What's the story behind Gwyneth Paltrow selling disposable diapers made of alpaca wool?
Gwyneth Paltrow's company, Goop, caused outrage for advertising $120 jewel-encrusted alpaca wool diapers… but was it all a PR stint?
Gwyneth Paltrow's super successful health and wellness company Goop is no stranger to social media backlash.
From a $1,995 Ouija board to a 24-karat gold dildo and a vibrator necklace, Goop has endorsed a variety of extremely odd and prohibitively expensive products throughout the years… and we’ve got a new one to add to the interesting list: a $120 alpaca wool and gemstone diaper.
But the product, officially dubbed Diapér, is even more bizarre than you might think.
Let's start from the beginning. Earlier this week, Goop took to social media to release images of the bejeweled diaper.
"Our new disposable diaper lined with virgin alpaca wool and fastened with amber gemstones, known for their ancient emotional-cleansing properties," reads the caption to the published photos. "Infused with a scent of jasmine and bergamot for a revitalized baby." According to the posts, customers will get to buy a 12-pack for $120 starting today on Goop’s official website.
A photo posted by on
Needless to say, the posts caused an uproar, with users declaring the diapers the weirdest product to ever be promoted by the brand. Some even expressed consternation at the existence of such an item.
"THE STONES ARE A CHOKING HAZARD GWEN," someone wrote.
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"I checked the date to see if it was leftover from April fools. Over the top, even for Goop," someone else commented on Facebook.
An Instagram user even suggested the company had gotten hacked while another one joked, "For Buckingham Palace I suppose."
Just a few hours after the drop of the images, Gwyneth released a promotional video in which she revealed the entire project was a PR stunt.
"The Diapér is a fake product meant to shine a light on a real problem,” the celebrity says in the clip. "It was designed to piss us off because, if treating diapers like a luxury makes you mad, so should taking them like a luxury."
Turns out, the entire charade was a collaboration between Goop and Baby2Baby, an American nonprofit that provides diapers, clothes, and other necessities to children in poverty. The two organizations are now accepting donations to support their advocacy efforts and help with the current formula shortage that's plaguing folks around the United States.
Although we’re used to all sorts of peculiar announcements by Goop, this one might be the strangest project that the brand has undertaken just yet.
Anna Rahmanan is a New York-based writer and editor who covers culture, entertainment, food, fashion and travel news. Anna’s words have appeared on Time Out New York, the Huffington Post, Fortune, Forbes, Us Weekly, Bon Appetit and Brooklyn Magazine, among other outlets.
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