If you know anything about Joe Rogan it’s probably that he spends a lot of time talking to interesting people, speculating on the existence of aliens and Bigfoot, and, of course, expounding on how Big Pharma only cares about its balance sheet. He has told his audience of 11 million people to skip the Covid-19 vaccine, and thinks Anthony Fauci should be in jail.
Given those positions, you would think that Joe Rogan would be against partnering with a major pharmaceutical giant. You would think that he would take a principled stand to stay away from an industry that he believes is corrupt to its very core.
Which is why it’s a little surprising that in 2021 Joe Rogan and his friend in podcasting Aubrey Marcus sold their supplement company Onnit to Unilever, one of the biggest corporate conglomerates in the world, for an estimated $250 - $400 million. Late last month the documentarian Travis Meadows reached out to me after watching my video on Feel Free asking me to dig a little bit into the history of Onnit’s sale.
I predictably learned that Onnit was being sued for making false advertising claims around its marquee cognitive enhancement supplement Alpha Brain. I also found out that while Aubrey Marcus is best known for his cult-like retreat programs in Sedona, his interest in polyamory and intensive ayahuasca experiences, he began his journey as a public figure working for the assisted male masturbation device “Fleshlight.”
Marcus left Fleshlight after a realization he had during an ayahuasca trip that he could be a lot more successful if he founded a supplement company. So he came back to the United States, borrowed $100,000 from a friend, and promptly squandered the vast majority of it trying to start up a company that sold hangover cures.
Then while he was on his last legs and about to give up, he decided to reach out to his buddy Joe Rogan and asked him what sort of magic pill Rogan would like best. Rogan said he wanted a brain enhancer. So Marcus gave Rogan a percentage of his new company, Onnit, and they set out to have casual conversations with a bunch of bro-scientists, slapped some powders into pills, ran a sham of a clinical trial, and within a year were selling Alpha Brain to the masses.
To be clear, this is NOT the way that drug development is supposed to happen. But since supplements are basically unregulated in America, it WAS a great way to make money. Within a few years Alpha Brain was selling $100 million worth of product every year. It was all based on junk science.
After about a decade in the business, during the very height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Rogan and Marcus sold out to Unilever for a fortune.
Whoever said hypocrites don’t come out ahead?
The True Story of Joe Rogan's Big Pharma Sellout