In this bonus episode, journalist and The Gospel of Wellness author Rina Raphael returns to discuss how the wellness industry is changing to respond to more skeptical consumers—and why that might be making it even harder to tell what’s truly evidence-based.
Rina Raphael is a journalist and the author of The Gospel of Wellness: Gyms, Gurus, Goop, and the False Promise of Self-Care. She writes for the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, New York magazine, and Fast Company, among other publications. Her wellness industry newsletter, Well To Do, covers trends and offers market analysis.
Resources and References
Rina’s book, The Gospel of Wellness: Gyms, Gurus, Goop, and the False Promise of Self-Care
Rina’s newsletter, Well To Do
Rinas pieces on science-washing in the New York Times and her Substack
Christy’s latest book, The Wellness Trap: Break Free from Diet Culture, Disinformation, and Dubious Diagnoses and Find Your True Well-Being
Subscribe on Substack for bonus episodes and more
Christy’s online course, Intuitive Eating Fundamentals
Transcript
Disclaimer: The below transcription is primarily rendered by AI, so errors may have occurred. The original audio file is available above.
Christy Harrison: Hey there. Welcome to this bonus episode of Rethinking Wellness. I'm Christy, and my guest today is journalist and author Rina Raphael, who's back to discuss how the wellness industry is changing to respond to more skeptical consumers and why that might actually make it even harder to tell what is truly evidence-based. And now without any further ado, here's my conversation with Rina Raphael. So thanks Rina for coming back for this bonus Q&A. I'm really excited to talk with you more.
Rina Raphael: Yeah, I'm excited too as well. Let's get into it.
Christy Harrison: Yeah. So one question we didn't have a chance to get into on the main episode is where do we stand now? What is changing about the wellness industry? Do you see it getting better or worse or just evolving in different ways and are consumers changing too? You sort of alluded to this a bit in the main interview, but I'd love to talk more about that.
Rina Raphael: Yeah. I am seeing a bunch of changes over the last, I would say year and a half. One is that I think Covid 19 really inspired a lot of Americans to evaluate their health and wellness and also their health knowledge. So you saw a lot more consumers be interested in evidence-based medicine or looking for the science. On the flip side, the pandemic also pushed some groups to become more suspicious of the medical establishment, but a bit of common sense, but a bit of just also the Covid 19 sort of response. You now see consumers be looking for a lot more evidence. I think part of it is also that during the pandemic, we also were barred from a lot of the things that we thought were crucial to us. So the manicures, the spa treatments, the retreats, a lot of those were inaccessible during lockdown.
So a lot of Americans coming out of the pandemic are like, what do I actually really need for my health? Do I really need all these things? And if I am going to do something, does it have any Scientific evidence behind it? The other thing is that you'll see that Gen Z is really kind of rebelling against the last decade of wellness, specifically this sort of perfectionist, productivity pressured version of it. They kind of Associate that with the girl boss era that was working so hard. So you'll see a lot of Gen Zers say, “I refuse to work that hard. It shouldn't be something that's a burden. I should be able to enjoy it.” And you'll also hear them say things like, “wellness to me could be hanging out with my friends. It could be listening to Taylor Swift. It doesn't have to be something that I spent a ton of money on.”
Obviously they have less money than other generations, but there's also something to be said about the fact that they don't automatically Associate it with consumerism and especially with Gen Z. I mean, a lot of them were raised by Gen X by skeptical parents. So I think they have just a bit more critical of an I. And so when I interview a lot of college students, they'll send me things like, “if I want to have an Oreo, I can have an Oreo and I'm not going to drop dead. It's your generation that was terrified of Oreos. That's not going to kill me.” So I think they have a bit of a more moderate approach to this stuff that I think is really sort of shifting the industry, because what you're finding now is that a bunch of brands that are trying to get Gen Z, especially when it comes to food and snack brands, they're moving away from that fear-mongering messaging because it doesn't work on that generation.
That generation wants levity. They want humor, they want happiness, and they're not going to be terrified into a purchase as much as previous generations. So that's number one. Now, also, you'll find that coming out of the pandemic where we have a more common sense approach, you'll see that we don't have as many ridiculous items. So I don't know if you remember this, but let's talk about four or five years ago. Every week there was a new ridiculous item. There'd be CBD-infused leggings and activated charcoal toothpicks. There was just something ridiculous all the time, and you've just sort of found that you don't see that as much anymore. And that's partially because the consumer bought a bunch of this stuff and it didn't work. They shoved in a drawer and now they're like, “I'm not going to be fall for it.” The next time I say that, by now the average consumer has a cabinet full to the brim with CBD stuff that doesn't work. And so now they're pausing a bit more before they buy all in on the next trend. So that is good. I think that we're seeing that these sentiments are affecting the industry. However, the drawback is that the industry is responding to it by doing more science-washing.
