Netflix criticised for series with Gwyneth Paltrow's pseudoscience lifestyle Goop
Netflix has given a platform to Hollywood star turned lifestyle guru Gwyneth Paltrow's pseudoscience lifestyle brand Goop, despite it being racked with false advertising fines and misinformation accusations from health experts.
Netflix criticised for series with Gwyneth Paltrow's pseudoscience lifestyle Goop
New show 'Goop Lab' caused a storm by launching a poster that is quite literally the actress standing in a vaginal arch with the strapline 'reach new depths'. Posing at the mouth of an outsized pink vagina Paltrow looked to be harnessing the power of sex to rustle up interest in the streaming show.
The Goop Lab is an unscripted documentary charting the day-to-day zaniness of a lifestyle brand which openly ignores scientific orthodoxy to promote ‘psychic mediums’ and ‘energy healing’ with the promise of better orgasms. Even naming it Goop 'Lab' enforces claims that Paltrow is again leaning into the brand's pseudoscience roots.
Detailing her unique philosophy on life Paltrow said: “We’re here one time, one life, how can we really milk the shot out of this?”
Reactions scaled from bemusement to alarm at the promotion with many concerned at the unscientific stance championed by the star, an approach which has already seen the brand reported to the UK advertising watchdog over its ‘dangerous’ marketing practices.
The @goop lab promoting fake science and #FakeNews in #health
Halo effect gone mad. She’s beautiful so we must all listen to her woo
Remember @goop had to pay $145,000 in civil fines over unproven claims about the power of its vaginal eggs
@PileOfGoop @netflix https://t.co/eMDDwLpwzJ
— Dr Ellie (@Dr_Ellie) January 7, 2020
goop has demonstrably spread health misinformation, and promotes the notion that doctors should be ignored and people should "try stuff" to see what medically "feels good"
netflix promoting that is irresponsible and disgusting https://t.co/GOnFlrAnNP
— happy new rad (old one was good too) (@angharadyeo) January 7, 2020
The pseudoscience of goop is terrible. Irresponsible. Harmful.
But even if there weren't any science, even if it were straight religion without the science-y "nature" disguise, it would be harmful.
It is the consecration of wealth-based purity. And it needs to be called out.
— Alan Levinovitz (@AlanLevinovitz) January 7, 2020
Paltrow is freshly returned from Dubai following a stint as a brand ambassador for the Middle East state.
Meanwhile, Netflix hasn't been short of controversy on the commissioning side. Chiefly, in 2017 '13 Reasons Why' graphically depicted a young woman’s suicide which drew complaints from health experts who claim such scenes are copied when broadcast. '
Now it's been slated for granting Goop a platform to its 150 million subscribers.