In the fairs and markets of nineteenth-century England, conmen would shout from soapboxes, hawking cure-all ointments they claimed were made from the fat of vipers. These snake oil salesmen entered popular culture in Westerns and became synonymous with deceptive marketing techniques offering illusory panaceas.

Acadian Asset Management client advisory lead Seth Weingram includes an image of a snake oil salesman in the materials he hands out to investors at his firm’s presentations. In the world