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" Snake oil" is a term used to describe deceptive marketing, health care fraud, or a scam. Similarly, snake oil salesman is a common label used to describe someone who sells, promotes, or is a general proponent of some valueless or fraudulent cure, remedy, or solution. The term comes from the snake oil that was sold as a cure-all elixir for many kinds of physiological problems. Many 18th-century European and 19th-century United States entrepreneurs advertised and sold mineral oil (often mixed with various active and inactive household herbs, spices, drugs, and compounds, but containing no snake-derived substances whatsoever) as "snake oil liniment", making claims about its efficacy as a panacea. that claimed to be panaceas were extremely common from the 18th century until the 20th century, particularly among vendors masking addictive drugs such as cocaine, amphetamine, alcohol, and opium-based concoctions or , to be sold at as medication or products promoting health.
In 18th-century Europe, especially in Britain, Viperidae oil had been commonly recommended for many afflictions, including the ones for which oil from the rattlesnake (pit viper), a type of viper native to America, was subsequently favored to treat rheumatism and skin diseases. Though there are accounts of oil obtained from the fat of various vipers in the Western world, the claims of its effectiveness as a medicine have never been thoroughly examined, and its efficacy is unknown. It is also likely that much of the snake oil sold by Western entrepreneurs was illegitimate, and did not contain ingredients derived from any kind of snake. Snake oil in the United Kingdom and the United States probably contained modified mineral oil. William Rockefeller Sr., the father of John D. Rockefeller, peddled literal snake oil.
At the turn of the 20th century, post American Civil War, patent medicine shows began traveling around America. Medicine shows combined a performance, advertisement, and store, all selling their own snake oils. Patent medicine shows would have upwards of 20 performers, often including black musicians, a doctor, comic sketches, advertisements for their wares, which often included narcotics or alcohol, and musical performances, performed by the black musicians, sometimes done in blackface. These medicine shows leaned on, and evoked, knowledge and iconography from many cultures, including medieval Europeans, Native Americans, African American, and Southern American cultures in order to persuade and delight audiences with their shows and products. In 20th-century America, snake oil became a common media trope, led in part by the 1915 case regarding Stanley's Snake Oil, created by Clark Stanley. He was found guilty of misbranding the solution he was selling, as well as falsely representing it as a cure for many maladies, such as sciatica, sore throat, and aches and pains.
Patent medicines, and snake oils, were sold over the counter, mail delivered, or in traveling shows in the 20th century. Products such as menstrual cure-alls, benefited from this, given it afforded the customer privacy. Not all of snake oil, and snake oil salesmen, were placebo cure-alls, or medicines that had no benefits. Many of the medicines would parade large effects, the ability to cure any sort of ailment, but would use medicinal plants that did have a positive benefit on those taking it. Lydia Pinkham sold a vegetable compound that was supposed to cure many serious illnesses, but it was taken by women for menstrual cramps and various menopause symptoms. Alcohol, which was often a key ingredient in snake oils, allowed for the preservation of extracts, and acted as a solvent for the medicines within. However, others included toxic plants, such as Dr. Guild's Green Mountain Asthmatic Component, which had belladonna and stramonium in it.
The creation of the Food and Drug Administration in the 1930s, and the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906, is largely credited with the downfall of the snake oil salesman, and patent medicine industries in the United States. The Pure Food and Drug act "prohibited the sale of misbranded or adulterated food and drugs in interstate commerce and laid a foundation for the nation’s first consumer protection agency, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)".
In animation, snake oil of all kinds can be seen being bought by characters throughout history. Betty Boop becomes a Snake Oil Salesman in Betty Boop M.D., selling "Jippo", which claims to flatten feet, make men young again, removes teeth, stops breathing, and grows tonsils. It also showcases the performance aspect of these patent medicine shows, with a clown performing contortionist tricks, as well as Betty Boop coming out to sing a song persuading people to buy "Jippo". "Jippo" is revealed to just be water from a fire hydrant.
In 1916, subsequent to the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906, Clark Stanley's Snake Oil Liniment was examined by the Bureau of Chemistry, and found to be drastically overpriced and of limited value. As a result, Stanley faced federal prosecution for peddling mineral oil in a fraudulent manner as snake oil. In his 1916 civil hearing instigated by federal in the U.S. District Court for Rhode Island, Stanley Pleading nolo contendere (no contest) to the allegations against him, giving no admission of guilt. His plea was accepted, and as a result, he was fined $20 (about $ in ).
The term snake oil has since been established in popular culture as a reference to any worthless concoction sold as medicine, and has been extended to describe a wide-ranging degree of fraudulent goods, services, ideas, and activities such as worthless rhetoric in politics. By further extension, a snake oil salesman is commonly used in English to describe a Quackery, huckster, or charlatan.
Neuriva, claimed as a "brain-enhancement" supplement, has been called "snake oil" by a professor at Ohio State University, due to a lack of research into efficacy, as well as no FDA backing. A 2021 Neuriva celebrity marketing campaign features Mayim Bialik. A 2022 Neuriva celebrity marketing campaign features Alton Brown. In 2023, the makers of Neuriva settled a lawsuit that bars them from claiming its benefits are backed by science.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Xinhua News Agency claimed that the herbal product Shuanghuanglian can prevent or treat infections from , stimulating sales across the United States, Russia, and China. However, the clinical studies on its effectiveness have been inconclusive. Su et al. published a report that the herbal substance has been shown in vitro to be cytotoxic "against a clinical isolate of SARS-CoV-2". However, another government media outlet, People’s Daily, published a contrasting report urging citizens not to purchase the herbal remedy as it had not been recommended for coronavirus antiviral treatment and treatment measures had not passed clinical trials.
target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> Clark Stanley's Snake Oil Liniment. National Museum of American History. Retrieved 25 August 2025.
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