Follow the Rabbit is a (video) podcast that invites you into the messy, interconnected world of cultural research. Throughout Season 3, we're exploring the emergence of health as luxury and how it's reshaping our understanding of both concepts in contemporary culture.
In this conversation, we examine two contrasting manifestations of health as luxury that reveal fundamental shifts in how we think about wellness and status. We start with Erewhon, the LA grocery store that transformed from a simple health food market into a cultural phenomenon where $20 smoothies become social media events and Balenciaga collaborations turn grocery shopping into luxury theater.
From there, we analyze AG1, the venture-backed supplement company that has become the third-largest podcast advertiser while selling just a single product. Through these case studies, we explore how social media transforms health into entertainment, the evolving relationship between exclusivity and accessibility, and why some luxury health experiences succeed while others fall flat. The discussion reveals how our understanding of health has shifted from pure performance optimization to a more holistic but also more complex cultural phenomenon.
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction and Context
01:33 Erewhon: From Grocery Store to Cultural Phenomenon
08:48 The Business of Instagram-worthy Health
16:47 AG1: The Evolution of Health Marketing
27:19 The Paradox of Luxury Through Mass Media
34:43 Health Culture: Past and Present
You can also watch this episode on YouTube at https://youtu.be/mgsRwe9pEk8
