A consumer watchdog group has filed a complaint against actress Gwyneth Paltrow’s New Age lifestyle brand, Goop, which is very popular among women, for providing deceptive information to market its products.
Breitbart is reporting on the complaint filed against Goop with two California district attorneys for over 50 instances of false advertising where the site promoted products and practices as being capable of healing everything from cancer to warts with no medical evidence to support any of its claims.
For example, Goop promotes crystals, such as the Carnelian crystal, which it claims can treat infertility, ease period cramps, temper PMS, regulate menstrual cycles and address “shame around female body parts and sexual trauma.” The Chrysocolla allegedly aids women in “embracing their divine feminine power through strong communication, self-expression, empowerment, and education.”
Another blog promoted jade eggs which the site claimed can prevent uterine prolapse.
Goop’s essential oils were promoted as being able to “help tremendously with chronic issues from anxiety and depression to migraines” and their Eau De Parfum: Edition 02 supposedly contains ingredients that “improve memory, treat colds, and work as antibiotics.”
“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,” Bonnie Patten, the executive director of TruthInAdvertising.org (TINA) wrote in a statement on the non-profit’s website. “Goop needs to stop its misleading profits-over-people marketing immediately.”
Patten sent a letter to Paltrow and her California-based e-commerce company on August 11 and gave them until August 18 to correct the misleading language on a variety of products or face the filing of an official complaint.
“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,” a company spokesperson said in a statement to Breitbart. “Unfortunately, they provided limited information and made threats under arbitrary deadlines which were not reasonable under the circumstances.”
When it failed to meet TINA’s request, the group filed a complaint with the California district attorneys who are part of a state’s Food Drug and Medical Device Task Force.
Goop has been criticized for their outlandish products and claims on numerous occasions.
Most recently, they were forced to remove ads for $120 “Body Vibe” stickers to “rebalance energy frequency in our bodies” which it claimed were made of the same material as NASA spacesuits. NASA publicly rebuked the claims and they were forced to remove them.
The site is also known to promote occult-based medical advice. For example, in February of this year, the site came under fire for posting an article full of erroneous information about the role of iodine in the body that was given to her by a medical medium named Anthony William. As the article states, William gets his information from a high-level spirit who provides him with extraordinarily accurate health information that he claims is often “far ahead of its time.”
The site also sells a “Medicine Bag” which is filled with items “inspired by the Shaman medicine bags from various indigenous traditions” which contain “magically charged” stones.
In March of this year, the site was under scrutiny once again, this time for promoting a cookbook that included incomplete cooking instructions that health experts said could lead to an increased risk of food poisoning.
Most of its products are aimed at women, but the prices are beyond the reach of most of her visitors. For example, her 2014 holiday gift guide includes a 24 karat gold juicer for $4739 and a Cartier bracelet for $7,600 “because everyone has Cartier under the tree…”
The only thing worse than the exploitation of women is when that exploitation comes from other women. We should be leading one another to healing and hope, not untested quackery and advice based in the occult.
Johnnette Benkovic, popular EWTN host and founder of Women of Grace®, has spent years working with women in need of healing and has seen enough miracles to know that when women turn to God for healing, great things can happen.
“Though some of the situations shared with me are impossible to resolve by human standards, time and again I have witness the healing power of Jesus Christ setting His people free from bondage, free from the effects of past sins, free from years of painful memories,” she relates in her book, Full of Grace: Women and the Abundant Life.
“Like the Resurrection of Jesus on that first Easter morning, new life rises from death, and hope springs from ashes.”
Let us all keep Gwyneth Paltrow and her misguided blog in our prayers that she might one day discover the true Divine Physician from whom all healing comes.
