The Placebo Store

The Placebo Store is a Mirror World version of all the scam supplements, pseudoscientific snake oils, and the multi-level marketing schemes behind them.

Background

There is an overwhelming demand for health improvement, but a simple whole foods diet and regular exercise is not something that can be easily monetized. But false promises in the form of "dietary supplements" earn businesses $160+ billion per year [1] and growing.

What can rational people who know this stuff is all pseudoscience and grift do to help put all this money to better use?

They can help raise awareness of the placebo effect, pseudoscience, and modern grift, while earning a little extra cash, with The Placebo Store!

Honest Placebos at Honest Prices

Since placebos work even if you know that they are placebos, inert pills that are clearly labeled as such can be just as effective as the many expensive supplements, homeopathic remedies, and other cure-alls pushed by the "wellness" industry. They can be manufactured with minimal cost, since you can substitute cheap fake ingredients for more expensive ones. And they can be sold at a fraction of the cost of their scam competitors.

Novelty Product Labels

Creative and fun "novelty" labeling can be used to make them a fun party gift. This also helps avoid any legal claims, since calling it a "supplement" would imply some active ingredient.

They could include catchy slogans like "Works 10% of the time, all the time!" or "Just as effective as homeopathy at a fraction of the cost!"

Market Research

There are a couple of companies out there who sell honest placebos.

• Magic Bullet
• Zeebo

Zeebo primarily sells to the research market. Magic Bullet is more similar to the novelty approach. But neither has significant market penetration, and there is no patent on placebos so nothing would prevent a new product with a unique marketing approach from being viable.

Placebo Rituals

Besides pills, it could also be possible to sell kits that allow people to perform "placebo rituals" to elicit the placebo effect through ritual acts. Simple kits with symbolic tokens and instructions for performing some ceremony, dance, incantation, etc. that will bring about the desired cure.

Multi-Level Marketing

Everyone has those old friends on Facebook that have been sucked into the MLM cult and constantly try to get you into their downline. Dietary supplements and other pseudoscience are one of the most popular products pushed by this marketing model. The many independent contractors of the wellness industry--yoga instructors, personal trainers, nutritionists, life coaches, etc. all need to supplement their income and supplements are right there to cash in.

We can make a mockery of the whole MLM scam by creating an "honest placebo" multi-level marketing program that is also honest about the fact that you will probably lose money and annoy your friends if you try to make selling fake supplements into a real business. Doing it this way would have a few benefits:

• Encourages networking with other secular organizations and like-minded people who are interested in countering pseudoscience.
• Start conversations with friends in the wellness community about the placebo effect that can lead to broader critical thinking.
• You can annoy your MLM friends by insisting that they join your placebo downline until they stop asking you to join theirs.
• Doing so makes a mockery of the fact that they are involved in a scam, in a way that saying "MLMs are a scam" can't do.
• You can still make a few bucks but let's be honest--unless you're at the top of the pyramid you won't earn much.

Without scam pricing, nobody is really getting rich. But we might be able to fund some cool projects like developing secular institutions and education programs if it is done right.