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All-Natural Snake Oil: Difference between revisions
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== Parodies ==
=== Film ===
* ''[[Troll 2
=== Literature ===
* Spoofed in a sketch on ''[[A Bit of Fry and Laurie]]'' in which a brand of cocoa is advertised as containing "nature's own barbiturates and heroin".▼
** Another sketch features a doctor prescribing cigarettes, reassuring his patient that tobacco is a herbal ingredient.▼
** Or rather, a white-coated man masquerading as a doctor - the punchline is that he's a tobacco salesman. "Doctor? Whatever gave you that idea?"▼
* The same idea is used in an episode of ''[[House (TV series)|House]]'' in which the eponymous character—an actual doctor and ''not'' wearing a white coat--(jokingly?) makes a similar argument for cigarettes. Of course, [[Actor Allusion|the actor playing House]] is [[Hugh Laurie]] of ''A Bit of Fry and Laurie''.▼
** Of course, his serious argument was that 3 cigarettes a day was the most cost-effective and fun treatment for the patient (a [[Mall Santa]]) who had [[Fartillery|extreme flatulence]]. Dr. Cuddy (his boss) begged to differ, but no matter.▼
* Parodied in the first episode of ''[[The Sarah Jane Adventures]]'' with BubbleShock! The advertisements all say, "Contains Bane. It's organic!" Nobody ever asks what Bane ''is''. {{spoiler|It's an alien mind-control parasite; organic, sure, but also very much alive, and pure evil to boot.}}▼
** Didn't the [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|name of the material]] kind of clue people in on its basic nature?▼
** Also [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] when Maria criticizes that just because it says organic, that automatically makes it alright.▼
* Parodied in an episode of ''[[King of the Hill]]'', when ''trans'' fats are banned in Arlen ala 1920s Prohibition. Bill Dauterive believes that if the food he's eating is organic (or at least free of particularly demonized chemicals), he can eat as much as he wants. He proceeds to get even fatter as a result.▼
* ''[[Dilbert]]'' has it repeatedly, because Scott Adams "[[Author Tract|loves]]" this one. A commentary in one of his books: "It frightens me to think how many people believe 'natural' is the same as 'good for you.'"▼
** Also spoofed in [http://www.dilbert.com/strips/comic/2002-02-05 this] comic strip. ▼
** "[http://dilbert.com/strip/2011-03-29 I'm writing a press release for imaginary new green energy technologies...]"▼
** An episode of the ''[[Dilbert (animation)|Dilbert]]'' animated series had his company killing people with herbal lozenges. "Anthrax is a bacterium, not a herb."▼
* Spoofed a number of times in ''[[Discworld]]'':
** In ''[[Witches Abroad]]'', Magrat assumes that absinthe is good for you because it's made with herbs. She ends up with a good-sized hangover afterwards.
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** And ''[[Making Money]]'' features Splot, a hot drink that picks people up,<ref>[[Footnote Fever|By their testicles, and throws them through the roof]]</ref> made from herbs and natural ingredients. "But belladonna is a herb, and arsenic is natural".
** The Discworld Companion has an entry on Jimkin Bearhugger's Homeopathic Sipping Whisky. Jim failed to understand why the slogan 'Every Drop Diluted 1 Million Times' failed to attract customers even though, in theory, even being in the same room as an uncorked bottle should have gotten you riotously drunk.
=== Live-Action TV ===
▲* Spoofed in a sketch on ''[[A Bit of Fry and Laurie]]'' in which a brand of cocoa is advertised as containing "nature's own barbiturates and heroin".
▲** Another sketch features a doctor prescribing cigarettes, reassuring his patient that tobacco is a herbal ingredient.
▲** Or rather, a white-coated man masquerading as a doctor - the punchline is that he's a tobacco salesman. "Doctor? Whatever gave you that idea?"
▲* The same idea is used in an episode of ''[[House (TV series)|House]]'' in which the eponymous character—an actual doctor and ''not'' wearing a white coat--(jokingly?) makes a similar argument for cigarettes. Of course, [[Actor Allusion|the actor playing House]] is [[Hugh Laurie]] of ''A Bit of Fry and Laurie''.
▲** Of course, his serious argument was that 3 cigarettes a day was the most cost-effective and fun treatment for the patient (a [[Mall Santa]]) who had [[Fartillery|extreme flatulence]]. Dr. Cuddy (his boss) begged to differ, but no matter.
▲* Parodied in the first episode of ''[[The Sarah Jane Adventures]]'' with BubbleShock! The advertisements all say, "Contains Bane. It's organic!" Nobody ever asks what Bane ''is''. {{spoiler|It's an alien mind-control parasite; organic, sure, but also very much alive, and pure evil to boot.}}
▲** Didn't the [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|name of the material]] kind of clue people in on its basic nature?
▲** Also [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] when Maria criticizes that just because it says organic, that automatically makes it alright.
* An episode of ''[[Eureka]]'' revealed that all the victims had eaten the chicken which came from a chicken farmer (who actually ''cloned'' the birds because it was less cruel that way) who fed the poultry a certain nutrient solution. She had no problem using the nutrient because it was natural, and therefore safe to use. At least until a doctor pointed out it was known to ''degrade people's brains''. Note that this was an ''organic'' chicken farmer who cloned only ''parts'' of the chickens for human consumption. Yes, ''organically'' cloned chicken parts.
** May have been done to spoof the KFC [http://www.snopes.com/horrors/food/kfc.asp urban legend].
* An almost-case: on the DVD interview for ''[[The Mitchell and Webb Situation]]'', David Mitchell and Robert Webb discuss a sketch which was intended to parody this kind of mindset by being set in an 'all-natural' abortion clinic, which advocates a more 'earthy' and 'natural' method of abortion as opposed to the too 'clinical' methods available (the alternative methods as described essentially being, in the words of Mitchell, 'drinking a bottle of gin and throwing yourself down the stairs'). They removed it when they realized that the sketch instead made it look as if they thought abortion and miscarriage was itself funny, which wasn't the impression they wanted to give.▼
* One episode of ''[[Futurama]]'' offered a vending machine full of "Farm Fresh" crack.▼
* ''[[The Chaser's War
** Being fresh actually would influence crack in minor ways.▼
** In "Crimes of the Hot", a call goes out for all scientists, to help solve the global warming problem. Some with [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swDpWNKB5Co questionable credentials attempt to get in on it].▼
{{quote|Its alright dear, I've used fat-free fat.}}▼
{{quote|'''Robot Van''': Calling all scientists. There will be a conference on global warming in Kyoto Japan.▼
* Not exactly a parody, but an episode of ''[[Law &
'''Man waving degree''': I have a degree in homeopathic medicine!▼
* The whole bottled water thing was mocked in the ''Mother Nature's Son'' episode of ''[[Only Fools and Horses]]'', with the bottled water coming from the tap and being bottled in a production line through their kitchen. Referenced a lot in UK media at the exact time Coca Cola's Dasani brand was also found out to be purely tap water, and made slightly more funny when it turned out that the real life example also had something in the water supply.▼
'''Robot Van''': You have a degree in baloney! }}▼
* ''[[Parks and Recreation]]'':▼
▲* An almost-case: on the DVD interview for ''The Mitchell and Webb Situation'', David Mitchell and Robert Webb discuss a sketch which was intended to parody this kind of mindset by being set in an 'all-natural' abortion clinic, which advocates a more 'earthy' and 'natural' method of abortion as opposed to the too 'clinical' methods available (the alternative methods as described essentially being, in the words of Mitchell, 'drinking a bottle of gin and throwing yourself down the stairs'). They removed it when they realized that the sketch instead made it look as if they thought abortion and miscarriage was itself funny, which wasn't the impression they wanted to give.
{{quote|'''Idiot citizen''': What's so bad about corn syrup? It's natural. Corn's a fruit. And syrup comes from a bush.}}▼
▲* ''The Chaser's War On Everything'' has a stunt where they tried to see what people would try if they said it was "all natural" or a "new age remedy." They managed to get people to try such things as "Oil of Snake" and all natural "Bull Droppings." If you believe the commentaries, pretty much everyone they talked to was fooled.
▲* [[Troll 2|"It's made with sap. From the forest. It is a concentration of all the vegetal [sic] properties."]]
=== Newspaper Comics ===
* Parodied in the play and movie ''Proof''▼
▲* ''[[Dilbert]]'' has it repeatedly, because Scott Adams "[[Author Tract|loves]]" this one. A commentary in one of his books: "It frightens me to think how many people believe 'natural' is the same as 'good for you.'"
▲** Also spoofed in [http://www.dilbert.com/strips/comic/2002-02-05 this] comic strip.
▲**
▲** An episode of the ''[[Dilbert (animation)|Dilbert]]'' animated series had his company killing people with herbal lozenges. "Anthrax is a bacterium, not a herb."
* A ''[[The
=== Theatre ===
▲* Parodied in the play and movie ''[[Proof (theatre)|Proof]]''
{{quote|''"It's organic."''
''"What do you mean?"''
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** Many familiar chemicals are composed of the same basic building blocks: hydrogen, carbon, oxygen and nitrogen. Including riboflavin (vitamin B<sub>2</sub>), LSD, heroin and atropine (extract of deadly nightshade). Their effects range from healthful, to...not so much.
** ''Cyanide'' qualifies as organic in a strictly chemical sense as it is made of carbon and nitrogen. That's natural, right?
▲* [[Kath and Kim]]. No, not the horrible American one, the Australian one.
=== Video Games ===
▲{{quote|Its alright dear, I've used fat-free fat.}}
* In ''[[Grand Theft Auto IV]]'', one of the guests on the [[GTA Radio|PLR radio show]] ''Intelligent Agenda'' is Waylon Mason, who uses the show to promote his "home remedies" and attack the other two guests (a pharmaceutical company spokeswoman and an HMO spokesman) as shills of Big Pharma. The show ends with him giving [[Your Head Asplode|involuntary trepanations]] to the other two guests in order to remove the "demons that are controlling them."▼
=== Web Original ===
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20111017071410/http://plover.net/~bonds/atkins.html Dr. Atkins' Cholera Revolution]!
▲* Not exactly a parody, but an episode of ''[[Law & Order|Law and Order]]'' has a doctor fraudulently selling something like this as a breast cancer cure,<ref>which was based on the already banned "cure," [[wikipedia:Amygdalin#Laetrile|Laetrile]]</ref> with the result that several of her patients die due to their cancer going untreated. When she's finally cornered, she engages in a self-righteous rant about how modern medicine is failing millions of women by disregarding and patronizing them and that she's at least researching to find a cure. McCoy then points out that she should have probably told the women she sold it to that she was ''looking'' for a cure, rather than that she'd ''found'' one.
▲* The whole bottled water thing was mocked in the ''Mother Nature's Son'' episode of [[Only Fools and Horses]], with the bottled water coming from the tap and being bottled in a production line through their kitchen. Referenced a lot in UK media at the exact time Coca Cola's Dasani brand was also found out to be purely tap water, and made slightly more funny when it turned out that the real life example also had something in the water supply.
* In [https://web.archive.org/web/20120102223429/http://www.zug.com/pranks/natural/ this article], a man puts the idea that 'all natural' is the same as 'good for you' to the test- by eating all natural soap, toiletries, pet treats and aphrodisiacs.
▲* In ''[[Grand Theft Auto IV]]'', one of the guests on the [[GTA Radio|PLR radio show]] ''Intelligent Agenda'' is Waylon Mason, who uses the show to promote his "home remedies" and attack the other two guests (a pharmaceutical company spokeswoman and an HMO spokesman) as shills of Big Pharma. The show ends with him giving [[Your Head Asplode|involuntary trepanations]] to the other two guests in order to remove the "demons that are controlling them."
=== Western Animation ===
▲* Parodied in an episode of ''[[King of the Hill]]'', when ''trans'' fats are banned in Arlen ala 1920s Prohibition. Bill Dauterive believes that if the food he's eating is organic (or at least free of particularly demonized chemicals), he can eat as much as he wants. He proceeds to get even fatter as a result.
▲* One episode of ''[[Futurama]]'' offered a vending machine full of "Farm Fresh" crack.
▲** Being fresh actually would influence crack in minor ways.
▲** In "Crimes of the Hot", a call goes out for all scientists, to help solve the global warming problem. Some with [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swDpWNKB5Co questionable credentials attempt to get in on it].
▲{{quote|'''Robot Van''': Calling all scientists. There will be a conference on global warming in Kyoto Japan.
▲'''Man waving degree''': I have a degree in homeopathic medicine!
▲'''Robot Van''': You have a degree in baloney! }}
* An episode of ''[[South Park]]'' has an New Age "healer" who buys various trinkets and concoctions from [[Cheech and Chong]] and passes them off as Native American remedies, including [[Squick|"tampons made from the hair of Cherokee."]] Things take a turn for the serious when Kyle starts suffering kidney failure and Mrs. Marsh recommends he sees said healer, who diagnoses his condition as "toxins" that need to be purged. When Stan tries to tell the healer that these treatments aren't working and needs to go to the hospital, he gets labeled a smart-ass and receives a bunk lecture on how Native American remedies are more in tune with nature than Western medicine, despite the fraud healer having no idea how these remedies work in the first place, let alone how to make them. It's not until C&C insist that Kyle needs to get to a hospital ASAP that anybody listens.
** The healer tells Stan that Western medicine is all about making money and not about healing, immediately turning to a customer, "That'll be $200."
▲* ''[[Parks and Recreation]]'':
▲{{quote|'''Idiot citizen''': What's so bad about corn syrup? It's natural. Corn's a fruit. And syrup comes from a bush.}}
▲* A ''[[The Far Side|Far Side]]'' cartoon features an [[The Igor|Igor]]-like character walking into a shop selling "unnatural foods".
== [[Truth in Television]]: [[Real Life]] examples that sound like parodies ==
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