Industry watchdog group Truth in Advertising (TINA) announced Tuesday that after thoroughly investigating Gwyneth Paltrow’s wellness/snake oil emporium Goop, they found over “50 instances in which the company claims, either expressly or implicitly, that its products (or those it promotes) can treat, cure, prevent, alleviate the symptoms of, or reduce the risk of developing a number of ailments.”
According to People, TINA had been investigating Goop since August 11 when they contacted them about “unsubstantiated, and therefore deceptive, health and disease-treatment claims.” Goop was instructed to make the changes to their marketing by August 18. The changes they made were not sufficient, and so TINA filed a complaint letter with California Food, Drug and Medical Device Task Force.
In the company’s defense, Goop responded with a statement to People saying that they simply didn’t have enough time to comb through the spurious claims attached to many of their products and make them better:
“Goop is dedicated to introducing unique products and offerings and encouraging constructive conversation surrounding new ideas. We are receptive to feedback and consistently seek to improve the quality of the products and information referenced on our site. We responded promptly and in good faith to the initial outreach from representatives of TINA and hoped to engage with them to address their concerns. Unfortunately, they provided limited information and made threats under arbitrary deadlines which were not reasonable under the circumstances. Nevertheless, while we believe that TINA’s description of our interactions is misleading and their claims unsubstantiated and unfounded, we will continue to evaluate our products and our content and make those improvements that we believe are reasonable and necessary in the interests of our community of users.”
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Goop’s yoni eggs, magic “dusts” and anti-anxiety stickers are all part of the wellness trend that is becoming more and more entrenched in the common consciousness. The treatments they push aren’t medicine, but if the copy on the package promises grand results, how is anyone to know?