The Truth of Goop: Nourishing that Inner Aspect
Many companies call themselves a ‘lifestyle brand’. These are ones that prescribe a certain lifestyle and promotes products and services that help people achieve it. Founded by Gwyneth Paltrow, Goop calls itself both a lifestyle and wellness brand. It’s had an interesting history in just a few short years. It’s a bizarre cross between business, advocacy and media. Starting as newsletter providing wellness advice, it expanded into e-commerce, devised collaborations with fashion brands, launched pop-up shops, held summits and conferences, publishes a print magazine, streams a podcast, and has a docuseries on Netflix.
Out-of-the-gate it provided new age advice, such as “police your thoughts” and “eliminate white foods” along with the slogan “Nourish the Inner Aspect”. Immediately it was labeled alternative, mystic, and spiritual. Those were pleasant given ongoing comparisons to cults and claims that the enterprise is disingenuous. Language sends a big signal. Any tribe or group develops their own vernacular and the same is true with businesses. It is largely what brought office co-sharing giant WeWork down. Founder and CEO, Adam Neuman, was accused of using ‘Yogababble’ to describe a bricks and mortar business.
The term was coined by marketing professor and business expert, Scott Galloway, “He once shared the stage with Adam Neuman at a business conference and was immediately put-off by the founder’s quasi-religious turn-of-phrase and orchestrated presence. When WeWork’s US$47 billion IPO prospectus came out, Galloway poured through it. On the very first page, it stated, Here’s to the power of We. Most cults are far more subtle.”[i]
Now the Urban Dictionary defines yogababble as, “Spiritual-sounding language used by companies to sell product or make their brand more compelling on an emotional level. Coined specifically about WeWork’s IPO prospectus in 2019, which was full of phrases like “elevate the world’s consciousness” and at the same time showed problematic financials. Yogababble is intended to disguise or compensate for practical or financial weaknesses in a business or product.”
Rebekah Neuman, Adam’s wife worked parttime at the business but held the title, Chief Brand and Impact Officer. No one at the company was sure what responsibilities that carried and were further confused when Rebekah tended to relate everything back to her yoga training and particular brand of wellness. In terms of the prospectus, it seemed her role was to aggrandize her husband as more of a spiritual than business leader.
Given she studied both Buddhism and business at Cornell, this was a familiar cocktail. Critics inside and outside WeWork, long pointed out that Adam, who stands 6’4”, appeared in most photographs with his arms stretched out like a mystical wonder. The prospectus mentions him nearly two hundred times when most mention the CEO no more than fifty. To boot, he is referred to only by his first name in the serious financial document, conjuring up Old and New Testaments in equal measure.
For Galloway, “yogababble was one giant red flag. After years of following this company, and publicly doubting its positioning and claims, his frustrations grew. Galloway must have wanted to scream, “You rent desks!” His ire is not reserved for WeWork. He cites the Peloton fitness bicycle phenomenon which refers to itself as, “an innovation company transforming the lives of people around the world.” The professor’s response? “No. You sell exercise equipment.”[ii]
The cuttingly humorous show, Silicon Valley, brilliantly roasts all the startups and wannabe unicorns for, “wanting to make the world a better place”. That hollow goal permeated WeWork. Adam once spoke of solving the worldwide problem of orphans at a company retreat. Rebekah started a school, WeGrow, for adolescents who were to be schooled in entrepreneurship, marketing and more. She touted that these toddlers would be treated to “branding masterclasses” while souls and spirits would be nurtured.
Soul Cycle is another self-described lifestyle brand. The fitness company says, “At Soul Cycle…we aspire to inspire. We inhale intention and exhale expectation. Addicted. Obsessed. Unnaturally attached to our bikes.” That is very cultish. In this century, Listerine and Burger King claimed they were lifestyle brands. That lasted about a nanosecond as critics laughed at the notion mouth wash or fast food were defining ways of life.
Here is where pop culture explodes all over this subject. Rebekah Neumann’s cousin is Gwyneth Paltrow. According to Vanity Fair, Paltrow loomed large in Rebekah Neumann’s life.[iii] The two were not particularly close but ascribed to the same ideals. TheApple TV+ series, WeCrashed, along with social media posts from the two, and media coverage, shows that the cousins each adopted a mystical, commercial combination in work and life.
The actress is not only Goop’s founder and owner, but she personifies the Goop brand. Paltrow appears steadfast, confident, and fashionable in all company communications. And she has remained stalwart in the face of resounding criticism and worse. Goop has been criticized for selling snake oil by marketing products and treatments that are harmful and based on pseudoscience and that lack efficacy. California officials from the Consumer Protection Office sued Goop for false advertising, asserting that the company made unfounded health claims about a variety of products. That was settled out of court, but class-action lawsuits continue.
What seems to trip the brand up more than anything is hypocrisy such as selling cosmetics containing the same harmful chemicals which the site tells people to avoid. It is also strange by advancing curious practices while having bizarre fascinations. It has supported coffee enemas and vagina steaming which are dangerous. The company’s Chief Content Officer quit subsequently disavowing any form of cleanse as unhealthy emotionally and physically. Goop has sold the Jade Egg which promised to increase sexual energy when placed in one’s vagina, the “This Smells Like My Vagina” candle, “This Smells Like My Orgasm” candle, “Hands Off My Vagina” candle, a supplement to boost female libido called DTF or down to fuck, and a line of vibrators.
Goop has been criticized for showcasing expensive products and making “out of touch” recommendations that most cannot afford which Paltrow has responded to by stating that such products and recommendations were aspirational. In 2015, Paltrow and the Goop staff participated in a food stamp challenge to raise awareness for the Food Bank for New York City. Paltrow gave up on the challenge after four days. The conferences, summits, and cruises Goop hosts have been criticized as expensive sales pitches.
The company has become a master at employing disclaimers after having faced a steady stream of legal problems and media attention. It now indemnifies itself without changing practices. Goop truly sees itself as a visionary crusader, the site reads, “We operate from a place of curiosity and nonjudgment, and we start hard conversations, crack open taboos, and look for connection and resonance everywhere we can find it. We don’t mind being the tip of the spear — in short, we go first so you don’t have to. We’re glad you’re here.”
To be blunt, the Goop brand is very vaginal. From the products sold to the advice given, it seems like the business is a polished, expensive sex shop but packaged quite differently. The Netflix series poster was admitted to be designed with female genitalia in mind and the tagline offers no doubt.
As a media platform Goop spreads questionable information, as an advocacy agency it shares peculiar advice, and as a business it sells high margin, largely unnecessary products. The Goop tribe exists but is largely silent. People have bought into the brand but don’t trumpet their membership rather, in the privacy of their own homes, they choose to nourish their inner aspect.
[i] Swystun, Jeff, Yogababble: The Spiritual Disguising of Brands, Medium, January 27, 2021
[ii] Swystun, Jeff, Yogababble: The Spiritual Disguising of Brands, Medium, January 27, 2021
[iii] Walsh, Savannah, WeCrashed: Inside Rebekah Neumann and Gwyneth Paltrow’s Relationship, Vanity Fair, March 18, 2022
