Baker, S.A.

Rojek, C.

English

City Research Online

              City, University of London Institutional RepositoryCitation: Baker, S.A. ORCID: 0000-0002-4921-2456 and Rojek, C. (2020). The online wellness industry: why it’s so difficult to regulate. The Conversation, This is the published version of the paper. This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. Permanent repository link:  https://openaccess.city.ac.uk/id/eprint/24055/Link to published version: Copyright and reuse: City Research Online aims to make research outputs of City, University of London available to a wider audience. Copyright and Moral Rights remain with the author(s) and/or copyright holders. URLs from City Research Online may be freely distributed and linked to.City Research Online:            http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/            publications@city.ac.ukCity Research Online4/18/2020 The online wellness industry: why it's so difficult to regulatehttps://theconversation.com/the-online-wellness-industry-why-its-so-difficult-to-regulate-131847 1/3AuthorsStephanie Alice BakerLecturer in Sociology, City, University ofLondonChris RojekProfessor of Sociology, City, University ofLondonAcademic rigour, journalistic flairNetflix recently released Gwyneth Paltrow’s new six-part series, The Goop Lab. Eachepisode explores an area of the wellness industry, including psychedelics, coldtherapy, lifestyle interventions, female pleasure and sexual healing. The series hasreceived criticism from the scientific and medical community with experts concernedabout Netflix legitimising pseudoscience and misinformation.The backlash is unsurprising given that Paltrow’s brand has become synonymouswith controversial products and treatments, such as jade eggs, Psychic VampireRepellent and vaginal steaming. These concerns are accentuated given that Goop isvalued at over US$250 million and represents part of the burgeoning billion-dollarwellness industry. The difficulty in regulating Goop’s controversial content, however,points to larger difficulties in regulating online health and wellness influencers.Influencers document their lives and lifestyles on social media. The most lucrativehealth and wellness influencers achieve fame through curating an online persona on Make sense of the news. Read our experts in your inbox.Get the newsletterNetflixThe online wellness industry: why it’s so difficult to regulateFebruary 20, 2020 8.51am GMT4/18/2020 The online wellness industry: why it's so difficult to regulatehttps://theconversation.com/the-online-wellness-industry-why-its-so-difficult-to-regulate-131847 2/3social media rather than through professional expertise. Although celebrities have traditionally beenpresented as inaccessible, by approaching everyday health and wellness issues, Paltrow is able toemulate social media influencers, whose public appeal is grounded in the perception of beingordinary, relatable and accessible.Paltrow’s trust and credibility as a wellness guru stem from her apparent vulnerability. Strategicconfessions that commodify pain and loss are designed to establish trust and intimacy. In the Netflixseries, Paltrow reflects on the trauma induced by the emergency caesarean she had following the birthof her daughter, how terrible she feels during a “cleanse” and on her experiences “metabolising” pain.These communicative techniques set Paltrow apart from the jargon and professional distancerequired of medical professionals.The triumph of opinionInfluencers claim to provide opinions rather than facts. They are able to monetise their personal lives and opinions, profiting from advertorials linked to stories of self-discovery and transformation. Theseself-documented journeys are difficult to verify.Influencer marketing is relatively inconsequential when it comes to fashion, but advertorials based onpersonal experience are more problematic in the health and wellness sphere where unverified storiescan negatively affect people’s health. In the second episode, for example, when one employee claimsthat cold therapy helped ease her anxiety and depression, anecdotal evidence is used to demonstratethe therapy’s validity. These stories of self-recovery can be deadly when they inspire people withcancer to reject conventional medicine in favour of alternative treatments.Jade eggs for your yoni? Show us the evidence, say scientists. Gusak/Shutterstock4/18/2020 The online wellness industry: why it's so difficult to regulatehttps://theconversation.com/the-online-wellness-industry-why-its-so-difficult-to-regulate-131847 3/3Netflix wellness industry Gwyneth Paltrow social media influencers The Goop LabDespite Goop’s disclaimer that the “series is designed to entertain and inform – not provide medicaladvice”, its content is designed to influence. The stories and experiences documented online driveconsumers to the company’s website as they seek alternative ways to improve their wellbeing,enabling the company to “monetise those eyeballs”, as Paltrow declared.The placebo effectPart of the appeal of the wellness movement can be understood by the placebo effect. The placeboeffect is a beneficial effect produced by a placebo drug or treatment. The benefit cannot be attributedto the properties of the placebo itself (the drug or treatment in question), but to the patient’s belief inthe treatment.Goop exploits the placebo effect, blurring the line between scientific research and folk knowledge, toattain credibility. Scientific concepts, such as blood platelets, microdosing, quantum theory’s double-slit experiment, molecules and subatomic particles, are used to validate the therapies canvassed in theseries.Scientific language is cherry picked as part of Goop’s marketing strategy to create products designedto make consumers “feel good in the modern age world”. A case in point is Goop’s body vibe wearable stickers that claim to “rebalance the energy frequency in our bodies”. Although Goop was forced to remove claims that the patches were made with the same conductive carbon material Nasa uses toline space suits so they can track an astronaut’s vitals. The idea that people might feel better afterwearing the stickers is harder to verify.The Goop Lab uses Paltrow’s celebrity status to promote lifestyle interventions and alternativetherapies. Presenting Paltrow as a friend and equal, strategic confessions and scientific language areinterspersed to foster trust, intimacy and credibility. But opinions and anecdotes cannot replaceevidence-based therapy.The Goop Lab blurs the line between science and fantasy. Despite the show’s disclaimer that the seriesdoes “not provide medical advice”, in combining scientific expertise with folk knowledge andanecdotal experience, the programme obscures the distinction between entertainment and evidencein a way that proves difficult to regulate.

The online wellness industry: why it’s so difficult to regulate

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The online wellness industry: why it’s so difficult to regulate

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