Netflix dropped the trailer for Gwyneth Paltrow’s upcoming show The Goop Lab last week.
The Goop Lab is a six-episode documentary series that launches on the streaming platform on January 24.
According to the description of the trailer released on YouTube on January 6, the series focuses on a wide range of “boundary-pushing” alternative wellness and health practices, “including psychedelics, cold therapy, female pleasure, anti-aging, energy healing and psychics.”
Paltrow’s alternative health practices are described in the trailer as “unregulated” and “dangerous.”
Backlash by medical professionals
The trailer for Paltrow’s new show, The Goop Lab, sparked a swift backlash from critics and scientific health-care professionals.
Many took to social media to post warnings about the actress-turned-health guru’s show, saying it spreads pseudoscience and potentially harmful health practices. Some critics even claim they canceled their Netflix subscription in protest.
My new comment: #GwynethPaltrow's new @Goop Lab on #Netflix is an infomercial for her pseudoscience business https://t.co/GkYHTCr2xl via @ConversationCA cc cc @DrJenGunter @picardonhealth @drninashapiro
Alternative "wellness" is permeated with conflicts of interest & biases!
— Timothy Caulfield (@CaulfieldTim) January 12, 2020
Hi @netflix,
I’ve been a loyal member continuously for over 16 years. Today I cancelled my membership because I don’t want to support a company that promotes dangerous pseudoscience. If you cancel The @goop Lab I’ll sign back up immediately.
Hoping you do the right thing,
Molly pic.twitter.com/ViOHvSyhJE— Molly Hodgdon (@Manglewood) January 7, 2020
Timothy Caulfield, Professor at the Faculty of Law and School of Public Health, argued in an article published on The Conversation that the show will give Paltrow the opportunity market the kind of “magical thinking and pseudoscience” she needs to help her sell more of her Goop products.
Obstetrician and gynecologist Dr. Jen Gunter told Bustle that the trailer includes “some fine information presented alongside unscientific, unproven, potentially harmful therapies…”
Meanwhile, Paltrow is selling vagina-scented candles
Undaunted by the avalanche of criticism since Netflix announced her upcoming show, Paltrow launched a new product that is marketed on her online store as a scented candle.
The $75 candle, which is currently selling on her Goop online store, is called “This Smells Like My Vagina.”
Paltrow’s Goop online store describes the product as having a “funny, gorgeous, sexy, and beautifully unexpected scent.” Goop also reveals that the candle is made with “geranium, citrusy bergamot, and cedar absolutes juxtaposed with Damask rose and ambrette seed to put us in mind of fantasy, seduction, and a sophisticated warmth.”
The name of the product reportedly started as a joke between Paltrow and the perfumer Douglas Little while they worked together testing new scents.
Paltrow reportedly reacted to the scent, saying that “this smells like a vagina.”
Paltrow’s Goop has thrived on controversy
Some critics pointed out that Paltrow’s wellness empire, estimated by the New York Times to be worth $250 million, has thrived on controversy and that she appears to have adopted a strategy of courting controversy to promote her business. Her latest candle merchandise appears to illustrate the point.
The California Food, Drug, and Medical Device Task Force brought a suit against Goop in 2018, alleging that the company made unsubstantiated claims to sell vaginal eggs.
The claims that Paltrow’s Goop website made about the vaginal jade eggs ranged from regulating women’s hormones, regulating menstrual cycles to preventing uterine collapse, and increase bladder control.
She was fined $145,000 for the claims.
However, some critics expressed concern the controversies that dogged her wellness enterprise don’t appear to hurt her credibility in the eyes of her most devoted fans.
Her business continues to grow, and she has secured lucrative partnerships with companies such as Celebrity Cruises and the makeup company Sephora.
And now she is going to have her own show on Netflix.