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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