Real News, Buyer Beware, Be Aware & The Real Deal

Boom to Bust 

What if one product could treat chronic pain, inflammation, sprains scrapes, insect bites and more. Would you want to buy it?

Clark Stanley of Abilene, Texas was pretty sure that people would indeed want to buy such a product! So, he emersed himself in research and talked to experts in the field. It wasn’t long until Clark developed a product that he believed could cure many common ailments. With a supply of the product in hand, Clark traveled the country to do sales. And sell he did!

Clark had a perfect sales pitch that was enhanced by his demeanor and dress. Wherever he went, Clark attracted large crowds of people who enthusiastically purchased bottle after bottle of the product. In order to meet the demand, he set-up production facilities in Beverly, Mass. and Providence, R.I. Clark’s product was a tremendous success for nearly 30 years.

Then one day his business abruptly died. The cause of its death was not Clark’s retirement, market competition, or economic conditions. The end of the business was the result of government’s testing of his product and a resulting fine for “misbranding”. The testing found that Clark’s product contained mineral oil, capsaicin from chili peppers, and turpentine – and not a drop of snake oil. Yes, Clark’s product was labeled and marketed as snake oil – which the Chinese believed offered health benefits. With the end of Clark’s snake oil business in 1916, the euphonism of snake oil salesman was born!

Happy Reading!

Suzanne Daniels