I’m sure you’ve all noticed that somehow you’ll be sitting and feeling insecure about one specific thing and then all of a sudden you get an email about how to “fix” that very same thing.

Crazy, isn’t it?

Well…not so much.

At the time when I was working for this detox tea company, the most employees we had was five. That’s right, 5 people.

• Myself
• My roommate/assistant
• The owner
• A guy who actually ran a marketing firm
• The person in charge of shipping.

And three of the five of us spent hours on the internet every day trying to figure out the latest fads and body ideals. (The owner didn’t even believe us when we told him that the product was full of lies.)

I got paid to figure out exactly what quotes and sentiments and photos would send you down a rabbit hole of insecurity and land you on our website.

Where you would hopefully see the amazing promises we made and then buy our product. But more than that, where you would come back again when you needed inspiration and another 28-day “detox”.

Winter meant we sent things out about spring. Getting those workouts in. Spring meant we sent things out about how swimsuit season was nearly upon us. And summer meant the fall and skinny jeans.

You want to know why detox websites talk about your entire life? It’s because a common search topic for similar groups is “lifestyle”

Every trend you can think of, we knew it. Including ones that you didn’t know diet culture had planted in your head. Like the idea that your body needs outside help to get rid of toxins (barring a medical need for dialysis).

You don’t. Your body has this down.

Or the fact that if you don’t lose weight on a diet then you failed. Not the diet.

Those ideas are what kept us going. They were on our phones. They were on our whiteboard.

And once you bought our product? You got an email once a week reminding you to restock. And emails about our blogs to help you on your journey.

The journey that we hoped wouldn’t be successful. Because our paychecks banked on you coming back.

And on you believing us. Believing that we used our product (only one of us had ever tried it). Believing that we had the weight loss secret that you needed. And believing that if you were “successful” and lost weight, your whole life would change.

When in fact, to quote Buddy the Elf: [we] sit on a throne of lies.

Come back tomorrow for part 3!