My discomfort with essential oils and network marketing

I started looking into the subject after receiving a message from a young mother of an infant, to whom a network marketing advisor had recommended the internal use of essential oils. Over time, we received many dangerous examples via email involving network marketing and essential oils.

It was in the face of this accumulation of troubling examples that I felt it was important to clarify the situation here.

Network Marketing

First, let's look at the business model: network marketing.

It's also called multi-level marketing (MLM). The best-known company using this sales model is undoubtedly Tupperware. But there are now thousands of MLM companies around the world, in virtually all spheres of activity.

Concretely, what is it?

It is a structure in which resellers (or distributors) can sponsor new sellers, and then be partly remunerated by a commission assessed as a percentage of the recruits' sales.

With network marketing, the sale and promotion of products and services are not done through traditional communication methods. It's word-of-mouth marketing initiated by people who want to develop this type of activity that promotes the company. Multi-level selling is a bit like each advisor becoming a micro-franchise of the parent company, much like a McDonald's franchise. It's often difficult to tell whether the company is built around the consumption of a real product or the principle that you need to recruit as many people as possible to succeed. Often, participants must recruit to earn money.

Well, in itself, this sales model can be criticized. But that's not what I want to talk to you about today.

Where's the problem?

The network sales model is not inherently problematic. It can be criticized, but it's a business model like any other. If it were about selling Tupperware or cosmetic products, I wouldn't be here writing this article.

It is specifically the combination of network marketing and the sale of essential oils that is problematic.

1. Essential oils: not without danger!

Just because a product is natural doesn't mean it's harmless.

We talk about it regularly on the blog. The world of essential oils is vast, and they are probably the natural product with which one must be most careful, as they are highly concentrated in active molecules. Some are abortifacient, neurotoxic, photosensitizing, and dermocaustic. Some essential oils can also interact with health conditions (e.g., epilepsy) or certain medications. There are also cases of contamination, especially in poor quality essential oils. These small vials must be used with caution, with proper information, and even with the guidance of professionals if necessary, especially for internal use, or on young children, pregnant or breastfeeding women.

Typically, with MLM companies, advisors are often people you know, or with whom you've developed a trusting relationship: your friend, your neighbor, your uncle, etc. They will sell you these products and make personalized recommendations. These people also have every incentive to convince you that selling essential oils from brand X is truly wonderful, profitable, and that the products sold are truly quality products. Because, let's remember, these people have an advantage in recruiting you.

Not all advisors do this.

I choose my words carefully here, and I repeat: not everyone does this.

However, it is still very difficult for an advisor to maintain objectivity. It's commission-based sales, and recruitment also brings financial benefits.

It's there, it's a fact, we need to be aware of it.

2. Uneven and non-standardized training level

Although some advisors have training, this is not the case for all. No aromatherapy or naturopathy training is required to become an advisor. You just need to register with the MLM company and pay a membership fee. That's all.

While not always the case, this still opens the door to people who are not qualified to sell essential oils, and who are likely to make potentially dangerous recommendations to trusting clients. That's quite a toxic mix.

I weigh my words again: some advisors (male or female) offer excellent service, others have training in aromatherapy, others still have an exceptional work ethic, or all three at once.

I am far from lumping everyone together here.

BUT.

Since no training is necessary to become an advisor, it is difficult to ensure the quality of their services. We therefore have a beautiful melting pot of people with diverse knowledge and skills, and sending them to sell essential oils becomes a bit of a gamble.

There are also bad doctors, it's true!

What's the difference?

They have standardized training, a professional order, and if there's a problem, an official complaint can be made to the College of Physicians. There is a safety net: a structure is in place to ensure the safety of people consulting doctors, whether they are good or bad. This is not the case for advisors, and that's where things can easily go wrong.

I'll go back to my initial case.

A mother contacted us: she was concerned because an advisor from a very well-known network marketing company for its essential oil sales, who also happened to be the nurse overseeing her baby's follow-up (a trusting relationship), had recommended an essential oil blend for her infant. In the proposed blend, some essential oils were prohibited for babies. But that's not all. The nurse-advisor recommended them internally, and UNDILUTED. I repeat: a blend for an infant containing essential oils prohibited for babies, to be taken internally, undiluted. A nurse, while a healthcare professional, does not necessarily have training in essential oils. And her recommendation demonstrates how much network marketing and natural health products don't always mix well. We assure you, the baby is fine.

3. Criticized usage methods

In addition to using sales strategies that are more or less adapted to the product, some of these MLM companies endorse essential oil usage methods that are highly criticized: the use of pure essential oils, without dilution, in addition to internal use.

Except for a few exceptions (lavender, palmarosa, ravintsara, and tea tree, for example), essential oils should ALWAYS be diluted. This is what most of the most cited experts in the world of aromatherapy recommend, as Tisserand explains well. Let's remember that essential oils do not dissolve in water!

Internal use, on the other hand, can be interesting in certain specific cases, but it is rare and generally done under the supervision of an aromatherapist.

Let's remember, the advisors of these MLM companies do not necessarily have professional training in the field, apart from the training offered by the company (we'll re-evaluate the objectivity...). These people do not know their clients' medical history, nor do they know the interactions of these oils with medications. Nada. It is therefore quite cavalier for people often without official training to propose these usage methods, which are already criticized in themselves.

4. Questionable marketing techniques

Beyond the dangerous aspect of advice given by often unqualified people, there's something else that bothers me: the misleading use of the term "therapeutic grade", sometimes also called "medicinal grade" or "aromatherapy grade".

Therapeutic grade does not exist.

Why?

Because for a certification to be accepted as legitimate, it must be managed by a neutral and external body, and must be accessible to all companies wishing to comply with it. Like Québec Vrai and EcoCert for organic products, MSC for sustainable fishing, and ÉcoLogo for ecological household products.

No governmental authority or neutral body recognizes, qualifies, or certifies essential oils as therapeutic grade, neither in Canada nor in the United States. However, some MLM companies describe their essential oils as "therapeutic grade" and display them as certifications.

What about it?

These certifications are actually trademarks. Being registered as trademarks, they are only accessible to the company that created them. Fair play? Mmmm no. Not only are they not accessible to everyone, but they are not accepted or legitimized by a neutral body. This form of marketing is misleading because it immediately discredits competitors.

When these details are ignored, it's easy to think that other companies sell essential oils of poorer quality because they are not "therapeutic grade," "medicinal grade," or "aromatherapy grade." When in fact, they simply don't have access to this certification.

It's a bit like if Les Mauvaises Herbes set up the "Pure Cosmetic" certification, registered it as a trademark, and only our own products could be certified under this claim. Even if our criteria are extremely strict and our products are of very high quality, our marketing strategy is not fair play for other players. Even if another company used exactly the same ingredients and processes as us, their cosmetics could not be certified "Pure Cosmetic" because they would not have access to it.

It has more or less value or objectivity, doesn't it? It's the same principle.

I repeat: a certification is relevant when it is managed by a neutral and external body and is accessible to all companies wishing to comply with it. Otherwise, what's the point?

There are no such things as "therapeutic grade" essential oils. Trying to convince us otherwise by setting up one's own exclusive certification is misleading.

The next time someone extols the virtues of one essential oil over another on the pretext that it is "therapeutic grade", your little internal alarm bell should ring.

So, how do you determine the quality of an essential oil? You start by educating yourself and raising awareness. We talk about it right here.

ATTENTION: I am not saying that the essential oils from MLMs that use this method are of poor quality. I am not saying that they are not genuinely tested. On the contrary, most have their essential oils tested by independent laboratories. Nor am I saying that their essential oils do not meet high standards and norms. What I am saying is that the marketing strategy used is misleading and implies that all other essential oils on the market are not therapeutic grade, and that only theirs are, whereas 1) this designation is not recognized and 2) no other company can claim it.

To recap

• criticized usage methods (undiluted, internal)
• recommendations made by people who are not necessarily qualified to make them, who often also have a trusting relationship with their clients, and misleading marketing.
• all this wrapped in the shiny paper of network marketing, through which multinationals make exorbitant profits, while those lower down the sales ladder struggle to make some money, except for a lucky few.

I don't know about you, but my little red light is flashing quite a bit.

A call for caution, responsibility, and local purchasing

I am not here to tear down anyone, nor to minimize the hard and professional work of certain advisors, nor to say that the essential oils from these companies are a fabrication of the devil and are bad.

No. That is not the purpose of this article at all.

It is perfectly legitimate to want to earn a living, whether through MLM or anything else. My goal is rather to invite you to question what you are told. To be cautious. To do research. To remember that essential oils are much more than a small, good-smelling vial. They are potentially dangerous when misused.

AND ABOVE ALL, my little editorial note: I invite you to support local businesses. We have little miracles in bottles here too, and they are made and/or imported (yes, Ho wood doesn't grow here) with a lot of ethics and transparency.