Mangosteen, Noni, Xango, Goji, Zrii Juice… What’s Next?
Over the years, I’ve been approached a bazillion times about promoting the aforementioned products, and many others. It’s always some kind hearted marketer doing his or her best to ensure I’m “in on the ground floor” of this “opportunity” (and nothing, I’m sure, to do with having me under them in the “commission matrix”).
Heaven forbid I miss out on the “wave” of “financial well being” and good health that will ultimately follow the heels of the product.
It comes as no surprise to those who know me, that I steer WAY away from products such as these. Sure, the promotional materials look great; pictures of pristine, cascading waterfalls, untarnished, vibrant rain forest, a montage of happy, healthy indigenous people… you know what I’m talking about. And of course, there’s the obligatory “stock” photo of the “average” users of the product; usually slim, attractive people, beaming with sheer delight as they frolic care-free in some idyllic natural setting with their absolutely perfect 2.5 children in tow.
And then, of course, comes the hype. It usually goes something like this…
“… nestled in the rain-forest (or the Himalayas, or some remote tropical island, or wherever) lies a fruit so rich in natural benefits scientists and medical professionals the world over are singing its praises…” (of course, none of the professionals so “overwhelmed” by the product’s benefits ever seem to have a name).
And so on. Yada, yada, yada.
After you’re sold on the health benefits of the product, you are then introduced to the opportunity. Not only can you reap the health benefits of this amazing product, but you can share them with your friends, family, colleagues — anyone you can think of — and get paid while you do so. And if you feel a slight twinge of guilt at the thought of turning friends and loved ones into a revenue stream for you, well… heck, you’re not “milking them for cash”… you’re changing their lives for the better.
Yeah, OK. See…
For most of these products, very little real evidence exists to validate any of the claims of “health, wellness, and healing.”
For instance, I tried to find some evidence to validate the claims of one of the most recent products I encountered — an Amalaki product called Zrii. Here’s what the web site had to say regarding existing clinical evidence…
“Zrii is currently undergoing several studies, ranging from advanced nutritional and anti-oxidant testing to smaller-scale clinical studies. Currently, no clinical data is available.”
Let me see if I’ve got this right…
Hype the product to death. Upsell its miraculous health benefits. Recruit legions of people to market it. Build an expensive, gorgeous web site, upsell the management team, post videos of execs with their new BMWs…
All before there’s ANY proof Zrii does anything?
Hello?
Mike Adams, a consumer health advocate from NaturalNews.com, had this to say about Zrii juice…
“The Zrii company, it seems, has done a really clever job of hiding the truth about the actual ingredients in the Zrii product, leading people to believe it’s made primarily of medicinal herbs instead of the apple juice, pear juice and pomegranate juice that makes up the bulk of the product.”
It could be worse, I suppose.
You could simply make up the evidence, or report clinical data WAY out of context — as Wendy Mesley showed Dr. Earl Mindell and his cohorts to be doing in her CBC MarketPlace report about Goji juice. But then again, what can you expect from a guy who apparently claims to have obtained degrees from schools that have never heard of him?
Fact is, many of these miraculous juices are much less about delivering health benefits, and much more about making money.
Consider that next time you hear about some “miraculous” new product marketed through a pyramid scheme.
May 12, 2008
Just got through reading some of the comments of people who got their feathers ruffled by the CBC Marketplace report. Goji has plenty of defenders. And then there are studies such as this one: that would – seemingly – back up at least the subjective claims of feeling better after consuming FreeLife’s Goji juice.
But this study is yet another example of what I was referring to earlier, about “stacking the deck.” The placebo used “provided no nutritional value.” So we have one group, consuming some additional calories, vitamins, minerals/electrolytes, and antioxidants, while the other gets zip. So are the results (as subjective as they are) really all that surprising…or so unique to Goji that it would be worth paying tons of extra money for it?
As noted here: berries of all kinds are considered “superfoods” by the same establishment figures decried by alties like Earl Mindell. A much better test would be to match Goji vs. less expensive berry alternatives.
In other words, “does it work?” isn’t always the right question…rather it’s: “does it work better than other options?” – a point the MLM pushers never seem to grasp. People should simply eat more berries – period. They’d probably feel a lot better if they did…and it would be a great first step to build on for improving their diets.
What a truly radical concept! 😀 But I’m sure it won’t fly, simply because it doesn’t feed people’s hunger for miracles. And the more exotic, the better it’s gotta be, right?
The other issue is simple availability. Even if goji really did turn out to be superior in some ways to other berries, it doesn’t follow that it’s necessary to pay exorbitant MLM prices for the privilege of consuming them in some form.
One need not be “anti-Goji” (or anti- other alleged superfood) to be “anti-Rip-Off.”
September 2, 2008
Excellent article.
J.R.
November 11, 2008
Great article. Here’s my question. When does the legal listing requirement of contents come to the fore? With Zrii, we have NO idea of how much of the amalaka berry and other “super” ingredients are mixed in with the non-organic, made from concentrate grape and pear and pomegranate juice. If there were 10% of the amalaka combo, would that be enough to have to be listed? What are the rules? Seems to me people are paying about $140/lb for basically fruit juice.
August 20, 2009
Well this just means that more and more scientists are starting to discover that the best things in life are just plainly found in our surroundings. These fruits are more than potent and capable than conventional medicines.
Editor’s comments: Since you’re promoting the stuff, that hardly makes you impartial (we’ve removed the link to your “sales” site). I’d also welcome you to post some of the “science” (links to peer reviewed studies and so on) that validate your claims. There’s nothing wrong with any of the superfruits per se, it’s just the claims for their assorted benefits are exaggerated and not based on sound science.
August 26, 2009
I think this is just due to the fact that our time now has found the appropriate knowledge and tools to acquire the best yet natural medicines that have been long set as gifts to us by nature.
Editor’s comments: Uh, did you read the article, Elmar? The fact is, there’s very little science involved here. No signs of an “emerging” body of knowledge, either. It’s about hype. It’s about M-O-N-E-Y. And a 7-level commission matrix, of course.