In mid-March, the American Wellness Summit, held outside Austin, Texas, brought together wellness influencers and brand founders. It included elements of a Goop-style event: tea parties, sound healing meditations, renewable organic foods, cold plunges, and hefty admission prices, with tickets ranging from $1,500 to $3,300.
However, its main purpose was not to sell serums or supplements. Rather, the election of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an independent presidential candidate known for his long debunked claims about vaccines and autism, and who has occasionally embraced fringe theories about 9/11 and SSRI drugs. This was to gather support for the movement. And Covid-19.
Although his views often deviate far from the mainstream and are offensive to many, his support is very real and, according to a Quinnipiac poll conducted at the end of March, is among the top polled candidates for the presidential election. 13% of voters voted for him. And the wellness industry’s elite are among his earliest and most ardent supporters.
“What’s really interesting about RFK is that he brings people together on both sides, because you have people on the left who care about the environment and the spread of chronic disease, and people on the right who care about border security,” Nikki said. Bostwick is the founder of TheFrest, a wellness brand that makes products such as Saffron He Lattes and bath salts, which are sold at retailers such as Saks Fifth Avenue.
Bostwick, a Wellness Summit attendee, first met Kennedy in 2018 and is holding a fundraiser for Kennedy in Orange County later this month. She regularly posts in support of him on both her personal Instagram and brand page, as well as other viewpoints such as her belief in chemtrails.
Other wellness stars in Kennedy’s orbit include Aubrey Marcus, who co-founded the supplement brand Onnit with podcaster Joe Rogan. Marcus, a co-organizer of Kennedy’s Wellness Summit, sold Onnit to Unilever in 2021 and stepped down as CEO the same year. Speaking at the Austin event was Shiva Rose Afshar, wellness influencer and founder of Shiva Rose Beauty, which is carried in high-end retailers and boutiques such as Goop, Mohawk General Store, and Shen Beauty. Nitsa Citrin, former creative director of the supplement brand Sunpotion sold at Erewhon, also served as co-host.
Kennedy’s campaign included many statements that were left-leaning, right-leaning, or otherwise unclassifiable. But it’s his rejection of the medical establishment and the libertarian “live and let live” philosophy that has proven appealing to many in the wellness and alternative medicine communities. And even though Kennedy appears to be pulling votes away from both former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden, West Coast wealthy, cash-strapped types are likely to have solid support, at least on paper. This is also why it has effectively separated people. In the Biden camp.
“His main message to voters is that we are naturally It means that we have lost the ability to heal ourselves.” “[RFK Jr.’s rhetoric] It touches a very deep traditionalist nerve within a culture that many people consider to be a nominally liberal or even progressive culture. ”
The same rhetoric made Kennedy’s campaign radioactive for many others. As a leading opponent of vaccines, he has been accused by experts of contributing to low vaccination rates that have led to outbreaks of measles and other preventable diseases. He has occasionally made anti-Semitic, racist and racist claims, including that Jews and Chinese people are “the most immune” to the coronavirus and that SSRI drugs are linked to mass shootings. It may appear to support other objectionable conspiracy theories.
“You have to look at the facts and decide whether you trust the National Academy of Medicine or you trust Bobby Kennedy,” said Stephen Kennedy Smith, the candidate’s cousin and founder of Longevity Skin Care and Supplements. Ta. The brand is Alamore. He is one of many Kennedy relatives who spoke out against Kennedy’s campaign.
Charles Eisenstein, the Kennedy campaign’s head of messaging, told BoF that coverage of the candidate’s most inflammatory statements “takes things out of context and makes him look like a crazy person.” “I’m working on it,” he said.
While Smith’s claims resonate with many Biden supporters, they are unlikely to sway Austin’s many wellness influencers and Instagram fans. As with other culture war fronts, both countries are speaking primarily to their own sides.
Mr. Remski said Mr. Kennedy has spent much of his campaign projecting a message of “healthism,” including a video from an Austin event in which the 70-year-old candidate performs pull-ups to a cheering crowd. It is said that there are such things. Kennedy frequently shows off his muscles in shirtless photos, and he has said he is undergoing testosterone replacement therapy. Although he is not much younger than Trump or Biden, the images stand out in a campaign where questions about the candidates’ ages and health have dominated conversations.
“There’s always an aspect of personal health performance that he uses in his political work that really resonates with influencers who build their brands around personal examples of ‘this is how I structure my day.'” This is how I optimize my immune system,” Remski said.
In the coming months, the question will be whether Kennedy’s advocacy will remain on the fringes of wellness, such as the use of hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19, or whether it can break into the mainstream at the level of kombucha.
Like other wellness founders touting new products, Kennedy’s campaign is leveraging its connections to the entertainment world. nominee’s wife, “Curb Your Enthusiasm” star Cheryl Hines (who launched a beauty line last year) and Alicia Silver, who founded the supplement brand MyKind Organics in collaboration with vitamin label Garden of Life. There’s also Stone. Citrine, who left Sun Potion in 2019, is engaged to veteran LA event promoter Brent Bolthouse, the longtime planner of Neon Carnival, Levi’s annual Coachella afterparty next week. There is. Carson Meyer, founder of body care brand C & The Moon, beloved by the Kardashians, posted support for Kennedy’s campaign, including at a hiking event with the candidate in Malibu. A doula for celebrities such as Gigi Hadid, she is the daughter of Ron Meyer, former vice chairman of NBCUniversal and founder talent agent of Creative Artists Agency.
Wellness queen Gwyneth Paltrow also said: new york times She listened to Kennedy’s interview on the podcast “All-In,” co-hosted by four technology founders and investors: David Sachs, Chamath Palihapitiya, Jason Calakanis, and David Friedberg, and heard Kennedy’s perspective. said that he found it “interesting.”
She added that his position was “difficult, let’s think about it that way.”
