Earlier this week, a group of respected medical officials petitioned the Columbia School of Medicine to kick Dr Oz off of its facility. The physicians had a long list of sleazy and deceitful practices DR Oz has displayed on his TV Show.
Yesterday, Dr OZ responded by criticizing the other doctors, claiming they were shills for big corporate food groups.
Will this work?
Sadly, yes, at least with the sorts of people who currently watch Dr Oz, which is nearly 2 million people daily.
The case of Dr Oz is baffling. Here is a guy who is, by all accounts, a truly gifted surgeon, a holder of 11 patents, and an extraordinary talent who could easily have the best of both worlds, mass approval and influence coupled with 100% mainstream scientific legitimacy and respect. And yet he has repeatedly thrown it all away (the scientific legitimacy part) for a handful of magic beans.
Literally, beans, as in green coffee beans which he claims cause weight loss, but don’t.
It would be one thing if DR Oz spent his time going after western medicine for overreliance on pills and drugs, but that’s not the source of controversy. Instead, he has repeatedly used his stature and respect to promote weight loss and other health gimmicks where copious testing has proved them to be frauds.
The news media and Hollywood is filed with people who have had to make a choice between doing things legit with credibility versus selling out in order to be a star. Sometimes, there is one clear path in the opposite direction of the other. But in the case of Dr Oz, he already had ratings, respect, influence, and huge wealth. So his choices remain a mystery, at least to me.
TJ Walker is the president of Media Training Worldwide.