Gwyneth Paltrow's bizarre video about a probiotic went viral because people thought it was a terrible ad. The brand says everyone's got it wrong.

• People are mocking Gwyneth Paltrow for a 19-second video posted on TikTok by probiotics brand, Seed.

• Many seemed to assume the brand paid Paltrow for the ad and were shocked at how low-effort it looked.

• But a spokesperson for Seed told Insider it was never a paid partnership at all.

A 19-second video of Gwyneth Paltrow that appeared to be an ad for a probiotics brand has gone viral, but not in a good way. The clip has caused widespread mockery and inspired memes as people assumed she had been paid to promote the product and were shocked at how little effort she seemed to have put into creating the video.

It turns out, the video was never intended to be an ad at all, according to the brand and Paltrow herself.

On August 25, the probiotics brand Seed posted a TikTok video showing Paltrow putting a small green pill between her lips and then holding it up to the camera. Kathryn Ryan, the director of communications and media relations at Seed, told Insider that Paltrow first posted the video on her Instagram Stories. It is not currently available to view on her account.

In the clip, the actor could be heard saying, "This is a 24-strain probiotic. Not the kind that you find in yogurt and stuff like that."

She paused as the sound of what appeared to be an espresso machine started whirring in the background. "Moses is steaming some milk," she said, referring to her 17-year-old son from her marriage to Coldplay singer and songwriter, Chris Martin. Then she turned her attention back to the camera.

"It's so good for bloating and regularity," she said, before abruptly ending the video.

The assumption from many viewers was that this was a paid ad, and Paltrow's perceived unprofessionalism in filming it sparked mockery online.

Some people created parodies of the video. In one, a TikToker laughed at how "half-assed" the "ad" is.

"She really said, 'You're gonna get what I give you. I don't care if there's machinery going on in the background. And you're gonna post it, and you're gonna like it,'" she said.

Many viewers seemed amused, praising her for acting so "unbothered," and one person wrote that the video was "genius marketing."

But it seems the whole thing was unintentional.

Another video also posted by @nmillz1 later that day showed what appeared to be a screen recording of one of Paltrow's Instagram stories.

The post is not currently available on her account, but in the reuploaded clip Paltrow referenced the video and said, "That was not a paid ad at all. That was literally just me taking my probiotic. The internet is a funny place."

In a statement to Insider, Seed's representative Ryan confirmed that the company did not pay Paltrow for the ad.

"When Gwyneth posted her video, we saw the making of the perfect 'anti-ad," Ryan told Insider. "We're enjoying how much everyone is enjoying the video."

In recent years, people have become increasingly skeptical about influencers not disclosing ads. TikTokers are required to enable the commercial content disclosure toggle when posting paid ads on TikTok according to the platform's branded content policy. However, there are few consequences for those who don't, Vox reported in July 2022, which may explain why so many wrongly assumed that despite it not being labeled as an ad, Paltrow's video was in fact a paid partnership.

Paltrow rose to fame in the 1990s as an actor, and founded her wellness and lifestyle brand, Goop, in 2008. Her products, including perhaps most famously her vagina candle, are often memed online. In March, TikTokers mocked and applauded Paltrow's "out of touch" comments in a trial after a retired optometrist sued her for negligence when she crashed into him on a beginner ski slope at Deer Valley. The jury found Paltrow was not at fault.

Representatives for Gwyneth Paltrow did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

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