{{Short description|Euphemism for false advertising}} {{Other uses|Snake oil (disambiguation)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}} [[File:Clark Stanley's Snake Oil Liniment.png|thumb|Clark Stanley's Snake Oil]]
"'''Snake oil'''" is a term used to describe deceptive marketing, health care fraud, or a scam. Similarly, '''snake oil salesman''' is a common label used to describe someone who sells, promotes, or is a general proponent of some valueless or fraudulent cure, remedy, or solution.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/snake-oil+salesman|title=snake oil salesman|publisher=The Free Dictionary|access-date=29 June 2021|archive-date=13 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220213074929/https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/snake-oil+salesman|url-status=live}}</ref> The term comes from the snake oil that was sold as a cure-all elixir for many kinds of physiological problems. Many 18th-century European and 19th-century United States entrepreneurs advertised and sold mineral oil (often mixed with various active and inactive household herbs, spices, drugs, and compounds, but containing no snake-derived substances whatsoever) as "snake oil liniment", making claims about its efficacy as a panacea. Patent medicines that claimed to be panaceas were extremely common from the 18th century until the 20th century, particularly among vendors masking addictive drugs such as cocaine, amphetamine, alcohol, and opium-based concoctions or elixirs, to be sold at medicine shows as medication or products promoting health.
==History== thumb|A snake oil recipe from 1719/1751 (Juan de Loeches, ''Tyrocinium Pharmaceticum''), printed in Spain
Patent medicines originated in England, where a patent was granted to Richard Stoughton's elixir in 1712.<ref name="snakeoil">{{cite journal |url=https://www.csicop.org/sb/show/peddling_snake_oil/ |title=Peddling Snake Oil; Investigative Files |date=1 December 1998 |publisher=Committee for Skeptical Inquiry |last=Nickell |first=J |volume=8 |issue=4 |access-date=4 December 2011 |journal=Skeptical Inquirer |archive-date=21 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170921095851/https://www.csicop.org/sb/show/peddling_snake_oil |url-status=live }}</ref> There were no federal regulations in the United States concerning the safety and effectiveness of drugs until the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.fda.gov/about-fda/changes-science-law-and-regulatory-authorities/long-struggle-law |title=The Long Struggle for the Law |publisher=Food and Drug Administration |access-date=4 December 2011 |archive-date=8 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210508081817/https://www.fda.gov/about-fda/changes-science-law-and-regulatory-authorities/long-struggle-law |url-status=dead }}</ref> Thus, the widespread marketing and availability of dubiously advertised patent medicines without known properties or origin persisted in the US for a much greater number of years than in Europe.
thumb|left|Itinerant salesman in Rome draped with snakes
In 18th-century Europe, especially in Britain, viper oil had been commonly recommended for many afflictions, including the ones for which oil from the rattlesnake (pit viper), a type of viper native to America, was subsequently favored to treat rheumatism and skin diseases.<ref>{{cite book |title=Rattlesnakes, vol II |last=Klauber |first=Laurence M. |date=1997 |publisher=University of California Press |page=1050}}</ref> Though there are accounts of oil obtained from the fat of various vipers in the Western world, the claims of its effectiveness as a medicine have never been thoroughly examined, and its efficacy is unknown. It is also likely that much of the snake oil sold by Western entrepreneurs was illegitimate, and did not contain ingredients derived from any kind of snake. Snake oil in the United Kingdom and the United States probably contained modified mineral oil. William Rockefeller Sr., the father of John D. Rockefeller, peddled literal snake oil.<ref>{{cite book|last=Olsen|first=Brad|title=Beyond Esoteric: Escaping Prison Planet|date=14 January 2021|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8a8LEAAAQBAJ|publisher=CCC Publishing|publication-date=2021|page=117|isbn=9781888729757|access-date=16 July 2022|quote=[...] William Rockefeller, father to the first billionaire John D. [...] was a literal snake oil salesman and con artist who sold 'cancer cures' to women door-to-door.|archive-date=16 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220716045229/https://books.google.com/books?id=8a8LEAAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref>
At the turn of the 20th century, post American Civil War, patent medicine shows began traveling around America. Medicine shows combined a performance, advertisement, and store, all selling their own snake oils. Patent medicine shows would have upwards of 20 performers, often including black musicians, a doctor, comic sketches, advertisements for their wares, which often included narcotics or alcohol, and musical performances, performed by the black musicians, sometimes done in blackface.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=SANDLER |first=MATT |date=2015-02-25 |title=Music Physicianers: Blues Lyric Form and the Patent Medicine Show |url=https://doi.org/10.1017/s002187581500002x |journal=Journal of American Studies |volume=50 |issue=1 |pages=125–142 |doi=10.1017/s002187581500002x |issn=0021-8758|url-access=subscription }}</ref> These medicine shows leaned on, and evoked, knowledge and iconography from many cultures, including medieval Europeans, Native Americans, African American, and Southern American cultures in order to persuade and delight audiences with their shows and products.<ref name=":0" /> In 20th-century America, snake oil became a common media trope, led in part by the 1915 case regarding Stanley's Snake Oil, created by Clark Stanley. He was found guilty of misbranding the solution he was selling, as well as falsely representing it as a cure for many maladies, such as sciatica, sore throat, and aches and pains.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=There’s a Cure for That: Historic Medicines and Cure-alls in America {{!}} OHSU |url=https://www.ohsu.edu/historical-collections-archives/theres-cure-historic-medicines-and-cure-alls-america |access-date=2025-12-12 |website=www.ohsu.edu |language=en}}</ref>
Patent medicines, and snake oils, were sold over the counter, mail delivered, or in traveling shows in the 20th century. Products such as menstrual cure-alls, benefited from this, given it afforded the customer privacy.<ref name=":1" /> Not all of snake oil, and snake oil salesmen, were placebo cure-alls, or medicines that had no benefits. Many of the medicines would parade large effects, the ability to cure any sort of ailment, but would use medicinal plants that did have a positive benefit on those taking it. Lydia Pinkham sold a vegetable compound that was supposed to cure many serious illnesses, but it was taken by women for menstrual cramps and various menopause symptoms.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=OAH {{!}} Snake Oil Revisited: Household Medicine and the Condescension of Posterity |url=https://www.oah.org/process/snake-oil-revisited/ |access-date=2025-12-12 |language=en-US}}</ref> Alcohol, which was often a key ingredient in snake oils, allowed for the preservation of extracts, and acted as a solvent for the medicines within.<ref name=":2" /> However, others included toxic plants, such as Dr. Guild's Green Mountain Asthmatic Component, which had belladonna and stramonium in it.<ref name=":1" />
The creation of the Food and Drug Administration in the 1930s, and the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Commissioner |first=Office of the |date=2021-03-29 |title=FDA History |url=https://www.fda.gov/about-fda/fda-history |access-date=2025-12-12 |website=FDA |language=en}}</ref> is largely credited with the downfall of the snake oil salesman, and patent medicine industries in the United States. The Pure Food and Drug act "prohibited the sale of misbranded or adulterated food and drugs in interstate commerce and laid a foundation for the nation’s first consumer protection agency, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)".<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Pure Food and Drug Act {{!}} U.S. Capitol - Visitor Center |url=https://www.visitthecapitol.gov/exhibitions/congress-and-progressive-era/pure-food-and-drug-act |access-date=2025-12-12 |website=www.visitthecapitol.gov}}</ref> thumb|A historical reenactor representing a traveling snake oil salesman from the United States in 2014.
== Media == A common trope in Western films, selling snake oil is portrayed as a confidence trick: a traveling salesman purports to be a doctor (with false credentials), selling fake medicines with boisterous marketing hype, and supported by pseudo-scientific evidence. To increase sales, an accomplice in the crowd (a shill or a "toadie") will often attest to the value of the product in an effort to provoke buying enthusiasm. The "doctor" will leave town before his customers realize they have been cheated. This trope is associated with the American Old West. However, the famous judgment that sparked the most controversy happened in 1916, when Stanley's Snake Oil was discovered to contain no actual snake oil, creating the notion that bottles of snake oil (and their salesmen) were essentially a fraud.<ref name="npr2013">[https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/08/26/215761377/a-history-of-snake-oil-salesmen A History Of 'Snake Oil Salesmen'] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230421040855/https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/08/26/215761377/a-history-of-snake-oil-salesmen |date=21 April 2023 }}, August 26, 2013, Lakshmi Gandhi</ref> That case took place in Rhode Island, and involved snake oil being shipped to Massachusetts, far away from and substantially later than the Old West.<ref>{{Citation |title=American frontier |date=2025-08-19 |work=Wikipedia |url=https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=American_frontier&oldid=1306688966 |access-date=2025-08-25 |language=en}}</ref> In ''Outlaw Women'', a character named Uncle Barney runs a medicine show, bringing it to Las Mujeres, where he becomes a bartender, still selling his patent medicine from the bar.<ref>{{Citation |title=Outlaw Women |date=1952-04-28 |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045004/ |access-date=2025-12-12 |publisher=Ron Ormond Productions}}</ref>
In animation, snake oil of all kinds can be seen being bought by characters throughout history. Betty Boop becomes a Snake Oil Salesman in ''Betty Boop, M.D.'', selling "Jippo", which claims to flatten feet, make men young again, removes teeth, stops breathing, and grows tonsils. It also showcases the performance aspect of these patent medicine shows, with a clown performing contortionist tricks, as well as Betty Boop coming out to sing a song persuading people to buy "Jippo". "Jippo" is revealed to just be water from a fire hydrant.<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NTvio_Ars0 |title=Betty Boop M.D. (1932) Mae Questel |date=2017-11-16 |last=Audio Video |access-date=2025-12-12 |via=YouTube}}</ref>
==From cure-all to quackery== [[File:SnakeOilDecision.jpg|thumb|A report of the 1916 decision of the United States District Court for Rhode Island, fining Clark Stanley $20 for "misbranding" its "Clark Stanley Snake Oil Liniment".]]
Clark Stanley's Snake Oil Liniment – produced by Clark Stanley, the "Rattlesnake King" – was tested by the United States government's Bureau of Chemistry, the precursor to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1916.<ref name="Chemistry 1917">{{cite book |last=Chemistry |first=United States Bureau of |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-Og7AAAAYAAJ&q=%22snake+oil%22&pg=PA592 |title=Service and Regulatory Announcements |date=1917 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |access-date=20 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240723155218/https://books.google.com/books?id=-Og7AAAAYAAJ&q=%22snake+oil%22&pg=PA592#v=snippet&q=%22snake%20oil%22&f=false |archive-date=23 July 2024 |url-status=live}}</ref> It was found to contain: mineral oil, 1% fatty oil (assumed to be tallow), capsaicin from chili peppers, turpentine, and camphor.<ref name="snakeoil" />
In 1916, subsequent to the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906, Clark Stanley's Snake Oil Liniment was examined by the Bureau of Chemistry, and found to be drastically overpriced and of limited value. As a result, Stanley faced federal prosecution for peddling mineral oil in a fraudulent manner as snake oil. In his 1916 civil hearing instigated by federal prosecutors in the U.S. District Court for Rhode Island, Stanley pleaded ''nolo contendere'' (no contest) to the allegations against him, giving no admission of guilt.<ref name="Chemistry 1917"/> His plea was accepted, and as a result, he was fined $20<ref name="Chemistry 1917"/> (about ${{Inflation|US|20|1916|fmt=c}} in {{Inflation/year|US}}).{{Inflation/fn|US}}
The term ''snake oil'' has since been established in popular culture as a reference to any worthless concoction sold as medicine, and has been extended to describe a wide-ranging degree of fraudulent goods, services, ideas, and activities such as worthless rhetoric in politics. By further extension, a '''snake oil salesman''' is commonly used in English to describe a quack, huckster, or charlatan.
==Modern implications== {{See also|COVID-19 misinformation#Herbal treatments}}
False health products described by medical experts as "snake oil" continue to be marketed during the 21st century, including herbal medicines, dietary supplements, products such as Tibetan singing bowls (when used for healing) and treatments such as vaginal steaming. The company Goop has been accused of "selling snake oil" in some of its health products and recommendations.<ref name="MedPageGoop">{{cite news |last1=Berman |first1=Michele R. |last2=Boguski |first2=Mark S. |title=Gwyneth Paltrow's Snake Oil |url=https://www.medpagetoday.com/popmedicine/celebritydiagnosis/77733 |access-date=15 June 2021 |work=medpagetoday.com |date=31 January 2019 |language=en |archive-date=14 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220214234650/https://www.medpagetoday.com/popmedicine/celebritydiagnosis/77733 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="NASAGoop">{{cite news |last1=Belluz |first1=Julia |title=NASA just debunked Gwyneth Paltrow's latest snake oil |url=https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/6/23/15861586/gwyneth-paltrow-nasa-healing-stickers |access-date=15 June 2021 |work=Vox |date=23 June 2017 |language=en |archive-date=13 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220213074928/https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/6/23/15861586/gwyneth-paltrow-nasa-healing-stickers |url-status=live }}</ref>
{{anchor|Neuriva}} Neuriva,<ref name="s40120-023-00454-z">{{cite journal |last1=Doma |first1=Katarina M. |last2=Lewis |first2=Erin D. |last3=Barracato |first3=Jane M. |last4=Brink |first4=Lauren R. |last5=Gratson |first5=Alejandra A. |last6=Pandey |first6=Neeraj |last7=Crowley |first7=David C. |last8=Evans |first8=Malkanthi |title=A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Parallel Study Investigating the Efficacy of a Whole Coffee Cherry Extract and Phosphatidylserine Formulation on Cognitive Performance of Healthy Adults with Self-Perceived Memory Problems |journal=Neurology and Therapy |date=June 2023 |volume=12 |issue=3 |pages=777–794 |doi=10.1007/s40120-023-00454-z |pmid=36929344 |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36929344/|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="pharmacytimes/neuriva-efficacy-safety">{{cite news |last1=Benchaya |first1=Galia |last2=Hanna |first2=Enji |last3=Huang |first3=MaeMae |last4=Sadova |first4=Yuliya |last5=Zerilli |first5=Tina |title=Neuriva: A Closer Look at the Efficacy and Safety |url=https://www.pharmacytimes.com/view/neuriva-a-closer-look-at-the-efficacy-and-safety-of-this-popular-supplement |access-date=13 December 2025 |work=Pharmacy Times |publisher=MJH Life Sciences |date=July 17, 2025 |location=Cranbury, New Jersey |language=en}}</ref> claimed as a "brain-enhancement" supplement, has been called "snake oil"<ref name="psychologytoday/brain-food-folly">{{cite news |last1=Wenk |first1=Gary L. |title=Brain Enhancement Folly |url=https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/your-brain-food/202003/brain-enhancement-folly |access-date=13 December 2025 |work=Psychology Today |quote=What is Neuriva? According to its website, it's an extract of the plant Coffea arabica. You might know this extract by another name: coffee....Neuriva has another ingredient, phosphatidylserine, that its marketers claim can also make you smarter....Unfortunately, there are plenty of charlatans eager to mislead potential customers with flimsy pseudoscientific evidence in order to make a profit....Author of Your Brain on Food, 3rd Edition, 2019 (Oxford University Press).}}</ref> by a professor at Ohio State University, due to a lack of research into efficacy, as well as no FDA backing.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Modern-Day Snake Oil: The Problem With Brain Supplements|url=https://www.thocc.org/about/news-press/news-detail?articleId=42762&publicid=395 |access-date=2025-12-12 |website= The Hospital of Central Connecticut }}</ref> A 2021 Neuriva celebrity marketing campaign featured Mayim Bialik.<ref name="fiercepharma/bialik-Neuriva">{{cite web |last1=Bulik |first1=Beth Snyder |title=Mayim Bialik, Acress & Real Life Neuroscientist, Stars in New Neuriva Campaign |url=https://www.fiercepharma.com/marketing/newly-rebranded-reckitt-casts-big-bang-actress-mayim-bialik-campaign-for-otc-brand |website=Fierce Pharma |access-date=13 December 2025 |language=en |date=24 March 2021}}</ref><ref name="ispot/mayim-bialik">{{cite web |title=Mayim Bialik TV Commercials |url=https://www.ispot.tv/topic/actor-actress/7uE/mayim-bialik |website=ispot.tv |access-date=13 December 2025 |language=en}}</ref> A 2022 Neuriva celebrity marketing campaign featured Alton Brown.<ref name="prnewswire/301625405">{{cite web |author1=Neuriva |title=Neuriva ® Partners With Alton Brown To Inspire Consumers To Think Bigger |url=https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/neuriva--partners-with-alton-brown-to-inspire-consumers-to-think-bigger-301625405.html |website=PR Newswire |access-date=13 December 2025 |language=en |date=Sep 15, 2022}}</ref><ref name="ispot/alton-brown">{{cite web |title=Alton Brown TV Commercials |url=https://www.ispot.tv/topic/tv-personality/IJ/alton-brown |website=ispot.tv |access-date=13 December 2025 |language=en}}</ref> In 2023, the makers of Neuriva settled a lawsuit that bars them from claiming its benefits are backed by science.<ref name="beingpatient/does-neuriva">{{cite web |last1=Spichak |first1=Simon |title=Does Neuriva Plus Work? A Settled Lawsuit Bars Its Makers From Claiming It Does |url=https://beingpatient.com/does-neuriva-plus-work-brain-health-supplement/ |website=Being Patient |access-date=13 December 2025 |date=3 April 2023}}</ref><ref name="scholar/CAQC6BEAAAAJ">{{cite web |title=Simon Spichak |url=https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=CAQC6BEAAAAJ |website=scholar.google.com |access-date=13 December 2025}}</ref><ref name="truthinadvertising/neuriva">{{cite web |title=Neuriva |url=https://truthinadvertising.org/class-action/neuriva/ |website=Truth in Advertising |access-date=13 December 2025 |language=en}}</ref>
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Xinhua News Agency claimed that the herbal product ''Shuanghuanglian'' can prevent or treat infections from coronaviruses, stimulating sales across the United States, Russia, and China. However, the clinical studies on its effectiveness have been inconclusive.<ref>{{cite news |last=Palmer |first=James |title=Chinese Media Is Selling Snake Oil to Fight the Wuhan Virus |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/02/03/tcm-shuanghuanglian-pseudoscience-chinese-media-is-selling-snake-oil-to-fight-the-wuhan-virus/ |access-date=3 April 2020 |work=Foreign Policy|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200205162551/https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/02/03/tcm-shuanghuanglian-pseudoscience-chinese-media-is-selling-snake-oil-to-fight-the-wuhan-virus/|archive-date=5 February 2020}}</ref><ref name="nytimes">{{cite news |last1=Phillips |first1=James |last2=Selzer |first2=Jordan |last3=Noll |first3=Samantha |last4=Alptunaer |first4=Timur |title=Opinion : Covid-19 Has Closed Stores, but Snake Oil Is Still for Sale |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/31/opinion/fake-treatment-cure-coronavirus.html |work=The New York Times |date=31 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200401191016/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/31/opinion/fake-treatment-cure-coronavirus.html|archive-date=1 April 2020}}</ref> Su et al. published a report that the herbal substance has been shown ''in vitro'' to be cytotoxic "against a clinical isolate of SARS-CoV-2".<ref name="su20">{{cite journal|doi=10.1038/s41401-020-0483-6|title=Anti-SARS-CoV-2 activities in vitro of Shuanghuanglian preparations and bioactive ingredients|year=2020|last1=Su|first1=Hai-xia|last2=Yao|first2=Sheng|last3=Zhao|first3=Wen-Feng|last4=Li|first4=Min-jun|last5=Liu|first5=Jia|last6=Shang|first6=Wei-Juan|last7=Xie|first7=Hang|last8=Ke|first8=Chang-Qiang|last9=Hu|first9=Hang-Chen|last10=Gao|first10=Mei-na|last11=Yu|first11=Kun-Qian|last12=Liu|first12=Hong|last13=Shen|first13=Jing-Shan |last14=Tang|first14=Wei |last15=Zhang|first15=Lei-ke |last16=Xiao|first16=Geng-fu |last17=Ni|first17=Li |last18=Wang|first18=Dao-wen |last19=Zuo|first19=Jian-Ping |last20=Jiang|first20=Hua-Liang |last21=Bai|first21=Fang| last22=Wu|first22=Yan |last23=Ye|first23=Yang |last24=Xu|first24=Ye-Chun|journal=Acta Pharmacologica Sinica|volume=41|issue=9|pages=1167–1177|pmid=32737471|pmc=7393338}}</ref> However, another government media outlet, People’s Daily, published a contrasting report urging citizens not to purchase the herbal remedy as it had not been recommended for coronavirus antiviral treatment and treatment measures had not passed clinical trials.<ref>{{cite news|last=Gan|first=Nectar|title=A traditional Chinese remedy said to help fight Wuhan coronavirus sparks skepticism -- and panic buying|url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/01/asia/chinese-traditional-medicine-claims-coronavirus-intl-scli-hnk/index.html|agency=CNN|date=1 Feb 2020|access-date=6 February 2024|archive-date=5 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200205162551/https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/01/asia/chinese-traditional-medicine-claims-coronavirus-intl-scli-hnk/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
==See also==<!---♦♦♦ Please keep the list in alphabetical order ♦♦♦---> {{div col|colwidth=10em}} * Beecham's Pills * Daffy's Elixir * Dalby's Carminative * False advertising * Hadacol * Homeopathy * Lydia Pinkham * MLM companies * Nine oils * ''The Old Fashioned Way'' (film) * Orvietan * Patent medicine * Revalenta arabica * Turlington's Balsam * :zh:狗皮膏 (''gǒupí gāo'', "dog-skin poultice"), a Chinese term similarly used to describe fraudulent medicine {{div col end}}
==References== {{reflist|30em|refs=}}
==External links== {{Wiktionary}} {{Wikiquote}} {{Wikisourcecat}} {{Commons category}} * {{cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2013/08/26/215761377/a-history-of-snake-oil-salesmen|access-date=6 July 2014|title=A History Of 'Snake Oil Salesmen'|work=Code Switch|publisher=National Public Radio|date=26 August 2013|first=Lakshmi|last=Gandhi}} * {{cite book|last1=Behn|first1=A. R.|title=Secret remedies, what they cost and what they contain, based on analyses made for the British Medical Association|date=1909|publisher=British Medical Association|url=https://wellcomelibrary.org/item/b23982160|access-date=25 August 2020}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20250825153554/https://www.si.edu/object/clark-stanleys-snake-oil-liniment%3Anmah_1298331 Clark Stanley's Snake Oil Liniment]. National Museum of American History. Retrieved 25 August 2025.
{{Pseudoscience}} Category:Fraud Category:Patent medicines Category:Ointments Category:Metaphor Category:Oils