This story has been updated to reflect comment from Goop and Body Vibes.
NASA has a bone to pick with Gwyneth Paltrow’s lifestyle brand Goop.
In a post on Thursday, Goop promoted “wearable healing stickers” that are sold by a group called Body Vibes, CNN reports. In a portion of the product’s description on Goop’s website, which has since been removed, Goop said that the stickers are “made with the same conductive carbon material NASA uses to line space suits so they can monitor an astronaut’s vitals during wear.”
But NASA representatives told CNN that it doesn’t use use carbon material to line its suits, and its current spacesuit has no carbon fibers in it at all.
In addition, Mark Shelhamer, former chief scientist at NASA’s human research division, told Gizmodo that the description was “a load of BS,” adding, “not only is the whole premise like snake oil, the logic doesn’t even hold up. If they promote healing, why do they leave marks on the skin when they are removed?”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BViDo8Qn6c_/?taken-by=mybodyvibes&hl=en
https://www.instagram.com/p/BTcKwhyB5sn/?taken-by=mybodyvibes&hl=en
The $60-per-10-pack stickers also “come pre-programmed to an ideal frequency, allowing them to target imbalances” and “fill in the deficiencies in your reserves, creating a calming effect, smoothing out both physical tension and anxiety,” according to Goop’s description of the product.
In response to the controversy, a Goop representative told Fortune in a statement that the “advice and recommendations included on Goop are not formal endorsements and the opinions expressed by the experts and companies we profile do not necessarily represent the views of goop.”
“Our content is meant to highlight unique products and offerings, find open-minded alternatives, and encourage conversation. We constantly strive to improve our site for our readers, and are continuing to improve our processes for evaluating the products and companies featured. Based on the statement from NASA, we’ve gone back to the company to inquire about the claim and removed the claim from our site until we get additional verification.”
In a statement to Fortune, a Body Vibes spokesperson apologized for the error, adding that “we never intended to mislead anyone.”
“We have learned that our engineer was misinformed by a distributor about the material in question, which was purchased for its unique specifications. We regret not doing our due diligence before including the distributor’s information in the story of our product,” the spokesperson continued. “However, the origins of the material do not anyway impact the efficacy of our product. Body Vibes remains committed to offering a holistic lifestyle tool and we stand by the quality and effectiveness of our product.”
