"It's Hard To Sell Coffee Enemas If You Mention Chemo"
Exploring the wild west of wellness grifters with Mallory DeMille
Mallory DeMille will make you think twice about your Yoni egg. As a content creator and cultural critic of wellness culture, Mallory debunks the wild world of coffee enemas, MLMs, vision healing, cancer influencers, buttery coffee, AND PARASITE CLEANSING with style and wicked humor. Mallory's also a correspondent for the Conspirituality podcast. I adore her work and am so excited to talk about the colloidal silver of it all with her. You can follow Mallory at Tiktok here, Instagram here, and the Conspirituality podcast here.
Grab some hokey pokey healing water, strap on your bioenergetic thingy-ma-bob, slice yourself up a raw beef liver salad, and let's get into it.
What's your relationship to the wellness industry, and what motivated you to engage with cultural criticism of the industry?
I went to university for business but worked part-time at the campus gym as a fitness instructor. My mom was, and still is, a fitness instructor so this was a somewhat predictable job for me. I loved it so much I was inspired to pursue a diploma in Fitness and Health Promotion after my degree, thinking one day I’d open my own gym. This timing just so happened to coincide with the boom of early 2010’s wellness influencers, and I think that combo was what made my appreciation for movement and overall well-being turn toxic.
Suddenly words like detox and cleanse were on my radar. I was spending money on supplements I certainly didn’t need, and even more I certainly didn’t like (hello spirulina and maca powder). Workouts were more about how my body could look in a bikini - according to some random woman in Australia - instead of how fun they were and how good they made me feel. My diet became more restrictive for no reason other than parasocial and financially driven online influence. This development of an unhealthy relationship with food, fitness and my body continued into my mid-20’s.
One day, one of the influencers who I followed claimed she healed her CIN3 diagnosis with food and supplements - that she had a discount code for. Despite the Australian Cancer Council saying her claims were not based in reality, she did not address the backlash or criticisms. Seeing this cracked something in me. I unfollowed her and all other wellness influencers I was engaging with and began the unlearning process. I realized that, even as someone with a background in marketing, I had successfully been marketed to in a way that rewired my brain and belief system.
I started creating content during the pandemic because I was unrelentingly curious about the claims these wellness influencers were making. I’d think “wow that’s really fucked up, someone should talk about that,” and I just decided to be that person. My first viral video was of that same influencer after she claimed she was taking her own probiotic supplement as a remedy for Covid. Yikes on bikes.
My relationship with wellness today is much better, but I’d be lying if I said there weren’t still some breadcrumbs left from that time of my life. I often get asked by folks what I’m doing, as a skeptic, to stay healthy - what I’m eating or how I’m exercising. But I don’t post anything like that. What works for me right now works for me right now. I’m more concerned with consumer protection and building a sense of skepticism when it comes to how influencers are operating. There’s also an element of it that is creatively fulfilling to me.
One thing that seems to unite the influencers you cover is a pretty bone-deep ableism. You don't need sunscreen, you don't need glasses, you don't need HEALTHCARE. I wrote in this piece about a MAHA warrior mama who explicitly said that their goal was to eradicate healthcare. And like, people need and deserve care! They always will! The goal always seems to be to achieve optimum "health" through individualism. Can you talk about that a bit?
In my observation, most wellness influencers speak in absolutes and individualism because the flip side of it, introducing any nuance, would destroy their entire argument and sales funnel. Adjacent to this, the ethos of individualism sets up the foundation for the belief that if something they’ve sold you on isn’t working, it’s because you’re not trying hard enough. Not because they have misunderstood the actual mechanics of health and wellbeing and should maybe give you a refund. This denial of luck-of-the-draw or random events happening to establish a diagnosis also align perfectly with their attraction to conspiratorial thinking where everything is planned and “they” are responsible.
I see a lot of this also aligning with the idea of purity that saw a reemergence during the pandemic. Folks who were unvaccinated described themselves as “pure” or “pure blood.” Any product or procedure or recommendation that could be correlated to Big Pharma is seen as a disturbance to how God made you (yes a lot of them are religious, too). Folks don’t want to just eat organic, they want to BE organic. Just don’t ask about the supplements they have a discount code for.
The only wiggle room or exception I’ve seen in favouring healthcare in this space is for broken bones, and I always wonder why they don’t think food and supplements can fix that too. Why is that the line they draw? Own it with your whole chest, bestie.
These folks can cause serious harm. I'm thinking of Belle Gibson, who faked a host of illnesses in order to sell her "cure-all" health diet. And it seems like they have free reign to cause that harm! It's rare to see any of these characters face serious consequences for their actions, right? Sidenote: there were so many scenes in Apple Cider Vinegar that were excruciating to watch!!! I think they did a great job of underscoring the tragic outcomes this content can lead to.
The lack of consequences (right now) is why I think building a stronger sense of skepticism around the industry is so important. I have reported posts and entire profiles to TikTok and Meta. I have reported “masterclasses” to the FTC. I have tagged companies in videos where their reps are making non-compliant claims. Nothing. So the only option left for me right now seems to be showing folks how predatory the industry is in real time. And there I have seen some wins.
In 2023 I attended a “vision healing masterclass” that basically turned into an MLM essential oils sales pitch. My summary of the masterclass went stupid viral and was reported on by Rolling Stone and National Post (to name just two). The essential oils company made a statement that anti-glasses influencer [Quick sidenote from Sara to SCREAM ABOUT THIS DESCRIPTOR] Samantha Lotus's claims about their oils were not compliant, and she removed the masterclass from her platform. Almost 2 years later she still talks about me, calling me a fraud for signing into a Zoom room using a name that isn’t mine. I’m even featured in her promotion of the updated version of this masterclass, but sans mention of the essential oils company. To me, that’s a win.
In 2024 an influencer I follow said that a Shilajit (he was an affiliate for a brand selling it) could detox vaccines from your body. I tagged the company on X and asked if he was allowed to make these claims. Not only did they follow up and say no, he wasn’t, they emailed this influencer and anyone who would have used his code to set the medical claims record straight. This was a win, but it has nothing to do with me and everything to do with this industry. These non-compliant medical claims go unchecked everyday. I turned this saga into a video as well.
While there are one-off instances of these folks seeing more formal consequences, they’re few and far between. And until it’s more common, I’m happy being a pain in the ass to these influencers.
Yeah, wellness grifters don't like being called out! I once got a vaguely menacing DM from one of them after I wrote this piece about a completely bullshit MLM scheme. Can we talk a bit about gender in this space? How do men and women wellness grifters differ and how are they the same? It seems like the woman grifter is really banking on selling her consumers an ideal of femininity, while the man grifter is selling an ideal of masculinity. And NATURALLY, if we're talking gender ideals, things are going to get transphobic and heteronormative really quickly. Related: I AM DYING.
I feel like there are a few different layers to this one that I’ve seen evolving over the time I’ve been observing these influencers.
First is a movement towards women needing to lean more into traditional gender roles because it’s "better for their nervous system" and therefore better for their health. Except of course, most of these influencers own their own businesses while cosplaying trad girlfriend. And then of course there’s also displays of internalized misogyny. Maybe that’s the parasite they’re talking about.
Next is this idea that femininity is somehow the basis for fertility. There’s one “coach” I follow who straight up says that your capacity to conceive is directly tied to your femininity. And she can teach you how to dial into that and get preggers. If this were at all the case, being more masculine would be considered a form of birth control, right? There’s also just an overall obsession with fertility, men and women. Supplement pitches now often include claims around increasing testosterone and “balancing hormones.” Last time I checked, my hormones aren’t sitting on a teeter totter. Adjacent to this is an observation: I haven’t really seen any of these influencers talk about the choice to not have children. It’s almost like it has to be a proof point of how healthy they are. And absolutely fuck birth control while they’re at it.
And as you pointed out, there’s blatant transphobia and an outright rejection of pronouns (they HATE pronouns) and gender binaries. One particular influencer I follow has shared testimonials from mothers taking her detoxing course, sharing that their children have stopped asking to be called by the opposite gender since they started detoxing their family.
In this space it seems to always somehow link back to health and wellness, as if they’re needing to justify their views in that context. Just say you’re homophobic, girlie pop.
What's your take on more mainstream figures like Ballerina Farm? She IS promoting a pretty specific version of wellness, right? But not in a "worship the cock" type of way lol.
Sometimes I wonder if this gentle selling of wellness is more insidious. Like, she's not making any wild statements about health, but she loves raw milk, glorifies scratch cooking, romanticizes pastoral life, etc. There are SO many aspects of "wellness" that really rely on privilege and money, you know?
I’m not ultra familiar with Ballerina Farms aside from what I’ve read in your work, but I imagine her impact on the wellness space is a general normalization of these practices, and so far a popular prime example of survivor bias when it comes to things like drinking raw milk. It’s also her job to romanticize this lifestyle. And like much of social media, you have to wonder what you’re not seeing and what’s not being shared. I imagine she also subtly acts as an invitation to this space without the layer of trying to heal from or cure something. I also see that, much like other wellness influencers, there’s sometimes a grain of truth woven in. So making food from scratch is awesome, but without the mention of social determinants of health or privilege, it gives you a bad taste.
Aesthetics! How do you think wellness grifters weaponize aesthetics as a selling point? It's a lot easier to sell someone on colloidal silver or whatever (sidenote: I recently learned it's made from BATTERIES), if you're Gwyneth Paltrow or you're sipping the colloidal silver in a wildflower meadow from a little handblown glass.
I think a lot of the wellness aesthetics is from what’s unspoken or in waxing lyrical about something that isn’t inherently sexy. Shitting your brains out from a parasite cleanse is called a “release.” Coffee enemas are sold as a relaxing and health inducing experience, as long as you don’t spend too much time talking about how you’ll be exploding butt coffee into your toilet after. I have no idea how these girlies keep their beige linen clothes clean with how much time they spend on the toilet.
If you’re skinny and hot you can post your poop and talk about putting coffee up your ass on the internet. I think that’ll be the title of my first book.
There’s also an aesthetic in the lifestyle, often sold as freedom. Freedom from disease, freedom from the government, freedom from being told what to do, and financial freedom if you want to sell the same supplements and "all you have to do" is recruit a few friends.
I approach a lot of this stuff from the lens of motherhood. Like, how wellness grifters weaponize mothers' real anxieties and real structural abandonment for profit. But which other demographic groups do you think are particularly vulnerable to wellness grift?
All you have to do is look at how wellness influencers and companies are marketing to see who their target audience is. And unfortunately you will find a lot of vulnerable groups.
I see a lot of marketing directed towards folks who, even after working with and trusting evidence-based medicine, still have unexplained symptoms or are untreatable due to gaps in knowledge. So there’s an element of exploiting those gaps in healthcare and exploiting some reasonable distrust with medical experts based on lived experiences. There’s a lot of possible profit in desperation.
I see a lot of marketing directed at folks who “have tried everything already and nothing has worked.” That’s gross. To suggest that someone, who has likely already spent money and time on other unproven remedies, should now pay for your unproven remedy? Gtfo.
There’s also marketing towards specific diagnoses, like cancer. There’s this element of influencers being able to speak in absolutes about what they’re selling. Medical professionals don’t have that luxury because those claims aren’t based on evidence. It feels a lot better to be told you can heal your cancer for sursies compared to having statistics thrown at you. This is often masked by the influence's' lived experience with that same diagnosis. But what’s typically missing, in my observation, is an acknowledgement by some influencers that they did have some flavour of conventional treatment. It’s hard to sell coffee enemas if you mention chemo.
Lastly, I think the largest group targeted is those with general health anxiety.
You are SO FUNNY. And I wonder what you think of humor and satire as an educational tool? It's quite fun to learn about the shadiness and legitimate harm being perpetrated by wellness grifters by someone like you. I know, of course, that you're not setting yourself up as a formal educator or anything, but your content is super informative and accessible in a way other forms of information aren't.
Funny is really important to me. It’s just a part of who I am and what I like, so there’s no way that wasn’t going to be a part of my content. You could say I’m being authentic or whatever. I’ve been told by folks who disagree with me that I’m exploiting comedy to get folks to watch my videos and I’m like “Yeah… I am”.
I’ve worked in social media and communications for 10 years. I know that entertainment is a huge component of hooking and retaining attention, especially in today’s goldfish brain content environment. Getting anyone to watch a video longer than 60 seconds now is a MIRACLE. But if folks can come to expect to be entertained watching my videos, I can keep tricking them into learning something.... Ha, gotcha!
I also think that a lot of the wellness claims I’m seeing are so stupid they deserve an equally stupid response. And stupid humour is where I love to be. That being said, it’s a delicate balance. There are real harms being done to real people in this industry. Dark humour can work, sure, but you’ll see me dip in and out of it depending on the severity and seriousness of what I’m talking about.
And yet, there is almost always something inherently funny about someone putting coffee up their ass.
Thank you for this piece and for the work you are both doing calling attention to the wellness industry! I think it's so important to fight disinformation at the source and I think Mallory's videos pointing out bias and logical fallacies in short and humorous clips are very needed. I appreciate Mallory talking about how she began following wellness influencers and how she came to realize the problems with the information. I think it's an important perspective to have. I similarly started down the natural health path as a young and educated woman and it's important to realize how this happens, what perpetuates it, and what might help others to find more reliable sources of information. As a side note, I always find it interesting that people who don't trust the medical field will go to a hospital for a broken bone or an emergency. Nobody is calling their wellness influencer when they can't breathe.
I think this conversation requires mentioning a couple of things:
1. Women turn to alternative practices often because healthcare fails them. Doctors don't listen to their concerns, it takes years to receive diagnosis. You could be dead by the time you have any sort of treatment plan. A lot of people move towards alternative medicine because they are desperate. Some of them work, some of them don't.
2. Big pharma and traditional healthcare has a bad rep, and, honestly, for many good reasons. I grew up in Russia where you could buy practically any medication without prescription. People were taking antibiotics left and right. Most people still don't know, even after covid, that antibiotics don't work against viruses!! I lived in US for some time where healthcare was extremely expensive, even with insurance, and where practically everyone was overmedicated. I now live in Czech republic where I think healthcare is great, but even here I was prescribed antibiotics without a test to see if it's actually bacteria.
3. Some alternative practices do work. I am a huge supporter of traditional medicine, I will get a vaccine, I will take antibiotics, etc, but I have an open mind regarding other things. For example, my eczema was gone for almost a whole year after two session of hirudotherapy.
I think "wellness" is here because the system requires it.