Goop, Gwyneth Paltrow’s controversial website, is holding an event in Vancouver this weekend.
‘In Goop Health’ it’s called, and in its first visit to Canada, it’s taking over the Pavillion in Stanley Park on Saturday and Sunday.
Based in Los Angeles, the site has been up and running for 10 years now.
Described as a “Modern Lifestyle Brand” the site has been condemned for making false health claims based on what many call pseudoscience, such as promoting potentially dangerous products like a do-it-yourself coffee enema to “supercharge your detox.”
On September 4, 2018, Goop agreed to pay $145,000 (US) in civil penalties over products, including egg-shaped stones that are meant to be inserted into the vagina, to improve health
Saturday’s events are almost sold-out with tickets for the day in the $400 (CAD) range.
Goop event will have protester Doug Bevans selling his bottles of Hot Dog Water, shown here in a handout photo, Douglas Bevans / The Canadian Press
Meanwhile, Doug Bevans, a Vancouver based performance artist and tour operator, will be outside the Pavillion selling his “Hot Dog Water” on Saturday.
In an interview with the National Post newspaper following an event last June, Bevans said he boiled about 100 organic beef hot dogs and put each one in a bottle of the water,
He said selling the bottles at $40 (Cdn) each, he was trying to see how the marketing of health claims, such as “keto-compatible,” backed by supposed science, can result in quick sales.
“Art, I think, has a way of doing this better than if this was a public service announcement. There’s an image attached to it, that it’s ridiculous.” Bevans told Camille Bains of The Canadian Press.
He said he sold 60 litres worth of the products on that occasion.
(With files from CBC, CP and the National Post)
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