Apple Cider Vinegar is the latest in Netflix’s docudrama genre, hooking audiences on the platform since February 7. The series is based on the real-life Belle Gibson, an Australian woman who scams her followers into thinking she has brain cancer and that she effectively treated it with a diet of organic food. Despite the Netflix production taking some creative liberties, the underlying message is how the wellness industry is rife with misinformation and exploitation.
Introducing Belle Gibson, Wellness Influencer and Scammer
The show has a flashback-present day format that’s not too complex to follow. It walks the audience through a complete timeline of how Belle Gibson founded her very own wellness empire. It started with Organic Baby and eventually, The Whole Pantry, the latter of which became a bestselling application backed by Apple. Through her brand and online persona, she advocated for ‘clean eating’ and alternative healing as a way to cure chronic illnesses – leveraging a fabricated cancer diagnosis in the process.
How Belle Gibson’s Success Starts To Unravel
It’s all going well – the brand deals, high sales, and awards – until journalists at The Australian exposed her fraud fundraiser, revealing that she pocketed the funds from her sales instead of donating them as promised. The report led to widespread backlash as people started to question if she even had cancer.
With people calling for accountability, the Australian Federal Court found Belle Gibson guilty of misleading her customers. The court ordered her to pay a $410,000 fine and when she failed to pay it, it only increased people’s scrutiny of wellness influencers who spread misinformation for popularity and profit.
Meanwhile, Real Cancer Patients Suffer
While Belle Gibson faked a cancer diagnosis to sell a cookbook, market an app, and build an Instagram following without consequences, real cancer patients paid the price for believing in misinformation. In the Netflix series, Milla Blake, a wellness blogger, chooses an alternative therapy journey after her oncologist recommends amputating her arm to stop the cancer from spreading. This involves drinking 13 juices and having 5 coffee enemas on the daily. Though it seems like the therapy is working, Blake’s cancer spreads aggressively until the only option left is palliative care.
Through this side plot, the show depicts the dangers and risks of choosing alternative movements that dismiss medical science. It also shows how people with chronic illnesses are most vulnerable to misinformation as they desperately look for hope.
Now, Wellness Scams Face Scrutiny Worldwide
After Gibson’s scam was exposed, more people grew skeptical of the wellness industry and how it promotes unverified treatments. Overall, Apple Cider Vinegar is a raw, albeit dramatized, depiction of how we always have an eye for the data we want to see. It’s a cautionary tale that goes beyond exposing one scammer and reminds the audience to be vigilant of health scams. At the same time, it encourages viewers to acknowledge broader issues of misinformation in an industry that continues to put lives at risk without accountability.
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