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At this point, who hasn't made fun of Gwyneth Paltrow's lifestyle website GOOP?
The Huffington Post has called her lifestyle tips, on everything from where to stay while traveling to how to prepare a healthy meal, "painfully, ridiculously obvious," while Esquire snickered that following her regimen "wasn't much fun" and made the writer "quite a bit poorer." In Vanity Fair's September issue, writer Craig Brown spoofs the actress' secrets of inner happiness: "At one end of the room the kids are crying out for you to teach them how to make that truly great detox teriyaki salad with miso-nettle dressing. At the other end of the room there's a new movie script sent to you by the cuddly and awesome director Sam Mendes...Meanwhile, you are desperately trying to get your butt in great shape while nourishing your inner aspect by learning how to fold napkins in a way that will make them more ecologically sustainable."
Critics can pan Gwynnie all they want, but she – and GOOP (didn't she realize that her initials sounded like POOP?) – are here to stay. Gwyneth told a People reporter in July that the site, whose purpose is to "nourish the inner aspect," was a "big success." "It's crazy...crazy!" she bragged. "I just love it. Corporate America is knocking at my door."
And she's knocking on theirs. Despite reports that Gwyneth was overheard squashing talk of her wanting to become the next Martha Stewart, her actions seem to suggest anything but. Musician husband Chris Martin reportedly calls her business meetings, "the Martha meetings." She's working on a line of lifestyle products, she offers tips on green living and home design, she's toured Spain with Mario Batali for a PBS series and book, she's added cooking videos to her site and she sold a cookbook of family recipes entitled "My Father's Daughter" to Grand Central Publishing this year, set to be released in the fall of 2010. "People ask me, 'What is it? What are you doing?' And I don't know. I did it, am doing it...and I love doing it...I have all of this great information. It's just a gift," she has said.
In her most recent newsletter, Gwyneth shared her gift list with readers. She suggested personalized melamine plates by Em Tanner, which she says "quickly became a colorful basic in my kitchen this year," as well as one-of-a-kind framed prints she found on a shopping trip in Park Slope, Brooklyn. "What better way to show someone your love this gift-giving season than by giving a personalized present? With just a little forethought and organization, you can do something really special. Here is a list of fantastic places to take your Christmas/Chanukah up a notch," she writes.
This certainly sounds like someone building a brand – catch her warm and friendly tone -- and really, why shouldn't she control her own image? So often a celebrity is reflected through the prism of publicists, paparazzi and glossy magazine stories. But the internet allows celebrities to communicate directly with fans, albeit behind the safety of a Twitter account or blog. And if Gwyneth gets extreme pleasure from being an uber-wealthy, jetsetting homemaker, why shouldn't she share what she's learned on her terms, rather than giving up information to editors to run in their own publications?
Still, we had one burning question: if Gwyneth really is trying to be the next Martha Stewart, could she pull it off?
"I don't think they are remotely comparable," says Shannon Nelson of Pierce Mattie Public Relations, a marketing firm that specializes in developing beauty, home, fashion and lifestyle brands. "While there may be some overlay in the audience they reach, I think there is a generational gap between the two that would make them appeal to different demographics of women."
But couldn't Gwyneth carve out a different piece of the pie? Maybe she's the Body + Soul Magazine to Martha Stewart's Living. (Oh wait, Martha owns both!) While Martha is the crafty homemaker helping women live better, couldn't Gwyneth be the happy homemaker that helps women feel better?
Perhaps, but Nelson isn't convinced. "While Gwyneth seems to have seamlessly parlayed her acting career into a lifestyle brand, she remains remarkably unremarkable," she says. "Unless she brings in talent to help her with more creative projects to sustain her readers, GOOP will not continue its growth – at least not to the level and at the rate which Martha Stewart can command."
A number of celebrity homemakers have tried to compete with Martha Stewart. Take the queen of the 30-minute meal Rachael Ray and celebrity interior decorator and Oprah darling Nate Berkus. But no one has succeeded for one reason – Martha taps into something that no one else has been able to: perfection. Even if she did a stint in jail, readers are constantly surprised by her ideas, tips and the way that she's able to feel like everyone's wise, crafty and down-to-earth neighbor, despite the fact that she's worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
And that is why Gwyneth will never be the next Martha.
Gwyneth revels in her extravagant and too-much-time-on-her-hands lifestyle more than many average folks can stand for. She calls thousand dollar Bottega Veneta black riding boots a bargain and a roast chicken with potatoes and farmer's market salad "fast food." She tells you about the stunning hotels that she's stayed in around the world, not taking into account that the average reader would rather save a few pennies and pack it in at the Hilton Garden Inn down the street. Yes, Martha is also aspirational at times, but she's also downright accessible and affordable. Forget buying pricey boots -- Martha will tell you how to sew your own.
Gwyneth is selling a lifestyle that only a movie star's salary can support. If she wants to be the next Martha, GOOP will need to shift from the "fabulous life of Gwyneth Paltrow" to the "the fabulous life of Gwyneth Paltrow – on a budget."
Says Gwyneth: "I have this incredible, blessed, sometimes difficult, very lucky, very unique life and I've gotten to travel all over the place and to work and live in different cities. ... I go on tour with my husband and go to cities I would never necessarily go to. So I started accruing all of this information. I am the person my friends call when they want to know: 'I am redoing this bathroom and I want a sink that looks midcentury, but a contemporary version of a midcentury. Where should I go?' or 'How do I make your (recipes)?'... I thought this would be a fun, creative way to share with friends."
Yes, her very rich friends. But what about the rest of us?
Reader comments (Page 2 of 2)
REALLY? DON'T HOLD BACK NOW. REALLY, TELL US WHAT YOU REALLY THINK.
ReplyJust think about it. Gwyneth and Martha look exactly alike. The only difference is twenty years. It is just a crossing of the guard really.
ReplyWhose gonna fill the shoes, like Oprah or Barbara Walters? Hmm?
This is just a game called, whose the Momma now? Whose it gonna be? No me? No you? It gotta be Gwyneth. Do I like her? Who cares? I ain't got no choice in the matter do I? DO I? I say DO I?
So, who give a rats? She's just like a George Clooney, but only with a dress and some guy she married who makes more money than the Queen? Who cares? What can I do? Feel sorry for myself and rot away in this apartment because America doesn't care about me? Because I can't find a job? Because I am young, but getting old really fast because I can't eat? Because I can't afford to breath? Who cares about Gwynny? I need to pay the bills, and I ain't got no money? Who cares????
Like the article say; What about the rest of us??
ReplyToo bad Brad Pitt dumped her. Her life is trying to get back at him and make him regret.
ReplyOnly thing she will never be is a felon
ReplyGwyneth who? No seriously, is this broad for real? I sneaked a peek at her website and the whole things would be just dandy if you have plenty of money (emphasis on "plenty"), friends and associates with names like Flannery and the "lovely Bitsy" or something to that effect, and you jet-set all over the place (trying on the Spring 2010 fashion collections now, and reading the script for your "real job" of movie making). This pile of horse manure is for those who apparently live the life of the idle rich. Does Paltrow really believe the common working woman with a REAL job and kids and a home and responsibility is going to whip up some gourmet menu for a picnic, or prance about her bedroom trying on the Spring 2010 fashions from some house of haute couture? Paltrow is WAY out of touch with the common woman, or even the somewhat upscale lady. Apparently she assumes everyone leads her lifestyle, which she "modestly" describes as this side of paradise or some such thing. Wake-up, Gwyneth, and don't quit your day job!
ReplyMartha Stewart should call her show "The Cooking Con". I used to respect her until she was convicted and then lost even more respect for her when she trashed Rachael Ray. At least Rachael Ray has class.
ReplyOh my God, I hope not. Do you think Gwyneth wants to spend time in prison?!?
ReplyGwyneth Paltrow has publicly put down the United States, and told how she thought American women were not as intelligent, while she did not graduate school. She loves the British, who would be speaking German if not for us, who are not concerned talking about work/money, but rather about tea, stimulating talk, etc. Comparing two entirely different economic/social environments is just ludicrous. The people she deals with are rich by relation/inheritance, like her, and so they can spend their time not worrying about their future. WHAT A BUNCH OF LOSERS! Of course, backtracking, for face saving, is a fine art of deception for financial reasons. Who can afford Hotel Arts Barcelona, Spain, her fave place, where the bottom price is around $388 a night in winter. How civilized are those soccer hooligans, huh Gwyneth? For a country with less history than England, we are a major superpower, heh? I personally can trace my ancestry back to 1676 here, and beyond to England. Can she? Americans are some of the most polite and generous people of the world, as confirmed by those I speak with overseas. How civilized was it when the British had the Indians, the Zulus, the Aborigines, the Irish, etc., under their thumb? She shows her arrogance and her utter contempt for the greatness of American society. DO NOT BITE THE HAND THAT FEEDS YOU. Look at Tiger Woods. His mistake was private. Your mistake took on the United States of America, and you can take your non-capitalistic ways (hehe) else where. By the way, I lived in Spain for 3 years, and she thinks she knows the Spanish people. Por favor, ¡Cállate! "He who has a thousand friends has not a friend to spare, and he who has one enemy will meet him everywhere" -Ali ibn-Abi-Talib, 4th Islamic Caliph - some material outsourced, sorry, not smart enough to write coherently. Her quote: "And it's a strange time to be an American now."
ReplyI THINK MARTHA MADE ENOUGH MONEY OFF US, ITS TIME FOR HER TO RETIRE,, WE CAN GLUE AND GLITTER OUR OWN PINE CONES. SHARE THE WEALTH. RETIRE.
Replygo paula deen
ReplyGwyn's has come on board at the wrong time(simply to many cooks etc) Martha came along when keeping house was not in vogue. That time was for women to get into the working world(it was more important) therefore the homelife was being threaten and along came Martha to re-educate the young women of that day;that there was a life outside of the working world. The younger generation needed to know there was more to life than work;there was still time for play,children, home life. She has accomplished all that! My best to Gwyneth you must give her credit! Only the years and experience will tell!-----Rose
ReplyPaltrow got where she is not on talent (she has very little) but because her parents are Blythe Danner and the late Bruce Paltrow. It's a common Hollywood story and the reality is that most of those in Hollywood today who are Paltrow's age (and younger) have a relative in the business, usually their parents. Paltrow won the Oscar (I don't know why, she was at best mediocre in "SIL") and then like most actors and actresses with marginal talent, she bombed. I imagine this is why she is trying to become some sort of domestic diva. When one career is obviously over (and hers is, at least as any sort of a leading lady), you try something else (which she is doing). Unfortunately, the role of Martha Stewart belongs lock, stock and barrel to Martha herself! I always thought Martha was silly for the most part anyway (as though we really need her to figure out how to fold a napkin or glue pine cones to a wreath). However, Martha has cornered the market (we really don't need dozens of domestic divas out there - one is more than enough), and I think Paltrow had better wake up to that fact. There was a woman of color some years back who stormed the Stewart bastion, trying to become the "Black" Martha Stewart. She lasted less time than it took me to type this. It's like all those silly "chefs" on television (Ray, Deen, etc.) who honestly believe we need thm to learn the art of boiling an egg. They make millions for doing what the rest of us have done for years! It's all about brand, yes, but Paltrow's brand will disappear in no time flat.
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