In this millennial age, day by day we see the exponential growth of ‘miracle products’. These are products that claim to be able to have miraculous. Eat this product and it can cure all diseases. Apply this product to your face and you’ll look amazing in just three days. And my personal favourite, suck on these sweets and you can throw away your prescription glasses. This might seem like a very trivial issue, but the real harm comes when their customers terminate their medical treatments for their chronic disease or choose to not vaccinate their child believing that the product is sufficient to guarantee their wellbeing. Anyone in their right mind who takes the time to think, would agree that all these do not make any sense. And true enough, there are no scientific studies to show the effectiveness of these products. All they have are WhatsApp screenshots they claim are from their happy customers. But people keep on buying them, and most of the time they’re not cheap. This paradoxical paradigm is puzzling; and this article intends to explore the reasoning behind it.
If we browse social media, there are plenty of articles written by experts which scientifically debunks the extra-terrestrial claims that these products make. But why is it disregarded? Why do the false claims of these products prevail despite these expert opinion? The answer is very simple, that the people with the truth are bad salespeople. The articles and more importantly; comment sections are written in a manner that mostly insults and degrades those who believe in the product; labelling them as ignorant and gullible. It is little wonder that people disregard the truth when those who believe and perpetuate the truth are snobbish and judgemental. Even if you were doing something wrong, you would want those who correct you to be gentle to you. When we try to correct others in a negative tone, they would feel insulted and this puts them in a defensive place, which makes them vulnerable to believe in the explanations given by miracle product sellers however dodgy these explanations might be. The truth is no more important to the defensive, what matters now is that the explanation would be against those who insulted them. Speaking in a negative manner will only make people retaliate further. After all, one who speaks disdainfully is probably one who is not speaking the truth. This negative approach tips the scale to the sellers of ‘miracle products’. Without even realising it, the truth tellers are encouraging others to do the wrong thing. They are marketing against themselves.
On the other hand, we have the marketers of ‘miracle products’, the anti-vaxxers and their likes who prevail despite telling people that one plus one is actually zero. These are very endearing people to their audience. They are very caring and sound very genuine when giving advice. And of course those who don’t know any better would be much more inclined to subscribe to their beliefs.
People of science seem to think that facts and figures are all that matter. That anyone with the truth would prevail. They fail understand that not everyone can make informed choices from these facts given that it is incomprehensible to many. And when people are unable to comprehend, they’d assume that the nicer preacher is the one that’s bringing the truth. And who can fault them? Perhaps there are things they can learn from their opponents; to win the hearts of their audience. After all, that is what matters the most in today’s world. A good salesperson with a bad product would sell more than a bad salesperson with a brilliant product.
This is the personal opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Medical Gazette.
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