If
you, like me, fell in love with Young Living for its holistic care
and positive impact—I’m afraid you’re about to be blindsided by
some uncomfortable documentation on Gary Young. I had the same
experience last week while Googling Young Living’s founder and CEO.
Yes, the truth was difficult to swallow, but it’s also empowering
for us moms determined to find the most trustworthy products for our
families.
Gary
Young—in an attempt to add some legitimacy to his marketing
materials—has blatantly exploited multiple cultures for his own
gain. Recently, an online “truth-crusade” led by Native Americans
and Somalis have exposed his unconscionable treatment of vulnerable
populations.
For
example, Gary Young has long published claims regarding a close
mentorship with one of the Lakota Nation’s most prominent medicine
men. Recently, however, a representative for the
Lakota tribe, has devoted significant time and effort to publish the
truth.
Below are the nitty gritty details:
Gary
Young claimed that he developed his controversial essential oil
“Raindrop Therapy” in the 1980s after working with the Lakota
Tribe’s influential Wallace Black Elk. However, according to a
tribe representative, Raindrop Therapy had never been part of the
Lakota’s healing process. The tribe’s representative further
responded to Young’s marketing by emphasizing that Gary Young
“never ‘worked with’ nor was he ever taught, endorsed, or
recognized by Grandfather [Wallace Black Elk]. He has stained our
beautiful Grandfather’s name and it has to stop...to to claim to
have been directly taught or instructed by Grandfather is simply an
untruth.” The representative was most sickened by Gary Young’s
insistence that he was involved in Wallace Black Elk’s sacred work.
As
if this charade weren’t alarming enough, Gary Young has also taken
advantage of impoverished Somali natives.In 2014, a Somali leader
Sultan Yusuf Salah, struggled to redress false marketing/newsletter
materials promoting his “relationship” with Gary Young.
Sultan has sent multiple emails to Young Living asking them to remove
his name from Gary Young’s “propaganda.”
In fact, Yusuf describes how
Gary Young misrepresented himself as a “philanthropist and doctor,”
showed up unannounced in his country, and obtained nine days of
unpaid tribal service all while promising to pay for schools and
hospital. However, two years later, Gary Young has yet to make good
on his word. It turns out the trip was merely for publicity’s sake.
In order to justify the hefty cost of frankincense oil, Greg Young
spent a large part of the trip gathering photos for a four
part-series for the Young Living newsletter about the process of
collecting the oil in a foreign company. In the series, Gary Young
portrays Sultan Yusuf as his friend and protector. But the Sultan
says such depictions could not be further from the truth.
When
Sultan Yusuf, discovered the depraved publicity being used in the
Young Living newsletter he contacted both Gary and his company urging
them to be honest about their real experience in Somalia. Young
Living responded by claiming “defamation” and encouraging YouTube
to remove a video that Yusuf posted clarifying the real events of
Gary Young’s trip.
Ultimately,
Gary Young’s glib willingness to exploit vulnerable populations is
appalling. Ugh, need I say more?
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