Although her media relevance in Spain is no longer what it was, Gwyneth Paltrow remains a top-level face in the United States. The actress, Oscar winner and businesswoman at the head of Goop, has starred in a new advertising campaign for a luxury real estate project in Israel that is bringing her a considerable wave of criticism. The ad presents an idyllic and aspirational vision of the country at a time when the war in Gaza continues, almost seeming like something out of one of the most disturbing episodes of ‘Black Mirror’. Let’s say this no longer lends itself as much to easy jokes as it did when Goop sold a vagina-scented candle.
The spot begins with Paltrow waking up in her New York apartment. Between comments about how difficult it is to get up early as witty as “even my coffee needs a coffee,” the actress goes for a run in Central Park. Because yes, the commercial was filmed in New York, not in Israel.
After a sequence of polished and impeccable images, almost uncomfortably stylized, Paltrow goes out into the street dressed in an elegant white suit, gets into a chauffeur-driven car and, when he asks her if she is headed to New York, she smiles: “Herzliya, Israel.” Next, the campaign features 51 Park, a two-tower luxury residential complex located next to a park in this coastal city north of Tel Aviv.
The headlines about an alleged “smear campaign against Gwyneth Paltrow” have not been long in coming, while the actress – who is married to the Jewish producer Brad Falchuk – has not spoken online, for the moment. Some already call her names like “queen of genocide” or, making a play on her name, “Gwenocide.”
The feeling of parallel reality is evident: Paltrow sells a fantasy of well-being, exclusivity and luxury completely isolated from the political and humanitarian context that has dominated the international conversation about Israel for more than a year. This carefully filtered version of reality has a lot of ‘Black Mirror’, so much so that it ends up being strange and disturbing.
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