Dr Mercola’s anti-vaccination advice, and why you shouldn't take it

Some of the items have very high price tags. You can buy something called a Power Plate with Power Shield and Free Vitality Pack for $9,849.00. I kid you not. And that's the discount price.

On top of the 300,000 articles, and the countless products, and the newsletter, Mercola's balding head also appears in endless videos spruiking his stuff. But that's not all - we are expected to believe that he has found time to write numerous books too and these are also for sale on the site.

How does he find the time? There's a simple answer. He doesn't. One person cannot do all this. This is simply marketing branded with a human face. This is Big Merchandising from Big Merch Mercola. Mercola is not standing up to big business like he claims. Mercola is big business.

The blurring of man and marketing machine is such that I no longer know what pronoun to use. He? It? They? I find myself using the pronoun "he" then realise that I am humanising something that is coldly inhuman. It is difficult to see beyond the face, and name, and first person pronouns of Dr Mercola to the marketing machine beyond. It is like trying to get a grasp of the business operations of McDonalds but being unable to see past Ronald the clown.

People who follow Dr Mercola, and trust him, think they are getting advice from a person. But they are not. They are getting advice from a very slick marketing machine.

Next, I looked at the language used on the site. It is highly manipulative. Fear sells. Here's a quote from the plug for his new book. "And even if you haven't yet been diagnosed with cancer, you likely have cancer cells in your body right now. Just about everyone has at least some."

It is not long before I find advice that is downright dangerous. Here is a quote from an article with the head line, "The Surprising Cause of Melanoma (And No, it's Not Too Much Sun)". "In fact, melanoma occurrence has been found to decrease with greater sun exposure, and can be increased by sunscreens."

Despite the claim about sunscreens, there is a Dr Mercola sunscreen is for sale in the shop - along with Dr Mercola Healthy Skin Tanning Lotion.

Joseph Mercola is the face of a faceless corporation that has no conscience about what it sells.

I say it is a faceless corporation because it hides in the shadows. Anytime I analyse a website I look carefully at the About Us page. On this site that page is all about the man, not the business that bears his name.

I feel deliberately misled. One person could not possibly do all that the site claims Dr Mercola has done. And if you can't trust that basic premise what can you trust? I'd say you can trust nothing.

It is ironic that these words are in black and white on the About page – "The primary trick of the existing medical establishment is to get you to forget that first question – their real motivation?"

That is exactly what this site sets out to get you to do - forget their real motivation. If you want the real motivation click on the Shop for Health Products.

I find that the most important message on the site is buried away in Terms and Conditions. Any material and/or information downloaded or otherwise obtained through the use of or from the Website is done at your own discretion and risk. You are solely responsible for your use or nonuse of such information.

Can you trust the anti-vaccination advice that comes from Dr Mercola? On the one hand, I'd say no and on the other hand Dr Mercola says that if you do you are solely responsible. I'll take that as a no too.