Actress Gwyneth Paltrow pulled a publicity stunt on Wednesday via her wellness company Goop, marketing a $120 package of luxury, disposable diapers lined with virgin alpaca wool and fastened with gemstones, to highlight the wrongness of taxing diapers when so many parents are struggling to buy them.
Goop partnered with the non-profit Baby2Baby to make the point that between taxing diapers and the rising cost of essential goods needed for children, parents are being crushed financially while struggling simply to take care of their kids.
“Meet The Diapér,” the original Instagram post read inciting immediate outrage online. “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. Dropping tomorrow at 11 a.m. EST at $120 for a pack of 12.”
“Goop launched a luxury disposable diaper at $120 for a pack of 12 and there was a lot of outrage. Good,” Paltrow bluntly stated in a video she posted to social media on Wednesday.
“It was designed to piss us off. Because if treating diapers like a luxury makes you mad, so should taxing them like a luxury. The Diapér is a fake product meant to shine a light on a real problem,” she asserted.
View this post on Instagram
Diapers are a necessity, but in 33 states they’re taxed like a luxury item, leaving 1 in 3 moms struggling to afford them. Thank you @goop for launching The Diapér, a fake diaper designed to highlight an outrageous luxury tax. https://t.co/RFC5sNnxfP #changethediapertax pic.twitter.com/pxcJ2gBskt
— Baby2Baby (@baby2baby) May 12, 2022
“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 Oscar-winning actress pointed out. She is a long-time advocate for repealing taxes on diapers.
Paltrow is one of many celebrities who support Baby2Baby. She claimed that eliminating the diaper tax is “not a complete solution.” But, she said, “it could allow many families to pay for another month’s supply,” according to NBC News.
“Depending on the state, this sales tax can add between 1.5 percent and 7 percent to their cost. (We priced our fictional Diapérs at $120 because that is what the diaper tax could cost families annually,)” Goop noted on its company website.
Update–this is a parody! It was so on-the-nose, it was believable, but apparently, Gwyneth Paltrow did it to raise awareness of the absurd cost of diapers, and now they’ve started a fundraising campaign for Baby2Baby, which is actually VERY cool.
— Casey!🌻 (@Muirin007) May 12, 2022
Critics initially excoriated Paltrow and Goop for the expensive, elitist diapers. But she may have had a point about over-taxation when it comes to products that are a necessity, especially with raging inflation taking its toll on families. Regardless, the PR move definitely got people’s attention.
Paltrows’ admission that the product was fake and was meant to get people riled up, was coupled with a plea to Americans to “make a donation to help Baby2Baby provide formula to the families they serve.” She is evidently also fighting to help get baby formula to families who are suffering from a nationwide shortage currently.
“The nationwide formula shortage is a true emergency, and Baby2Baby is having formula made at a fraction of the retail cost and donating it to families throughout the US,” an article on the Goop website states.
“During the pandemic, Baby2Baby’s diaper requests have skyrocketed 505 percent. National shortages exacerbated the need. So Baby2Baby began manufacturing their own diapers, produced at a fraction of the cost to increase the number of children they serve. Baby2Baby has also been working to meet the ever-increasing demand for formula since COVID began, distributing over 300,000 cans of formula through COVID relief efforts,” Goop said in a statement to TODAY.
“The funniest thing about the ‘Goop dropped a bejeweled fur-lined diaper’ joke is that we all fully believed Goop would drop a bejeweled fur-lined diaper,” Jezebel’s Laura Bassett wrote, referring to the company’s questionable wellness claims.
The funniest thing about the “Goop dropped a bejeweled fur-lined diaper” joke is that we all fully believed Goop would drop a bejeweled fur-lined diaper
— Laura Bassett (@LEBassett) May 11, 2022
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16 thoughts on “Gwyneth Paltrow luxury diaper stunt ‘designed to piss us off’ works like a charm, then takes a surprising turn”
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In my day we used cloth diapers over and over again. There was such a thing as “pampers” but we couldn’t afford them. The cloth diapers along with plastic panties over them worked just fine unless we were going to be away from home for an extended period of time. The complainers can purchase cloth diapers and stop being so spoiled.
Ingenious!
Wow I sure missed this one. Its a joke on what? Are they saying some states charge tax on diapers? I’m missing something here
From the article: ““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 Oscar-winning actress pointed out. She is a long-time advocate for repealing taxes on diapers.”
Just saying:
As expensive as these suckers are why not use cloth, reusable diapers?
Once you factor in all the costs associated with cloth diapers (the diaper, a plastic cover, pre-wash and laundering, diaper safer pins, and the time spent cleaning them), I think disposable diapers are more economical. I used both on my two children. The disposables kept the baby more comfortable. There were also fewer leakage problems, resulting in less laundry.
Disposable diapers to clog up the landfills and seep into the water table. What did people do before they came along?
We used cloth diapers and washed them out. The waste water went into septic systems and to waste water treatment plants then into the groundwater or surface water. Landfills have construction requirements to minimize groundwater pollution. Diapers are probably less harmful than other things going into landfills. As for clogging landfills up, look at all the everyday garbage, dead/outdated electronics, and things that could be recycled, but which people are too lazy to do.
My question is , how much of that formula and diapers are being shipped off to the border to carr for illegal alien babies, while US citizens pay for it but don’t seem to have any,,🤔,,,,,,,,FJB,,,,,,,,
sympl1
Well done, GP, very good.
This coming from another hollow wood elitist who has never voted for anybody without a (d) behind their name. Does she not know why diapers are taxed when so many of us grew up washing out cloth diapers in the toilet?
So, when a guy or woman has to drive 50-miles back and forth to work the gasoline shouldn’t be taxed? Isn’t that as much a necessity as the diapers that the worker has to work for in order to be able to pay for? And, what about the inflation that Biden is causing despite his dishonest and ridiculous denials, that effect EVERY expenditure that a mother or anyone else incurs? This is just another one of those women and babies, after the right to kill them, are the most important things on Mother Earth. It’s a make-believe issue and only in the heady days of a “Biden Presidency” would anyone have the audacity to address. When will it end?
All valid points. This is just for baby diapers, though. Actually, I think all diapers, including incontinence ones, should be included because those are also a necessity for older folks that can’t use anything else.
Good point but it will never happen as Biden does not plan to pay anymore for his diapers, you know the one that didn’t work when he went to see the Pope.
Semper Fi 1969-1989
Diapers are in fact a necessity. Although gasoline is needed for transportation by standard vehicles, it is not. There are other options for getting to work, although they may not be preferred.
Disposable diapers are in fact not a necessity. There are other options for diapering your little one, although they may not be preferred.