“You’ve been Gooped” is a new phrase we need to make happen, seeing as how every couple of months Gwyneth Paltrow’s popular, trendy and often times outlandish wellness brand, Goop, turns heads. It happened again on Wednesday, with diapers, of all things.
Before we dive into diapergate, let’s just quickly highlight some ridiculous Goop products we’ve seen in the past shall we? Some include: a coffee enema priced at $135, a $755 saucepan (don’t worry — it comes with a lifetime manufacturer’s guarantee!), a toothpaste squeezer for $244, a $45 silk toothbrush and how could we forgot the Rose Quartz Yoni Egg ( I’m too embarrassed to write about it so just google it) and… a vagina scented candle. I wish I were making this up. So when the company took to Instagram to announce a new luxury diaper they were planning to sell (appropriately priced at $120 for a pack of 12) dubbed “The Diapér,” people either didn’t bat an eye or really lost their sh*t . All the puns intended.
The post reads in part, “Meet The Diaper. Our new disposable diaper lined with virgin alpaca wool and fastened with amber gemstones, known for their ancient emotional-cleansing properties. Infused with a scent of jasmine and bergamot for a revitalized baby.”
Um, I just have so many questions, but we’ll save those for another time. Now back to the luxury diaper outrage. The post was flooded with comments, mostly from people who pointed out the poor timing to “slang designer diapers” in the middle of a baby formula shortage. While another user wrote, “Do they make them in different colors besides this cream one so that way they can match skintone better?” Honestly this seems like a better question for our girl Kim K over at SKIMS, but I digress.
Ok, all jokes aside, there was actually a great message behind the PR stunt. Six hours after the initial post, Goop followed up with another post that included a 45 second clip starring the CEO herself. The second post reads, “If treating diapers like a luxury makes you mad, so you should tax them like a luxury. Despite the absolute necessity of diapers, in 33 states, they aren’t treated as an essential item. They’re taxed as a luxury good.” The post went on to explain that they priced the diapers at $120 because that’s how many families pay annually in diaper taxes. The post concluded by drawing attention to the formula shortage and urging people to donate to babytobaby.com to help in providing formula, diapers and other baby essentials to families in need.
Even after it was made clear that “The Diapér” was a dupe, people were still angry, writing that it was too “on-the-nose” and “tone deaf.” really. You know what? Some people just can’t be helped and that’s not our problem.
The main takeaway here is that the post WAS successful in getting our attention, and now we are all on board to #changethediapertax and donate to baby-to-baby so… point, Gwyneth!
Also, is it weird that I was just going to accept the “The Diapér” to be a real thing before the follow-up? Never, NEVER put anything past Goop!