Downlining Disinformation: How MLM Distributors Use Gendered Strategies for Recruitment and Pastel QAnon Indoctrination
doTERRA and Young Living are multi-level marketing (MLM) companies sustained by distribution networks of women who sell their trademark essential oil products. We argue that women join essential oil MLMs based on an iterative, three-pronged strategy that not only recruits women as oil distributors b...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
SAGE Publishing
2024-01-01
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| Series: | Social Media + Society |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051231224735 |
| _version_ | 1827370710976167936 |
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| author | Frankie Mastrangelo Gina Marie Longo |
| author_facet | Frankie Mastrangelo Gina Marie Longo |
| author_sort | Frankie Mastrangelo |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | doTERRA and Young Living are multi-level marketing (MLM) companies sustained by distribution networks of women who sell their trademark essential oil products. We argue that women join essential oil MLMs based on an iterative, three-pronged strategy that not only recruits women as oil distributors but also simultaneously indoctrinates them to pastel QAnon conspiracy spaces: digitally driven, feminized realms situated at the nexus of New Age spirituality, wellness, and far-right ideologies. MLM distributors first compel women to look toward essential oils as a viable medical intervention by leveraging potential recruits’ distrust with medical establishments and hardship produced by intersecting structural inequalities (classism, racism, ableism, sexism). Women are then hooked in by promises of essential oils offering silver-bullet solutions to complex problems stemming from inequitable social systems. Finally, women get downlined into pastel QAnon disinformation flows through algorithmic production of confirmation bias. By coding qualitative data of MLM distributors and pastel QAnon influencers for digital content analysis, we identify socio-cultural and gendered trends of disinformation production at the intersections of wellness, pastel QAnon, and structural inequalities. These findings provide insights into the seductive appeal of disinformation beyond the textual content of the message and contribute to our understanding of the larger political economy of incentives and rewards that perpetuate disinformation-for-hire communities. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T10:22:29Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3e30268dedd641f3bb70e583197ac379 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2056-3051 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T10:22:29Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Social Media + Society |
| spelling | doaj.art-3e30268dedd641f3bb70e583197ac3792024-01-27T15:03:41ZengSAGE PublishingSocial Media + Society2056-30512024-01-011010.1177/20563051231224735Downlining Disinformation: How MLM Distributors Use Gendered Strategies for Recruitment and Pastel QAnon IndoctrinationFrankie MastrangeloGina Marie LongodoTERRA and Young Living are multi-level marketing (MLM) companies sustained by distribution networks of women who sell their trademark essential oil products. We argue that women join essential oil MLMs based on an iterative, three-pronged strategy that not only recruits women as oil distributors but also simultaneously indoctrinates them to pastel QAnon conspiracy spaces: digitally driven, feminized realms situated at the nexus of New Age spirituality, wellness, and far-right ideologies. MLM distributors first compel women to look toward essential oils as a viable medical intervention by leveraging potential recruits’ distrust with medical establishments and hardship produced by intersecting structural inequalities (classism, racism, ableism, sexism). Women are then hooked in by promises of essential oils offering silver-bullet solutions to complex problems stemming from inequitable social systems. Finally, women get downlined into pastel QAnon disinformation flows through algorithmic production of confirmation bias. By coding qualitative data of MLM distributors and pastel QAnon influencers for digital content analysis, we identify socio-cultural and gendered trends of disinformation production at the intersections of wellness, pastel QAnon, and structural inequalities. These findings provide insights into the seductive appeal of disinformation beyond the textual content of the message and contribute to our understanding of the larger political economy of incentives and rewards that perpetuate disinformation-for-hire communities.https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051231224735 |
| spellingShingle | Frankie Mastrangelo Gina Marie Longo Downlining Disinformation: How MLM Distributors Use Gendered Strategies for Recruitment and Pastel QAnon Indoctrination Social Media + Society |
| title | Downlining Disinformation: How MLM Distributors Use Gendered Strategies for Recruitment and Pastel QAnon Indoctrination |
| title_full | Downlining Disinformation: How MLM Distributors Use Gendered Strategies for Recruitment and Pastel QAnon Indoctrination |
| title_fullStr | Downlining Disinformation: How MLM Distributors Use Gendered Strategies for Recruitment and Pastel QAnon Indoctrination |
| title_full_unstemmed | Downlining Disinformation: How MLM Distributors Use Gendered Strategies for Recruitment and Pastel QAnon Indoctrination |
| title_short | Downlining Disinformation: How MLM Distributors Use Gendered Strategies for Recruitment and Pastel QAnon Indoctrination |
| title_sort | downlining disinformation how mlm distributors use gendered strategies for recruitment and pastel qanon indoctrination |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051231224735 |
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