The Everyday Ethics podcast host and frequent Boston Public Radio contributor called in on Wednesday to discuss, among other things, the seeming absurdity of “The Goop Lab,” a new unscripted Netflix series focusing on alternative health and lifestyle trends that fall in step with Paltrow’s "Goop" brand scheduled to stream in January.
"[It’s] products and approaches and strategies that are alternative, complementary, outside the mainstream… and they’re sort of selling, also, psychological counseling… [Goop] is everything from mindfulness, to reiki, to aromatherapy,” Caplan explained. "But a lot of the things that are being offered are the things that Gwyneth Paltrow, who’s the founder of this thing, is selling.”
Later this month, The Goop universe came into being — in some form or another — in 2008 and its online store for crystal-infused water bottles and Yoni eggs launching in 2012.
"The show is gonna just take [the Goop brand] up a notch and explore every crackpot lunatic and goofball that’s out there, and in the name of health– and it’s something that we absolutely need, because we’re not spending enough money on those things right now,” Caplan quipped. “It’s touting things that have no evidence or… could be dangerous because in part, people could delay getting to doctors to get things diagnosed if they’re, you know, chasing alternative pathways. That’s what happened to Steve Jobs, remember?”
Medical Ethicist Art Caplan is Head of the Division of Medical Ethics at NYU Langone Medical Center and the co-host of the Everyday Ethics podcast.
