $1 billion in annual sales by sucking people into a multi-level marketing scheme and making false claims about their products. This is all not to say that you should write off essential oils completely! There are tons of companies who do a great job educating their customers about their products, such as Saje Wellness or Vitruvi. Essential oils also certainly can help with a variety of things. Lavender is calming and can help improve sleep and tea tree oil is great for clearing acne. I just urge you to do your own research on an oil before you begin use and don’t believe everything a salesperson tells you. Always look for products that use all-natural ingredients in their purest forms and if you’re ever uncertain, consult a doctor before you use it. The world is a scary place and even if they can help in some ways, essential oils are not the cure.
Cover image via Honey Essentials