I will start off with a disclaimer lest I come across as a hypocrite. If you look through the cabinets of my home you will find Tupperware, Pampered Chef items, Mary Kay, doTerra and at one time I had a Sentsy candle warmer, but my children are too enthralled with melted wax that I got rid of it. I am even slightly embarrassed to admit that I am probably on a dusty list of dormant Tupperware and doTerra distributors. All of these companies have great products at way too expensive prices.
In my opinion, the reason for the expense is due to the MLM type of marketing that each of these companies use. Let me just get this out there, I am not a fan of this distributing style. As I said before, I have owned and still use products that were marketed this way and I am sure that I will purchase some of them again. If they have something I can't live without and/or can't get any other way, or if I am supporting a friend or family member, I will buy. I was recently invited to check out a new MLM product which was slightly intriguing to me. It was basically a wallet with Ziploc bags in it. They looked cute on the outside, but to me they were too big to be a wallet and too small to be a purse and at $30 a pop they were also a big investment. I did seriously consider getting a boyish style if Taylor had wanted one for his diabetes supplies. He didn't. I don't think it was a good option either, but I asked him any way. I will very likely purchase from said companies again. However, I will be selective; and quite honestly, I may never buy from doTerra ever again. (This is the part where I ask you to not hate me).
I have grown increasingly disturbed by the claims made by doTerra's distributors over the past several months. I have friends who, as far as I know, are housewives, bankers, a lawyer, an English professor and a movie set builder who have become chemists, physicians, psychiatrists, psychologists, massage therapists and educators all rolled up into one after having purchased a starter kit and attended a marketing convention. Yes, I said a marketing convention. doTerra's genius comes not with its product, but with its marketing and it has sucked masses of intelligent, educated, rational thinking people, many of whom I love and admire.
Probably one of the most frightening invitations I received was from a woman who, in all honesty, is one of my very favorite people in the whole wide world, claimed to be teaching a class about treatments for ADHD, anxiety, depression and autism. This was the last straw for me, I had heard all about treating viral and bacterial infections, cleaning products, etc., etc., etc. I think this touched a nerve because I live with people who struggle with some of these on a daily basis. I have tried using essential oils to see if it would help, but they did not. Would I say that they couldn't or wouldn't help someone, NO!
My concern is that distributors are suddenly becoming experts in medicine and mental health. I love it when people share their own successes, but when they make claims of cures and treatments that have not been proven, by people who are saying things that they are being taught to say, I find it unethical at the very least and potentially dangerous. I wonder how many people have stopped taking medications because they believed that the more natural way would be better. I know that there have been scientific studies done and that information is being fed to the distributors who then claim to know. I have done a small amount of research myself as well as some trials of different essential oils for my family.
I have been very pleased with the results for some things, yet I will still get an antibiotic when I have strep throat, or have surgery. I love the smell of many oils. They lift my spirits. I feel like I have averted many a cold because I began using oils at the onset. I like to add them to vinegar for cleaning. I like to massage them into my children's backs when they are sick or stressed. I put them on their feet when they are sick. I have put a drop on their pj's or on their chests to help with stuffy noses. Would I share what has worked for me when asked, absolutely. I in no way would consider myself all knowing nor would I give medical advice. I simply do not know enough and, quite frankly, neither does any doTerra distributor I know, no matter how many conventions they have been to or how many times they have read doTerra's essential oil Bible.
I have had a couple of bottles of doTerra's oils. They work just as well as my preferred brand which is much cheaper, just as pure and researched, not multi-level marketed, and provides educational opportunities. They are also much more conservative in their claims and in their cautions for using on children and pregnant women. I like that.
Today I read a couple of news articles stating that both doTerra and Young Living have been told by the FDA that they need to change their claims or face penalties. It's about time! Is the FDA always right? No. I whole-heartedly agree with their stance on this and hope that these companies will reign in their claims of cures. I am not sure how they will be able to reeducate all of their distributors in the 15 days time they were given. I am sure that they will claim that they have no control over what their independent distributors say, but that the company makes no such promises of cures.
This is a soap box that has been brewing inside me for quite some time. I do not usually climb on. That is not really the purpose of this blog, but it is my blog and it is a free country and we have free speech. With free speech comes responsibility for speaking truth. I still love all of my doTerra loving friends and hope that no one is offended by this. And by no one I mean the six people who read this, four of whom are family members who I know are not affiliated with doTerra, whew. I feel much better now that I got this out.
In my opinion, the reason for the expense is due to the MLM type of marketing that each of these companies use. Let me just get this out there, I am not a fan of this distributing style. As I said before, I have owned and still use products that were marketed this way and I am sure that I will purchase some of them again. If they have something I can't live without and/or can't get any other way, or if I am supporting a friend or family member, I will buy. I was recently invited to check out a new MLM product which was slightly intriguing to me. It was basically a wallet with Ziploc bags in it. They looked cute on the outside, but to me they were too big to be a wallet and too small to be a purse and at $30 a pop they were also a big investment. I did seriously consider getting a boyish style if Taylor had wanted one for his diabetes supplies. He didn't. I don't think it was a good option either, but I asked him any way. I will very likely purchase from said companies again. However, I will be selective; and quite honestly, I may never buy from doTerra ever again. (This is the part where I ask you to not hate me).
I have grown increasingly disturbed by the claims made by doTerra's distributors over the past several months. I have friends who, as far as I know, are housewives, bankers, a lawyer, an English professor and a movie set builder who have become chemists, physicians, psychiatrists, psychologists, massage therapists and educators all rolled up into one after having purchased a starter kit and attended a marketing convention. Yes, I said a marketing convention. doTerra's genius comes not with its product, but with its marketing and it has sucked masses of intelligent, educated, rational thinking people, many of whom I love and admire.
Probably one of the most frightening invitations I received was from a woman who, in all honesty, is one of my very favorite people in the whole wide world, claimed to be teaching a class about treatments for ADHD, anxiety, depression and autism. This was the last straw for me, I had heard all about treating viral and bacterial infections, cleaning products, etc., etc., etc. I think this touched a nerve because I live with people who struggle with some of these on a daily basis. I have tried using essential oils to see if it would help, but they did not. Would I say that they couldn't or wouldn't help someone, NO!
My concern is that distributors are suddenly becoming experts in medicine and mental health. I love it when people share their own successes, but when they make claims of cures and treatments that have not been proven, by people who are saying things that they are being taught to say, I find it unethical at the very least and potentially dangerous. I wonder how many people have stopped taking medications because they believed that the more natural way would be better. I know that there have been scientific studies done and that information is being fed to the distributors who then claim to know. I have done a small amount of research myself as well as some trials of different essential oils for my family.
I have been very pleased with the results for some things, yet I will still get an antibiotic when I have strep throat, or have surgery. I love the smell of many oils. They lift my spirits. I feel like I have averted many a cold because I began using oils at the onset. I like to add them to vinegar for cleaning. I like to massage them into my children's backs when they are sick or stressed. I put them on their feet when they are sick. I have put a drop on their pj's or on their chests to help with stuffy noses. Would I share what has worked for me when asked, absolutely. I in no way would consider myself all knowing nor would I give medical advice. I simply do not know enough and, quite frankly, neither does any doTerra distributor I know, no matter how many conventions they have been to or how many times they have read doTerra's essential oil Bible.
I have had a couple of bottles of doTerra's oils. They work just as well as my preferred brand which is much cheaper, just as pure and researched, not multi-level marketed, and provides educational opportunities. They are also much more conservative in their claims and in their cautions for using on children and pregnant women. I like that.
Today I read a couple of news articles stating that both doTerra and Young Living have been told by the FDA that they need to change their claims or face penalties. It's about time! Is the FDA always right? No. I whole-heartedly agree with their stance on this and hope that these companies will reign in their claims of cures. I am not sure how they will be able to reeducate all of their distributors in the 15 days time they were given. I am sure that they will claim that they have no control over what their independent distributors say, but that the company makes no such promises of cures.
This is a soap box that has been brewing inside me for quite some time. I do not usually climb on. That is not really the purpose of this blog, but it is my blog and it is a free country and we have free speech. With free speech comes responsibility for speaking truth. I still love all of my doTerra loving friends and hope that no one is offended by this. And by no one I mean the six people who read this, four of whom are family members who I know are not affiliated with doTerra, whew. I feel much better now that I got this out.
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