Gwyneth Paltrow’s Controversial Business Strategy Can Be Summed Up With 1 Line From ‘Mean Girls’
Gwyneth Paltrow rose to prominence in the 1990s and 2000s as an actor. However, she has since made a name for herself as a businessperson. Despite her lifestyle brand Goop being a successful moneymaker, Paltrow’s business strategy has attracted some controversy. In fact, it can also be described with one line from the hit movie Mean Girls.
Gwyneth Paltrow has had a lot of success with Goop
In 2008, Goop started out as a newsletter that allowed Paltrow to share lifestyle advice with other women. It became an official company three years later.
Since then, Goop has become a huge player in the lifestyle space. The brand’s website and social media pages continue to give recommendations and advice concerning topics like beauty, fashion, travel, health, and fitness. Goop has an e-commerce section and brick-and-mortar store as well, selling products such as those for the body and home.
In 2020, Paltrow hosted a show called The Goop Lab on Netflix, which talked about different ideas in the wellness field.
However, Paltrow and Goop have come under fire many times for promoting pseudoscience and advertising wellness products whose effectiveness have not been proven by scientific research.
Gwyneth Paltrow’s business strategy for Goop is similar to a ‘Mean Girls’ quote
One thing Goop has been criticized for is its price tag. The company seems to promote itself as a brand for anyone interested in health and wellness, but its products are not affordable to most people in the United States.
In fact, according to Nicki Swift, Goop’s business strategy might have a lot in common with the Mean Girls quote, “You can’t sit with us.” The line was uttered in the 2003 movie to show how exclusive a group of popular high school girls can be, and it seems Goop could be branding itself in the same way. Not everyone can afford Goop products, and Paltrow seems to be okay with that.
What Gwyneth Paltrow has said about Goop’s exorbitant prices
Paltrow has defended Goop’s prices a few times. In an interview with Glamour in 2016, she said, “Sometimes I’ll get annoyed if someone’s like, ‘Goop is so expensive.’ I’m like, ‘Have you looked at the website? Have you seen the range of price points? ‘Cause we sell things that are $8.’ I’m like, ‘If you want to f–ck with me, bring your A-game. At least have all your information.”
In 2018, Paltrow touched on this subject again in an interview with The New York Times Magazine. This time, she defended her company by pointing out that her products are different than other ones on the market, which is why they cannot be priced the same.
“It’s crucial to me that we remain aspirational. Not in price point, because content is always free,” she shared. “Our stuff is beautiful. The ingredients are beautiful. You can’t get that at a lower price point. You can’t make these things mass-market.”
