Goop

About

Goop is a lifestyle company owned by American actress Gwyneth Paltrow focusing on internet retail, publishing and pseudoscience.

History

In September 2008, Goop began as an email newsletter offering insight into the Gwyneth Paltrow's daily life. The newsletter had over 700,000 subscribers by 2014. ^[17]

In 2011, Goop became incorporated.^[18]

In 2012, Goop launched an online shop which earned $1.5 million within its first year.^[19]

By 2016, Goop had launched a publishing imprint and fashion label.

In December 6th, 2016 a book parodying Goop called "Glop: Nontoxic Ideas That Will Make You Look Ridiculous and Feel Pretentious" was published.^[21]

In June 2017, Goop had their first health summit featuring celebrity panelists and anti-vaxxer Kelly Brogan.^[22]

In April, Goop entered the vitamin and supplements market which sold $100,000 worth of product on the launch day. ^[23]

In September, "Goop," The quarterly magazine, was launched.^[24]

Online Presence

Goop's website^[1] offers a disclaimer after each article or promotion which reads a follows:

"The views expressed in this article intend to highlight alternative studies and induce conversation. They are the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of goop, and are for informational purposes only, even if and to the extent that this article features the advice of physicians and medical practitioners. This article is not, nor is it intended to be, a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment, and should never be relied upon for specific medical advice."

Vaginal Eggs

In January 2017, Goop endorsed and sold Yoni Eggs which they claimed enhanced a woman's sexual experience.

On January 17th, Gynecologist Dr. Jen Gunter, who has been a critic of Goop since its inception, posted an article^[6] on her blog entitled "Dear Gwyneth Paltrow, I’m a GYN and your vaginal jade eggs are a bad idea."^[4] The blog post received over 400 comments within two years.

On July 13th, 2017, Goop took to Twitter to respond by attaching an article explaining
The tweet quoted Michelle Obama with "When they go low, we go high." The tweet gained 86 retweets and 365 likes (shown below, left). Many Twitter users responded angrily (shown below, right).

On California's consumer protection office brought on a lawsuit against Goop for making unscientific claims about their jade eggs. The website agree to pay $145,000 in addition to refunds and edit their site to resolve the matter.^[8][7]

Body Vibes

The Goop website began to sell Goof Vibes stickers which claimed they were made of the same material that NASA uses to line their suits but NASA eventually told CNNMoney that the claim is false.^[9]

Netflix Show

On February 4th, 2019, Variety ^[10] reported that a Netflix will be releasing a Goop docu-series by Fall 2019 hosted by the site's editors as well as CCO Elise Loehnen and Paltrow. The show will center around physical and spiritual wellness. Variety^[10] quoted Loehnen in saying, "We were speaking to the platform question, and where our people are. They’re watching Netflix. Some of the more strategic, bigger stories we want to tell require a TV budget. Obviously, there’s no better partner in that.

Later that day, Doctors took to Twitter in response. Dr. Michelle Dickinson^[15] tweeted, "No @netflix please don’t make this! We don’t need to promote alternative health and pseudoscience trends pushed by celebrity endorsements. We have actual medical professionals who use evidence based scientific methods – make a TV show out of that instead!" The tweet gained 160 retweets and 675 likes in four days (shown below, left). Dr. Darren Saunders^[14] also responded tweeting "We need to respond with 'GoopBox'. A version of GoggleBox where scientists and doctors watch Goop and debunk the BS in real-time." The tweet accumulated 21 retweets and 148 likes in four days (shown below, right).

Parody Websites

In June 2017, the New York Times reported that parodying Goop had "become a national pastime."^[16]

On February 28th, 2018, Botnik Studios^[12] tweeted that they produced a parody of Goop with an AI bot. The tweet gained 1,752 retweets and 4,011 likes in a year (shown below, left). The website^[11] features articles like "Is the Soul More Supple When You've Been Divorced? We Asked Two Dogs for Some Answers" (shown below, right).

In August 2018, Macaulay Culkin launched a parody site named bunnyears.com.^[13] The site features articles entitled "Rustic Mason Jars for Pickling Your Feelings" and "Achieve Perfect Zen Through A Total Lack of Empathy" (shown below, right).

Gwyneth Paltrow's Response to Criticism

On March 9th, 2019, Gwyneth Paltrow poked fun at herself during the Weekend Update Sketch by playing a Goop employee (shown below). The video gained 730,000 views and 7,400 likes in three days.

Although some Twitter users found the sketch endearing as it's nice to laugh at yourself, many did not (shown below, left). For example, @BumpItMcCarthy^[26] tweeted, "Gwyneth Paltrow mocking the silly idiocy of the over privileged nitwits who buy her dangerous crap! How self-aware? #SNL" (shown below, right).

On March 11th, The Hollywood Reporter^[25] revealed that Paltrow sat down for an interview with CNN's Poppy Harlow at SXSW. She opened up about her fascination with Jeff Bezos and how he hasn't responded to her emails. She also spoke about her upcoming Netflix show noting that Netflix is "brave."

"This Smells Like My Vagina" Candle

On December 25th, 2019, Goop^[28] began selling a candle made by Heretic called "This Smells Like My Vagina." HerecticParfum announced the release on Instagram.^[27] The site describes the $75 candle as "With a funny, gorgeous, sexy, and beautifully unexpected scent, this candle is made with geranium, citrusy bergamot, and cedar absolutes juxtaposed with Damask rose and ambrette seed to put us in mind of fantasy, seduction, and a sophisticated warmth." On January 11th, following the news that the candle had sold out, many people began to discuss the product. That day, Twitter^[29] user Dr. Jennifer Gunter who has been previously spoken out against Goop's products and advice tweeted, "I am not sure I would associated all thoe scents with a normal vagina. But hey, send me a candle" (shown below, left). The tweet gained over 2,400 likes in two days. Comedian Adam Ray called for The Rock to create a candle that smells like "his balls" on Instagram^[31][30] to which The Rock commented "Brother I tried to make those candles but I kept burning my balls. So I moved on to shampoo #scentofsac" (shown below, right).

Search Interest

External References