Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop Brand Targeted Over Misleading Claims
Gwyneth Paltrow loves promoting her brand, Goop. However, all isn’t sunshine and roses in the actress turned businesswoman’s world because recently, the lifestyle company faces issues due to misleading claims.
According to a Page Six report, Goop faces new issues in the United Kingdom with the National Trading Standards and the Advertising Standards Authority. These issues arose merely one month after Paltrow’s brand settled with the State of California for $145,000 over misleading, scientific claims about its jade vaginal eggs. While the brand still believes its products do what they claim, they wanted to move forward from the matter and settled.
The Good Thinking Society reported some 113 statements that mislead consumers on Goop’s website to the U.K. advertising watchdogs. The group believes that the unsubstantiated claims listed on the site are possibly dangerous as well as unproven. Goop launched in the country just over one month ago on September 24 with both its website and a pop-up shop in London.
Goop sells many alternative health products. One potentially problematic product is the brand’s The Mother Load, which is marketed to pregnant women and claims to include 110% of the recommended daily value for vitamin A. However, U.K.’s National Health Service as well as the World Health Organization recommend that expecting mothers take no vitamin A because of risks to the unborn that are associated with the supplement. Another issue is alternative sunscreen, which could also pose a health risk.
'If we’re going to tackle the rise of pseudoscience we need to make an example of Goop' https://t.co/Is7Ym0naXQ
— The Independent (@Independent) October 30, 2018
A project manager at Good Thinking Society, Laura Thomason, said in an interview with The Independent, “It is shocking to see the sheer volume of unproven claims made by Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop about their products, especially given that some of their health advice is potentially dangerous: nobody should be advising customers to avoid using conventional sunscreen or that pregnant women should take vitamin A, something that health experts have warned can be harmful to unborn children.”
Thomason explained further, “Just because Gwyneth has an Academy Award, it does not mean that Goop should be given an easy ride compared to other big corporations.” The Good Thinking Society wants to ensure that every company in the U.K., even those ran by celebrities, follows the country’s advertising laws, which were developed to protect consumers. The group hopes to make an example of Paltrow’s high-profile lifestyle brand.
Paltrow’s representative said that the Mother Load supplements are completely safe to use during pregnancy and that they do not go against recommendations of health organizations. “The Mother Load package contains a warning that pregnant women should not consume more than 10,000 IU vitamin A daily due to the risk of birth defects,” according to the representative.
