The Wellness Grift of JP Sears

Watch what they do, not what they say. 

While the above maxim long predates our current president, it has become even more relevant in the last few years. Claiming one thing and doing the opposite has likely never been so publicly obvious. Still, it still works. Tell people what they want to hear, regardless of facts, and they’ll buy-in.

There are subtler variations of this theme. The one I want to unpack in this article: Listen to what they say and watch what they sell. 

Which brings us to JP Sears. 

Ultra-Spiritual Salesman

The comedian and life coach built his brand by poking fun at wellness figures, even though he’s always been part of this cohort. Comedy is a vital tool and he’s used it well. Over the years, his popular videos exposed inconsistencies and paradoxes in yoga, fitness, and spirituality. Some found his rhetoric a bit harsh; others loved his “ultra-spiritual” take on an industry that was ripe for criticism. 

Then the pandemic hit and something changed. 

Perhaps, the grift was more blatantly exposed. Sears is certainly not the only one moving Left or Right—politics infects everything these days. Any of us can feasibly stay silent regarding our political leanings, but Sears chose to divulge his beliefs. Where he landed is exactly the place he’s criticized for years: exploiting the wellness grift.

Supplements Side Hustle

On May 6, Sears published what would become his most popular video to date, “What It’s Like to Believe Everything the Media Tells You.” Nevermind that “the media” is a misnomer. The term has been co-opted by Right-leaning and Far Right groups demonizing sources not in alignment with their beliefs—the same charge they use against “MSM” networks.

As Kevin Roose’s Twitter project, @FacebooksTop10, tracks, the most-shared stories on Facebook are regularly from conservative figures such as Ben Shapiro, Dan Bongino, Fox News, and Trump himself—ironic, given how much time he spends complaining about the media. The vast reach of eyeballs doesn’t get more mainstream than this cast of characters, yet they’ve been able to build their brand on being “outsiders.”  

Sears too has built a media channel to service his ideologies, comedy, life coaching, and, the focus of this article, his supplements side hustle. These are not separate projects. After his anti-MSM tirade went viral, Sears decided to go all-in on the anti-mask, anti-lockdown sentiment that seems to have made particular in-roads with the Austin wellness community (as we cover in episode 25). 

For an excellent summation of Sears’s rhetoric, I recommend this episode of Decoding the Gurus. I want to focus on what Sears says—masks are a method for keeping us separate; public health measures like lockdowns are government outreach; strong immune systems are key for fighting a virus that he claims the media has blown out of proportion—and what he sells—a range of products marketed to, surprise, boost your immune system.

Immune Delusion 

As we’ve discussed on Conspirituality (especially with Maggie Levantovskaya about her struggles with lupus), immune system problems are not only the result of a poor diet and lack of exercise. And we do need to take those factors seriously as a culture. But there are many people who suffer from genetic immune system disorders that have nothing to do with lifestyle choices.

On top of that, you have to weigh in food deserts and access to gyms, both of which disproportionately impact poorer and minority communities—as does the COVID-19 death rate. 

The main issue here is supplements, a grift in no way confined to Sears. Alex Jones tapped into this market decades ago: drive fear and paranoia via your media outlet while selling your base products purported to make them healthy. Identify a war and profit from building strong warriors. Jones doesn’t hide his grift, which is why he was ordered to stop selling fake coronavirus “cures” on his online store in June. 

There are others. QAnon “researcher” Jordan Sather produces his own line of superfood supplements, Conscious Strength. Ben Shapiro pimps Brickhouse Nutrition. Even Ben Carson was shilling for dietary supplements.

If you don’t have the entrepreneurial chops to spin up your own line of superfoods, affiliate links make it easy for you to profit from your profile. Gain a following and you get your own codes and links to track the pipeline from your channel to the sales button.

The affiliate link phenomenon took off thanks to Instagram. Ambitious yogis began contorting their bodies around bottles of whatever supplement or nootropic offers up a few percentage points per sale. Gone were long arduous days of meditation and self-reflection to reach nirvana. Enlightenment, inner peace, and radiant skin became available in pill or powder form. Nevermind the science around the supplements. You just need to present an image that people desire.

But we have to mind the science.