Wellness ‘devices’ and products under the Goop brand have come under fire from consumer watchdog Truth in Advertising (TINA) for ‘deceptive’ health claims.
Gwyneth Paltrow
The brand was founded by Gwyneth Paltrow as a lifestyle project aimed at bettering women’s wellness. Goop and its featured third-parties offers products that claim to help with conditions ranging from anxiety and depression to cancer and psoriasis. The website even features ‘child calming’ mists and “Psychic Vampire Repellent” that claim to protect against negative energy.
Now an investigation by TINA into Goop’s marketing has found fault with over 50 of the company’s products, which state they can ‘alleviate the symptoms’ or ‘reduce the risk of developing a number of ailments’. The claims were made on Goop’s website and at the June 2017 ‘In goop health’ conference which was held in Los Angeles.
In a letter sent to Gwyneth Paltrow on August 11 this year, TINA wrote: “We have found that your company, Goop, Inc., uses unsubstantiated, and therefore deceptive, health and disease-treatment claims to market many of its products.”
TINA continued: “Based on this information, we intend to notify government regulators that Goop is engaged in a deceptive marketing campaign unless, by August 18, 2017, you show us that you have taken action to remove the inappropriate health claims, put measures in place to ensure that there are no future misrepresentations, and made every effort to alert Goop customers of these issues.”
TINA state that Goop’s marketing claims are problematic due to the company not possessing reliable scientific evidence. Goop’s website does feature a network of doctors but these are linked to a range of the company’s wellness products.
Goop did make minor changes to its marketing but the majority of the products that TINA found fault with still contain misleading health claims, TINA state. TINA has now filed a complaint letter with two California District Attorneys’ Office on the California Food Drug and Medical Device Task Force.
TINA executive director Bonnie Patten said: “Marketing products as having the ability to treat diseases and disorders not only violates established law but is a terribly deceptive marketing ploy that is being used by Goop to exploit women for its own financial gain. Goop needs to stop its misleading profits-over-people marketing immediately.”
A spokesperson at Goop told MPN: “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."
The full list of products that TINA state contain misleading health claims can be found here.