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| A vain attempt at decrazification. |
Pack Genius
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There was another story in the Herald Sun yesterday that got my attention, and it looked (initially) as though they’d hit the nail on the head. The title of the story was ‘Aromatherapy is a health con’ and began thusly: “Aromatherapy is a “New Age marketing con” that does nothing more than burn a hole in the pocket, researchers say.” No shit, but I find it a tad strange that the Herald Sun are attacking pseudoscientific nonsense considering the sheer volume of woo that regularly graces their pages (a two page spread detailing a psychic’s predictions for the coming year was a highlight). Sadly, they’re not very good at it (the woo attack, that is). They cite a study by Dr. Neil Martin, of “In the study, volunteers were asked to plunge their arms into freezing water to see whether a pleasant lemon smell would mitigate their discomfort, or if the unpleasant smell of machine oil would make it worse.” No, No, NO, you morons. If you’re going to test these loonies’ claims, make sure you test their actual claims. Get your hands on some of their oils and see if smelling them cures any illnesses in a proper double blind study. I’ve never heard any aroma therapist claim that smelling a lemon would cure pain. Cue smug loony, Carol Preen, from the British Aromatherapy Consortium, having an easy day on the job pointing that out: “This research did not involve aromatherapy because they simply used a certain smell to gain an effect. Aromatherapy is so much more than that and I do not see how they can say that this proves it does not work.” This is hilarious. Even with a piss easy defence of her bullshit medical practice, she still screws it up. Isn’t using ‘a certain smell to gain an effect’ exactly what aromatherapy is? Doesn’t olfactory delivery of essential oils cure all sorts of ills? How is aromatherapy ‘so much more than that?’ But I’m going to have to agree with her on that last bit. I’d like to thank the Herald Sun and Doc Martin for forcing me to side with a woo pusher. To make myself feel better, I’ll point out that aromatherapy is complete bullshit and is not backed by a shred of experimental evidence whatsoever. For further information, check out the Two Percent Company’s rant on aromatherapy. Worth the read for the Follicle Fairies alone. | ||
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| Actually, I've never heard an aromatherapy claim. Let alone one that is testable.
All I ever see is bottles of oil and soaps with the catch-all word "aromatherapy" down the outside, but I don't know an aromatherapist, I've never met one, never heard one speak, and up until your post, was convinced that they lived with the fairies at the bottom of the garden. Now as far as woo purveyors go, I've met naturopaths, homeopaths, acupuncturists, pranic therapists, "energeticists" but never an aromatherapist. I think that aromatherapy is, as far as I can tell, hard for even gullible Aussies who are into "alternative medicine" to buy. Which is why the Hun can safely go after it and not get their readership offside. BTW, do you like the Lipton Green Ice Tea commercials? | |||
| Posted by dikkii | |||
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| Hey Dikkii,
As always, it's great to hear from you. "was convinced they lived with the fairies at the bottom of the garden." LOL. Sounds pretty accurate to me. Sadly, they're not alone. I don't see aromatherapy as being any more 'out there' than all the other quacks you mentioned though. I watched a documentary recently on alternative medicine and homeopathy was definitely the highlight for me (can't remember the name of the doco but it was hosted by Cancer Man from the X Files). This guy was trying to explain how water remembers what substance was previously in solution. He said (roughly): "When you shake the container, that's kenetic energy right? So the water remembers the same way a pond has ripples from a thrown stone." I was laughing so hard, I literally had to rewind it three times to catch the entire explanation. I couldn't believe it, and this fucker was a fully certified GP. Pranic therapy is a new one on me, I had to look it up. Found an explanation by one Bharat Gogia which had me rolling my eyes in record time. Ah, these loonies are a constant source of amusement: "There is, for example, a gap in consciousness between mental intention to walk, and actually walking. The individual consciousness is quite unconscious of the complex nervous, muscular, chemical, electrical, and may other biological processes that are involved in 'simply' walking. All the intermediate process between the conscious decision to walk and walking itself are unconscious. Even the brain function associated with original intention happen automatically and unconsciously." 'The consciousness is unconscious.' So fucking what? Oh, you're getting to the bit how this proves your crazy ideas? "All this is due to the presence of the life essence, prana, controlling and activating all bodily processes. In fact, according to Vedic philosophy, the physical universe is really changing patterns in space, and that creation manifests into being through the movement in the stillness that is eternally existent." Is it? Fuck Bharat, I didn't know that. But since you used the words 'in fact' and 'really', it must be true, right? It never ceases to amaze me what people will swallow just because some dipshit makes up some nonsensical crap and uses a couple of big sciencey words. Haven't yet had the honour of viewing that particular advertisement for Lipton's Green Ice Tea. Green ice tea though? Sounds revolting. What wonderful, magical health benefits are claimed by Lipton? Do they go on about antioxidants? I love it when they go on about antioxidants. | |||
| Posted by ajscanlan | |||
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| Your second quote from Bharat Gogia had me cacking my dacks. ("All this is due to the presence of the life essence, prana, controlling and activating all bodily processes. In fact, according to Vedic philosophy, the physical universe is really changing patterns in space, and that creation manifests into being through the movement in the stillness that is eternally existent.")
It reminded me of when I was in first year Uni and we'd go around to my mates place in North Melbourne for a sesh. A couple of bong toots, the odd beer and the Stone Roses first album on the CD player. A few years later it was an eccy, and some fractal geometry on the wall via a projector, but I digress. Aah, so many memories. In fact, I testify to Bharat's assertion that the physical universe is really changing patterns in space. I witnessed it first hand. Of course, reality had sailed out the window. In fact, *giggles* I saw that too! With regards to the Lipton's ads, they (miraculously, I thought) steer clear of the word "antioxidants". What they do do, is they have this guru chatting to his disciples about how he just talks shit and how he cleans up financially. The disciples then respond with chat about how gullible they are and how they don't think twice about being taken for a ride. The punchline is "Naturally Refreshing" which is their current slogan. An advertiser having a laugh at their expense, it appears. | |||
| Posted by dikkii | |||
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| Holy hell. Watching reality sail out the window must have been one hell of a sight.
The Lipton commercial sounds a ripper as intelligent/original commercials are exceedingly rare. I put this down to the fact that the intelligent segment of the market is such a vanishingly tiny niche that its not worth the advertiser's time nor effort to go after. Why bother attempting something original when mundane, painful crap works just fine? I'm disappointed to hear that the 'antioxidants' craze seems to have petered out. Nice to see that the magical Omega 3 is still going strong. Or is it Omega 6? Oh, who cares. | |||
| Posted by Adam | |||
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| I'll have to amend my previous comment as Lipton's have amended their ads to tack 10 seconds on anti-oxidants in at the end.
Disappointing, I feel. | |||
| Posted by dikkii | |||
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| Hey Dikkii,
Typical. Perhaps one of their marketing dicks read my comment above and got one hell of a shock: "...the intelligent segment of the market is such a vanishingly tiny niche that it's not worth the advertiser's time nor effort to go after." Oh no, we've completely forgotten about the huge moron segment. Shit, it is green tea after all. An emergency meeting was called at Lipton and they decided to go the 'antioxidants' route to rectify such a glaring oversight in their marketing strategy. | |||
| Posted by Adam | |||
| Entry 23 of 42 |
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