Gwyneth Paltrow has blamed "the media" and its "clickbaity" articles for the failure of goop's vagina-scented candle (a candle that, incidentally, resulted in a lawsuit due to its reported tendency to explode).
On her Instagram Story (viewed by Exclaim!), someone asked Paltrow about the thought process behind the candle, and she reiterated her prior assertion that it was "punk rock."
She said, "It was a really strong feminist statement. So many women have been raised, at least in my generation, to think there's something wrong with themselves, or that the vagina is weird or gross, or something to be ashamed of. And so the candle was supposed to be a very strong, punk rock kind of 'F you' to anyone who ever made us feel like that."
Honestly, that's not a bad explanation, especially when she added, "It was not supposed to actually smell like anyone's vagina. It smelled like roses and all kinds of things, and that was the point."
Clearly the candle was intended to be provocative and spark discussion — but even though it accomplished exactly that, Paltrow went on to blame "the media" for how it was received. "Unfortunately," she said, "the media being what it is and things being so clickbaity, people tried to make it about something else — which is kind of a shame because it was really meant to be this strong feminist statement."
She added, "We no longer make the candle," leaving out the whole part where customers said that the candle exploded and caused an "inferno."
Selling a vagina-scented candle that explodes and sets people's homes on fire? Frankly, that's the most punk rock thing we've ever heard.
On her Instagram Story (viewed by Exclaim!), someone asked Paltrow about the thought process behind the candle, and she reiterated her prior assertion that it was "punk rock."
She said, "It was a really strong feminist statement. So many women have been raised, at least in my generation, to think there's something wrong with themselves, or that the vagina is weird or gross, or something to be ashamed of. And so the candle was supposed to be a very strong, punk rock kind of 'F you' to anyone who ever made us feel like that."
Honestly, that's not a bad explanation, especially when she added, "It was not supposed to actually smell like anyone's vagina. It smelled like roses and all kinds of things, and that was the point."
Clearly the candle was intended to be provocative and spark discussion — but even though it accomplished exactly that, Paltrow went on to blame "the media" for how it was received. "Unfortunately," she said, "the media being what it is and things being so clickbaity, people tried to make it about something else — which is kind of a shame because it was really meant to be this strong feminist statement."
She added, "We no longer make the candle," leaving out the whole part where customers said that the candle exploded and caused an "inferno."
Selling a vagina-scented candle that explodes and sets people's homes on fire? Frankly, that's the most punk rock thing we've ever heard.
