Unmasking the Modern Snake Oil Scams

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to there is a Method to the Madness.
My name is Rob Maxwell and I'man exercise physiologist and
personal trainer.
I am the owner of Maxwell'sFitness Programs and I've been
in business since 1994.
The purpose of this podcast isto get to the real deal of what
really works and, mostimportantly, why things work.

(00:21):
Hence the name there is amethod to the madness.
Before I get to today's show, Iwant to thank Jonathan and Lynn
Gildan of the Gildan Group atRealty Pros.
They are committed to providingthe highest level of customer
service in home sales.
Why don't you give them a shoutand figure out what your home
is worth?
386-451-2412.

(00:44):
What's happening everybody?
Rob, here I'm going to talkabout some health and fitness
and some fun stuff.
I think you're going to enjoytoday's podcast.
I think it's going to resonatewith each and every one of you.
To resonate with each and everyone of you.

(01:09):
I think we have all sort ofmaybe fallen for some stuff
through the years or maybe seeother people do it, but we can
absolutely relate unless we'vebeen living life under a rock,
right?
So I'm going to talk about theold snake oil scam today, right,
and not literally just snakeoil, although I will get into

(01:29):
that a little bit, because thereis an interesting history of
where that name came from andwhy all these kind of like
Charlton scams have kind of comeout of that term.
So you know, hang on, let's seewhat we got going on, let's see
who I can maybe potentiallyoffend today.

(01:50):
And that's OK as long as itmakes you think and go out and
do your own research, then hey,I'm all good with that.
So snake oil, of course Ishouldn't say of course maybe
you don't know that, but it's aterm we use when somebody's
trying to sell you a product.
Mostly, I could argue it couldbe a, a device or even a way of

(02:12):
thinking, training or whatever,but it's basically just kind of
a scam.
It's something that, uh, youknow, gets people into buying
something that they think isgoing to genuinely help them.
Or maybe they partly think it'sgoing to help them and they buy

(02:33):
it because they just honestlydon't want to do the work, they
don't want to do what it takesto get better or to get the
results that it's going to take,or they don't want to sacrifice
, but we buy something lookingfor shortcuts, all right.
So the term snake oil actuallygoes back to the mid 19th

(02:59):
century.
All right, so that's a longtime ago.
Let's just put a date on it,that would be say like 1850.
So where it came from is and forGod's sakes, don't start like
blaming other cultures of peoplejust because you learn a little
bit of history, all right, whatit came from was the Chinese

(03:19):
laborers who came over to helpbuild the Transcontinental
Railroad actually broughtliteral snake oil with them to
the United States because theyused it as part of their culture
.
They believed that it helpedwith joint pain and other
ailments, potentially stomachaches or whatever.

(03:39):
And snake oil is composed ofomega-3rees, which I'm sure
fatty, omega-3 fatty acids,which I'm sure that they had no
concept of what was in the snakeoil, but that's what's in there
.
So it makes a little bit ofsense that it would help with
some of those things.
So you know they brought itwith them as part of their

(04:02):
culture, something that they'lluse.
And then you know they broughtit with them as part of their
culture, something that they'lluse.
And then you know, just likeeverything in life, you start
intermixing with groups ofpeople and again, don't blame
the freaking Chinese for likethis term.
It's just simply this is whereit came from, because it is
something that was deep withintheir culture.

(04:25):
All right, so and I'm justgiving you a little history on
this, and this is like not eventhe very important part I'm
trying to like educate you soyou can see, like, where this
stuff sort of originates andwhat we do with it now and, for
God's sakes, how we stay awayfrom it.
So they start intermixing withthe American workers in you know

(04:46):
, good old USA capitalisticcountry.
Somebody gets an idea that ifthese people really believe this
works, and they're given thisliteral snake oil to, you know,
their fellow workmates on thisbuilding this railroad, and you
know, giving it to Americanpeople and whoever else you know
, and you know they're claimingoh this is, you know, this

(05:10):
stuff's really helping me.
And then people take it and ofcourse there's going to be a
placebo effect At least Ibelieve there is.
So maybe people feel a littlebit better and they're just
giving it to them.
So what does it really hurt?
I mean, I don't know, itdoesn't sound overly safe to
take snake oil, but whatever.
I suppose that it was in theway that they were doing it.
But a gentleman and an Americanby the name of Clark Stanley.

(05:34):
God, I would hate to like bepart of infamous history.
You know where people can goback and look and go.
Oh wow, you know that's thejerk that started this.
I could talk to you aboutjournalism, because I love that,
and where that all changed.
But you know that's not why youat the World Columbian
Exposition in Chicago, and hewould kill a rattlesnake and

(06:18):
then get its liniment out foroil.
So Clark Stanley would thenclaim for decades that it would
cure everything from rheumatism,which is rheumatoid arthritis,
and sprains and everything else.
So that's where the term camefrom right.
So a culture thinks it works.
They bring it over, they use it.
It's just part of their culture.
We've all got them.
You know there's probably someplacebo effect as far as the

(06:39):
benefits they think they'regetting from it.
They start talking and then itjust takes one person to go.
You know I really don't believein this crap, but I'm going to
bottle it up and I'm going to godoor to door and I'm going to
sell this crap to anybodythat'll buy it.
Now for me, the first time Iever really heard this term, I

(07:00):
was a little kid and we werewatching the old Walton's
television show probably Gen Xor Boomers remember that show
and I remember there was a womanI think she used to would go

(07:21):
door to door and sell differentforms of alcohol to the
unsuspecting citizens ofwherever they lived.
I remember they stopped at theWalton's house one day and
they're trying to sell this, youknow, basically liquor as a
cure all for everything.
And I remember I think it wasprobably the father, I don't
remember who, maybe the mother,but you know is explaining.

(07:43):
You know this is just snake oilor whatever, or I don't know if
they termed it that in theprogram, but that's kind of what
it was about was these peoplewere selling liquor, which a lot
of people did, by the way.
Liquor was a biggie that wentdoor to door selling people that
a little not a little, but yeaha little product that is going

(08:03):
to make them feel better.
And of course it did, you know,of course it helped with the
flu and everything, becausepeople just got hammered and
passed out and forgot they hadthe flu.
But anyway, that's, you know,was very common then in the
early 1900s.
So that's when I first heardabout it and maybe one of my
parents said, oh, that's, youknow this is basically the
ripping on the old, you knowsnake oil thing.

(08:25):
So I started learning aboutthat Now, working in the health
and fitness industry for years.
I mean we use this term left andright and I remember just being
a gym rat, you know, workingout, and other people would be
talking about it like so-and-sowould be selling something down
at the gym out of his gym bag,some kind of cure-all supplement
, and we'd be like, oh man, asnake oil.

(08:46):
But there's always that guy inthe gym, gal in the gym and
usually more than one who justsees it and goes, oh, I'm going
to start taking that and that'sjust.
It's stupid people.
I mean it really really isFollow the science on this kind

(09:15):
of stuff.
Get a little more educated.
You don't want to put somethingin your body that is going to
hurt in and get involved.
And they started watching someof this stuff a little bit and
you know they started findingout that some of this stuff had
mineral beef fat, red pepper,turpentine it's not good and you

(09:35):
know, no actual snake oil atthe time.
So like they came in and theystarted saying you know, we got
to start watching this stuff Inthe early 1900s there was very
little regulation and sobasically, you can sell what you
want to people.
And you know I get it.
Like you know, sometimes everyorganization screws up a little

(09:59):
bit, like the FDA or whatever,occasionally.
You know they're going to saythis is okay, that's not okay,
like the red dye controversythat's going on right now.
I get it, but do you reallywant to live in a society where
they don't exist?
No, sorry, I want somebody, athird party, to look over stuff

(10:19):
to say this is okay, this is notokay.
Because if you're just relyingupon the marketing person's
goodwill, their ethics, theirmorals, I don't know man, I
don't think that's very smart.
I think when it comes to peopletrying to make a buck, they
will cut every corner that theyknow how to do.

(10:40):
People will say buyer, beware.
And it's like I'd rather havean organization looking over
stuff Again.
I know they're not perfect, Iknow there's mistakes, but I
would rather deal with them99.9% of the time than to deal
with somebody just telling meeverything in their product is

(11:00):
safe, with somebody just tellingme everything in their product
is safe.
So that's kind of the historybehind it where it all came from
.
This comes up because you knowit doesn't have to just be
products.
It could be ideas, it could beprograms.
You know it could be gymequipment.
You know, remember the old TonyLittle I think his name was
selling that ridiculous ab thing.

(11:21):
You know that was going to giveyou perfect abdominal muscles
if you just did that.
You know I mean no, no, tony.
It comes down to losing weight,losing fat.
You know, doing your cardio,being on a caloric-restricted
diet and, of course, exercise.
But your abs are going to showbecause you're losing body fat.
You know that better thananybody.

(11:43):
But you're on here with yourgoofy little ponytail.
You know selling everybody onthis stuff a little harsh, yeah,
because I think it's stupid.
I think that people shouldn'tbe allowed to do that, because I
also agree, people need to besmarter and not buy these
products.
But there does need to be someethics and you know somebody
come around and say, eh, I don'twant you selling that because

(12:05):
it's really not true.
Could you sell it as a decentway to do crunches?
Of course, that'd be fine.
But selling it as somethingother than it's not, in my
opinion, is very unethical withthat.
So it's not just products.
It could be pieces of exerciseequipment or programs.
A client this morning wastelling me how he had a

(12:26):
physician and man it's like Iwouldn't say the physician's
name, but it's like, come on,man, what are you doing?
And he told him to go to thisguy who was going to do this
miraculous machine knee stretchthing.
And he told him that's all it'sgonna take.
You know that his arthritisisn't bad enough, even though

(12:46):
it's bonk, like, to require anymedical intervention.
Look, I'm conservative when itcomes to this stuff, like I
think surgery should be a lastresort.
But I also know that when it'sdone it usually works and people
feel a ton of relief.
I wish people didn't get to thepoint where they needed it,
whether it be self abuse or justyou know, genetics or you know,

(13:09):
not even abuse, but just wearand tear through the years.
I mean I'd rather see peoplenot have to ever go through it,
but I know that when they'vegotten to that point that they
need it and they've gottenmedical intervention with that,
with knee replacements orwhatever, it's worked, it's
helped.
So it's like why this guy isthen going out of his scope,
essentially, and saying go tothis guy.
And that's exactly what I saidto him I said, dude, that sounds

(13:32):
like snake oil.
I'm like, are you serious?
I mean, come on, you're goingto put this thing on and do this
like stretch thing.
It's going to pull your kneeand going to do all this stuff.
I mean, might you get somerelief?
Yeah, maybe.
And he's telling me you know,don't strength train, don't do
any of this, just do this.
I'm like this is a chiropractor,I mean and no offense to them,

(13:55):
because there's a lot of goodones out there but I had a hard
time believing this was an MDtelling them to go do this.
It's like I mean, great, he'snot pushing it surgery.
But at the same time therecomes a point when you've been
going to him for three years forthe same condition and it's
bone on bone.
I mean I don't know.

(14:15):
I mean sometimes you got to dowhat you got to do.
But like that is an example ofsnake oil, like these things
that people tell you to do.
You know and you know, and nooffense, you know if you get
offended if you're buying someof this stuff.
But you know, I was pretty hardon him because sometimes you
got to be.
It's called tough love.
People don't tell people whatthey want to hear.
I said what are you going to donow?

(14:36):
Next, buy magnets.
You're going to put magnets onyour body next and it's going to
center your body over with.
You've been putting this off.
Why won't you just go in?

(15:04):
You've had three doctors tellyou you need a replacement.
You went to this guy because hedidn't tell you that, and now
he's trying to send you downhere to do this and waste more
of your time.
So I get it.
I get it.
It's scary, it's something youmaybe don't want to do.
But I'm like what is yourholdup?
And he said I don't want to beout of commission for two months
.
So well, you're not going to beout of commission, but even if

(15:26):
you are, to an extent, you'regaining all this time back.
It's like an investment, right?
Say oh, I don't want to like dothis.
You know, for two months Ican't do this, this or this.
Ok, well, you know, that's how,like a undisciplined kid thinks
when it comes to money.
For two months I'm going tospend all of this inheritance I

(15:46):
just got and then, you know,after that, the rest of my life
I'm going to be regretting I didit.
Well, it's the same thing.
Like for two months I'm justgoing to continue the play and
do what I want to do and thenafter that go.
Man, I wish I would have doneit.
It's discipline, like sometimesyou have to do what's
uncomfortable at the moment tomake the future better.
I talked about that withdiscipline.

(16:06):
He's a financial guy, so Ithink that kind of resonated
with him.
I think he kind of a light wenton and went huh, okay, I see
the analogy there, but it's thetruth.
Like people get into snake oilbecause of something that's that
they think they have to do,that they don't want to do, you

(16:27):
know.
And I told them.
I said, if anything, you needmore strength training.
You're training once a week.
That's not enough, you know,and sometimes that's not going
to take care of it.
Like there are many things wealways have to do.
But when somebody comes alongand tells us there's a solution,
even if it's going to cost usmoney, a lot of people jump on

(16:49):
it.
All right, I'm going to tell youright now, I'm going to be
straight with you there is nosubstitution for a proper diet,
exercise and taking care ofyourself.
There's just no other way.
There's no magnets you couldbuy.
There's no omega-3 fish oilsyou can buy.
That's going to replace a gooddiet and exercise.

(17:13):
There's no supplement out there.
There's no supplement proteinthat's going to jump on top of
it if you're not eating enoughadequate protein.
You can't just load up onprotein and say you know that's
it, I'm not going to strengthtrain, I got my protein.
You can't just load up onprotein and say you know that's
it, I'm not going to strengthtrain, I got my protein.
Like no, it's going to have tocost you some elbow work, some

(17:36):
elbow grease.
You're going to have to put inthe work to get what you want.
There are no shortcuts.
I mean, unfortunately, thesedays you can walk into some of
these health food stores notgoing to name names, some are
better than others and some willjust be perfectly honest with
you and you know, get you aproduct that you think you're

(17:59):
looking for or a healthierversion of food that you might
be looking for.
Like, maybe you really want toget the bread that's got the
least amount of additives in it.
So you to get the bread that'sgot the least amount of
additives in it.
So you go okay, that's allgreat stuff.
But then there's other times,man, they'll walk you up and
down the aisle oh, you needL-carnitine, or you need this to

(18:20):
help you sleep, or you needthis.
And it's like, okay, so I cancontinue to drink caffeine up
until five o'clock, I can burnthe candle at both ends and, you
know, get really, reallystressed out.
And then all I have to do ispop a CBD tablet and I'll go
right to sleep as long as I likechase it with melatonin.

(18:41):
It's like, yeah, okay,brilliant, now it's not going to
help you like, it's going totake you doing what you need to
do, and you're going to have toeventually take responsibility.
If you're buying into any snakeoil whether it be programs and,
trust me, diets can be snake oilyou know the Atkins diet or any

(19:06):
of the low carb diets areessentially snake oil they're
selling you a program that kindof like gets you to eat way less
.
That's all they're doing, right, because if you're eating low
carbs, you're down to like fatand protein and you're like so
you're hardly eating and so youlose weight temporarily until
you can't take it anymore.
Then you binge.
So no, that's not going to cutit.

(19:27):
You're going to have to learnto eat moderately.
You're going to have to learnthat there's really no evil or
bad foods, that you're going tohave to learn to have discipline
and eat just enough.
You're going to have to eat avariety of foods.
So these crash diets arenothing but snake oil too, you
know.
So it's not just supplements,you know, it's diets.
It's sometimes it's exerciseprograms, like, if you just do

(19:51):
hit Tabata intervals I rememberthat one, that wacky guy out
there, dr Tabata actually, andhe, he came up with the interval
system of a four minute Tabataand that's fine.
I mean, I'll use it sometimesfor, like, an interval for abs
or something like, or somethingthat's going to keep people on a
timer, but it's not magic.
But he literally would say thatif you just did four minutes of

(20:14):
this Tabata exercise a day,that's all you need, okay.
So American College of SportsMedicine you know who's been
studying this stuff since 1956,1954, you know says you need 150
minutes at a minimum of cardioexercise plus your strength
training.
But no, you're telling me I canjust do four minutes a day of

(20:35):
this Tabata interval and I'vegot all my exercise.
Who buys that?
I mean, seriously, is it you?
Are you that dumb?
Have you really really boughtinto that.
Say no, I do that for, like mybicep routine, okay great,
tabata is a cool interval.
You know what is it?
I don't even remember now.
Oh, 20 seconds on, 10 secondsoff, cool, you know.

(20:56):
Repeat it eight times Okay,cool, great interval.
Enough exercise for the day.
Come on people, you're smarterthan that, right?
I would hope so.
So I want you to understandthat a lot of things can come up
as snake oil and you have to besmarter and not fall for it.
You're not going to changecapitalism.

(21:16):
It is going to continue to sell, sell, sell.
Trust the experts, trust thescience, trust the process, put
in the work and you'll beabsolutely fine.
Thank you for listening totoday's program.
I ask you to please follow theshow wherever you get your

(21:37):
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