How a B.C. business scion flipped to hawking supplements and conspiracy theories

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Still of Foster Coulson taken from a corporate video for The Wellness Company.

Foster Coulson was co-president of his family’s reputable multi-million dollar company until meeting a controversial doctor during the pandemic. He has since embraced conspiracy theories and started a line of businesses that caters to the edges of the American right.Foster Coulson, seen in a still from a corporate video for The Wellness Company, was co-president of his family’s reputable multi-million dollar company until meeting a controversial doctor during the pandemic.

But Coulson began to reconsider his priorities after meeting in April 2021 an obscure doctor, Vladimir Zelenko, who had become internet famous for claiming an untested mix of antimalarial drugs and vitamin supplements could help defeat COVID. Coulson, though, denies responsibility for the content pumped out by the extremist influencers who advertise his products.

This 2020 file photo shows a yoga studio closed in in Rhode Island. The pandemic forced the closure of many small businesses in the wellness industry, prompting practioners to look for ways to make a living online. They found a captive audience in right-wing circles that were already fixated on the dangers of a "deep state" and QAnon-inspired conspiracies.

Then-president Donald Trump even cited Zelenko's videos when he revealed in May 2020 he was taking the drug. "I realized within the first 30 seconds that this was somebody that stood up when it was the hardest thing to do," Coulson told Shannon Joy in an interview on her Rumble channel last summer.In Coulson's telling of his story, he "walked away from everything" in his pre-pandemic business life to answer this calling.

On its website, the company indicates that while it won't ship its emergency kits to addresses outside the U.S., it is still willing to ship its non-prescription supplements to Canada.Initially, the Zelenko vitamin supplements sold well, bringing in more than $6 million US in monthly revenue, according to a document the company filed in Florida court.

Promotional material, for example, suggested the shots were causing a "genocide" and encouraged customers to use supplements to "purify" their blood.Dr. Peter McCullough, The Wellness Company's "chief scientific officer," appeared on the show several times claiming mRNA vaccines shed spike proteins that can harm unvaccinated people. This has been

"Another plandemic comes up? No problem.… You don't need to be worried about this. We have solutions," Coulson Last year, he launched a news website, Vigilant News Network. Its purpose, he said, would be to counter the fear spread by conventional news outlets. Unjected's users sometimes refer to themselves as "pure bloods." In livestreams, the site's founder, Shelby Hosana, has said unvaccinated people look different because of their unique "level of vibrancy and glowing."

As part of the $6-million US deal, one of Coulson's companies produces coffee that it brands "anti-woke" and which Rumble creators then flog on their channels. In a February episode of his show, Tate told his viewers they can either drink 1775 Coffee, the show's sponsor, or Nescafé. "What you're telling consumers by working with Andrew Tate is that you can trust us. If you trust Andrew Tate, you will also trust us," she added.Rumble expects to sell around $1 million US worth of Coulson's coffee by the end of the fiscal year, according to its August earnings report.In recent weeks, Coulson has launched several new ventures as part of his partnership with Rumble.

Another supplement line is pitched at consumers who fear negative health effects from 5G wireless technology — "your everyday devices could be making you sick," reads the promotional material — though most "What they really mean by freedom is not so much freedom to choose, but rather freedom from pesky government oversight and regulation," he said. "Or as I would sometimes call it, freedom to grift."Though his businesses mainly operate in the U.S., Coulson still maintains a home in Port Alberni, next to his brother on a street called Coulson Place.

 

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