The Wellness Vibe is Shifting
The Goop era is on its way out.
I’m reading Chuck Klosterman’s latest book The Nineties, and it's making me think about how future generations will define the Lululemon-clad wellness mania of the last decade. How will they view a time when we wore athleisure everywhere, discussed plant-based diets ad nauseam, and put our faith in CBD tinctures?
How will history treat Gwyneth’s carnival of pseudoscience?
As I document in my upcoming book The Gospel of Wellness, there are myriad reasons why wellness took off, specifically with U.S. women. In many ways, wellness became (and was treated much like) fashion. New York Fashion Week hasn’t been relevant in years! Media outlets devote more ink to celebrities’ meticulous self-care routines than whatever Michael Kors puts on the runway.
Take the Sex and the City reboot. Honestly, I felt like the Peloton (hilariously used as an execution tool) was the most culturally relevant item in that series—a series that was once heavily defined by fashion. As many of my friends noted, no one dresses like that anymore. New Yorkers rarely ever wear heels, let alone stilettos. And Just Like That’s Carrie Bradshaw was crystallized in a former “vibe,” a term that went viral following a New York magazine piece on how trends define cultural moments.
So yes, wellness is pervasive. It’s now mainstream culture. And yet, to quote New York mag, the vibe is already shifting. Wellness, like any industry, isn’t immune to the cruel fickleness of trends, even on a micro-level. Bone broth (2014) gave way to coconut water (2015) then to green juice (2016) before skipping to kombucha (2017) and “functional elixirs” (2019). And so on.
In the last two years, wellness experienced a seismic shift. There was a time when a new product trend sprouted every month. Now they feel few and far apart. Did we just run out of ideas? Or maybe decimate the media to the point where they stopped covering the sector as extensively?
Partially, but it’s more than that. COVID-19 pushed us to reevaluate health purchases, even health itself, with a bigger emphasis on sectors like mental health. Scientific evidence is being pushed to the forefront instead of waiting patiently by the sidelines. People aren’t as easily duped by “gut healthy” tonics or “stress-relief” capsules that were nothing more than empty promises.
I spoke to one wellness publicist who told me her firm is more selective in taking on clients; they won’t represent just anyone anymore. They require substantial evidence-based benefits and full ingredient transparency, less “woo woo” or fantastical marketing terms. “We haven’t drunk the Kool-Aid in a while,” she said.
The pendulum always swings hard the other way, and our current course correction is no exception. Quite like how the commercialized, overproduced rock and pop of the ‘80s gave way to the (seemingly) understated, “real” feel of ‘90s grunge, so too we’re seeing a response to over-consumerist, self-involved wellness.
People are tired of being told what to buy and what to do. They’re fed up with being shamed about how to look. They scoff at influencers “trying so hard.”
A sobriety is coming. And it’s dethroning the elitist “Goopy” era of yore.
If once we enthusiastically and blindly embraced charcoal-“activated” toothpaste and cannabis-infused seltzer, people now take a fine-toothed comb to screeching marketing labels. By now, everyone has a bathroom cabinet filled to the brim with shit that doesn’t work. Sure, some things work. But after one too many hopeful purchases, the consumer has become a more discerning wellness shopper.
Women, especially, have caught on. They notice the patronizing nature of self-care discourse. They’re exhausted by toxic body image pressures (i.e, the gymfication of “hustle culture”). They reject weight-loss mandates dolled up in aspirational “health” lingo, as evidenced by WW—formerly Weight Watchers—still reinforcing a math-like system for eating a damn sandwich.
They’re also annoyed by the exclusionary consumerism that equates health with the “right” purchases. They’ve caught on to the lack of reliable scientific studies behind many lauded product categories.
They’ve had it with the misogyny of an industry that repeatedly targets women. Heck, I’d love to see men terrified of parabens!
Even the media is slowly latching on to these complaints, with far more outlets calling out growing exasperation with an industry that has proven itself the exact opposite of its intentions: unwell.
People want what works and they’re reconfiguring what wellness truly means. We might ditch useless Moon Juice supplements, but that hasn’t lessened our desire to feel better. And there isn’t less money in this industry, it’s just being funneled elsewhere. As one industry analyst told me: Peloton’s popularity might be shrinking, but the outdoor market is exploding.
Our new “vibe” is less crisis-focused (as per peak pandemic era) and more reflective. Consumers are not as interested in high-end consumption surrounding boutique gym classes and leggings. Wellness, they’ve realized, is far more expansive.
I have a lot more to say about this shift and where we’re headed, with plenty more examples and industry insider takes that won’t fit into an email newsletter. (I’ll likely save it for an article.) And this is partially what my book investigates.
Wellness isn’t going away. It’s here to stay along with plenty of suspect tinctures. But the smart companies—those that will last—will be sure to roll with the incoming vibe.
News and Trends:
FitOn raises $40 million in funding: The fast-growing fitness app featuring celebrities like Gabrielle Union and Jonathan Van Ness just raised its series C. It also acquired the corporate wellness platform Peerfit. (TechCrunch)
Noom will pay $56 million to settle a class-action lawsuit: The dieting app’s users claim it was torturous to cancel the 14-day trial period and avoid automatic enrollment. (National Law Review)
Crystals for weight loss is a thing now? “Amethyst is a popular stone that’s thought to help balance out your hormones while boosting your metabolism.” *Sigh* I can’t anymore, folks. (Women’s Health)
Tom Brady’s athleisurewear line is now available at Nordstrom: Like Paltrow’s line, it ain’t cheap. (BRADY at Nordstrom)
Massage brand Theragun gets into retail: Looks like Brookstone has been resurrected? (LA Times)
Eating disorder recovery platform Equip secures $58 million: The virtual care system sets up patients with a therapist, physician, peer mentor, family mentor, and dietitian. (MobiHealthNews)
Peloton adds video game feature: The new Lanebreak feature adds a touch of “Tron” to interactive rides. (The Verge)
Psychiatry-focused telehealth company Minded raises $25 million: The startup aims to make mental health prescriptions and ongoing care easier to access from one’s home. (TechCrunch)
Deepak Chopra gets a stake in The Healing Company, plans M&A spree: The goal is to buy and scale 15 direct-to-consumer health brands focusing on holistic medicine and supplements. (CNBC)
Gyms are going “green,” but are they really? Some questions to ask if you’re curious. (Washington Post)
Nestlé buys a majority stake in protein powders: “Nestlé has undergone a major transformation in recent years in an effort to increase growth and focus its efforts on better-for-you foods as well as its health science business.” (Food Dive)
Ro raises $150 million: The men’s telemedicine platform is now valued at $7 billion. (PR Newswire)
Deeper dives:
What’s Going On With Glossier Lately?
The crown jewel of millennial beauty has taken a hit, and it isn’t just its employees who have lost faith in the company. “Before the pandemic, a lot of people were into chasing a perfect, polished and effortless lifestyle but we all realized just how much work we were putting in. Life isn't effortless and if it is, it's only for 1% of people. In the pandemic, many ended up with acne flare-ups and Glossier isn't really known for treating anything like that.” (Refinery29)
How To Want Less (From a Happiness Science Expert)
“Mick Jagger's satisfaction dilemma—and ours—starts with a rudimentary formula: Satisfaction = getting what you want. It’s so simple, and yet its power is deeply encoded within us. Give a 3-year-old the french fry she is reaching for and see her satisfied expression. But then, after a couple of seconds, watch the wanting return. And that’s the actual problem, isn’t it? The Stones’ song should really have been titled ‘(I Can’t Keep No) Satisfaction.’ It’s almost as if our brains are programmed to prevent us from enjoying anything for very long.” (The Atlantic)
The Bad Ideas Our Brains Can’t Shake
“When you give humans a piece of information, we are very good at connecting it to things we already know. But if you retract that piece of information and people have already made these connections, you can’t go back and magically take that information out of a person’s head because then that whole understanding of the information they’ve connected it to is different. So people will then rely on their original understanding of things they’ve incorporated.” (Galaxy Brain)
