Olive Tree People Expands Into the United States
The multi-level marketing company Olive Tree People is expanding into the United States. Here’s a breakdown of the company, its products, and why you should avoid this scam.
Olive Tree People
Olive Tree People is a European skincare and wellness company founded by Thomas Lommel.
According to Lommel, at the age of 33, he began experiencing significant illness and was put on “strong prescription medications”. The specific disease is not disclosed, but he asserts that he was completely healed by increasing his consumption and topical use of olive oil and olive tree products.
Through a combination of meditation and numerology (not scientific methods), Lommel claims to have affirmed his discovery of the curing powers of olive oil and was inspired to share his findings.
The Products
The line of Olive Tree People products includes skin care, hair care, and consumable elixirs. These products contain olive oil and/or olive leaf-derived ingredients.
Olive Tree People makes two significant claims about their products.
Waterless Skincare
One of Olive Tree People’s biggest product claims is that while other brands use water as the primary ingredient, their products replace the water with olive oil and “cell elixir”. They even go so far as to call their representatives, “waterless beauty consultants”.
Their website includes a diagram showcasing this idea.
This diagram may seem scientific on its face, but on further inspection, its practically useless in creating a meaningful comparison. We don’t know which of Olive Tree People’s products is being depicted and we don’t know if the “conventional” product is a similar type of product or even represents a typical formulation.
Olive Tree People sells a range of skin care products (toners, cleansing gels, cleansing oils, shower gel, body cream) all with ingredient lists that appear to differ vastly from the example. Some even list water as a second ingredient.
It’s also worth noting that a video on the company’s website showing the production of the “cell elixir” depicts the elixir as crushed olive leaves. Plant leaves are 60–70% water, so this elixir may still be mostly water.
This is not a unique phenomenon in product labeling. A milk jug at the grocery store will list the ingredients as milk and possibly include vitamin or flavor additives. Water is not listed as an ingredient, but milk is about 87% water. This is possible because the water is not added rather it is part of the existing ingredient.
It seems likely that Olive Tree People is using the intricacies of labeling regulation to make it seem as though their product is more unique than it really is.
For All Skin Types
According to Olive Tree People, their products aren’t formulated for specific skin types. Instead, they claim that the “intelligence of nature” recognizes the individual needs of each person's skin.
This idea of their products adapting and working differently on different skin types is not substantiated with evidence. The burden of proof for this is on Olive Tree People and they clearly don’t seem interested in explaining.
What I can say is that products that claim to work for everyone and do all things are typically snake oil (or olive oil in this case).
What do the experts say?
Anecdotal accounts and loose pseudoscientific references seem to make up the entire basis of the benefits of Thomas Lommel’s olive-based therapies.
The company website outright says that the idea of olive oil healing was “developed intuitively without any prior knowledge”.
The only thing close to medical documentation that Olive Tree People provides is a two-page letter from a medical provider who noted that one patient had improvement in fat metabolism, improvement in skin appearance, normalization of cholesterol, and improvement in liver and lung function after Lommel’s olive oil therapy. The specific methods and metrics of this analysis are not disclosed.
However, there is information on these topics from other, more reputable sources.
Olive Oil Skin Care
According to experts interviewed by RealSimple, Olive Tree People’s assertion that olive oil-based skincare is for everyone is incorrect. Olive oil can lead to breakouts and acne in oily-prone skin. In addition, it should not be applied in the morning or before sun exposure as it can increase the risk of sun damage.
According to these experts, there are lighter options for oil-based skin care with much better absorption than olive oil.
Ingesting Olive Oil
According to Healthline, the benefits of drinking olive oil, while touted by some companies selling olive oil, are not supported by research.
You’re better off consuming whole foods with healthy fats or adding a drizzle of olive oil to a balanced meal than creating a habit of drinking olive oil like Lommel suggests.
Multi-level Marketing
In 2022, Olive Tree People announced an expansion into the United States to open a multi-level marketing branch for the business.
Multi-level marketing (MLM) means that individuals are recruited to be distributors for the company and as distributors are incentivized to recruit other people as distributors beneath them.
Most people who join these types of companies make no money or even lose money. In addition, The Federal Trade Commission warns that businesses with this type of structure may be operating as illegal pyramid schemes.
Olive Tree People includes a defense in their FAQ against accusations that they are a pyramid scheme stating “a pyramid scheme is illegal” and “Olive Tree People does not pay commissions just for recruiting other distributors, only when products are sold.”
There have been MLM companies that have been shut down, fined, or restructured after courts determined them to be operating as pyramid schemes. Just because a company is currently in operation doesn’t mean they aren’t engaging in illegal behavior.
The claim that Olive Tree People doesn’t pay “for recruiting, only when products are sold” is misleading and also fails to adequately defend against assertion that they may be operating as a pyramid scheme.
According to Olive Tree People’s compensation plan, consultants can earn a “Team Growth Bonus” which requires the recruitment of a downline of consultants. The members of this downline must each place a personal LRP (loyalty rewards program) order of at least 100PV.
It’s meaningless to say that Olive Tree People only pays commission for products sold when the buyers, in this instance, are other consultants. The recruits are the customers. That’s how product based pyramid schemes work.
Overall, Olive Tree People appears to be a fraudulent company. Their product is lacking in scientific evidence and their business model puts them in a precarious situation, toeing the legal line.
If you’d like to read more about multi-level marketing and other companies to be wary of, check out my list below.
