We Really Believed GOOP Dropped a Bejeweled Diaper During a Baby Food Shortage

Is your baby run-down? Exhausted? Burnt-out? Or just all-around busted? If so, Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop announced a new product today that promises to help buyers achieve “a revitalized baby.” Meet The Diapér, which initially appeared to be a $120 ten-pack of disposable luxury nappies that the company was debuting in the middle of a national baby formula shortage, but seems to actually be a PR stunt that Goop is pulling, again, during a baby formula shortage.

By this point, a considerable degree of trolling is built into the Goop business model: This is the brand that’s shilled $15,000 gold-plated vibrators, a leather bag created specifically to carry a single watermelon, a jade egg that goes into the vagina, and countless wellness fads ranging from the bullshit-but-harmless to the downright fatal. Sometimes the line between a ridiculous Goop joke and a ridiculous Goop reality can blur, as when one woman discovered when her vagina-scented candle erupted into a fiery inferno.

According to the brand’s Instagram post on Wednesday, Goop would have us believe that these extra-special crap catchers are lined in virgin alpaca wool and feature amber gemstone closures, which are “known for their emotional-cleansing properties.” They’re also supposedly scented with jasmine and bergamot, which would surely knock the smell of human feces dead in its tracks.

But Jezebel alum Anna Merlan seems to have the inside scoop: “Without breaking any ridiculous embargos sent by PR companies,” she tweeted, “yes, this is a joke.”

April Fool’s Day was last month, but attention-catching corporate capers bow to no calendar. Goop’s journey from a brand that was very funny accidentally into one that’s unfunny on purpose has truly been something to behold.

Coincidentally, this week in stunt branding also saw Balenciaga announcing the release of their winkingly Derelicte-worthy $1,800 “full destroyed” sneakers. (Those are definitely real though.)