The Mirror

HuffPost Cabana Boy

Betsy Rothstein Gossip blogger
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An internal ad? A story?

Tough to tell these days. On HuffPost, they have their special brand of internal ass kissery with lots of good-for-the-soul types of stories on how to de-stress. So much so, we’re calling this feature “HuffPost Cabana Boy.”

For instance, in the section “HuffPost GPS for the Soul” they splash a headline for a story inside. It reads: “How to De-Stress With Your Smartphone.” Considering I don’t find my smartphone very relaxing, I  quickly clicked. I’m taken into HuffPost’s “The Third Metric” section (where we’re supposed to redefine success beyond money and power), and it’s little more than an internal ad about a GPS for the Soul app shrouded in a regular story format. The “story” claims that by doing things like recharging, we can stave off the common cold.

The app features relaxation guides from “experts” like Deepak Chopra and, of course, Arianna. I can think of no better way to bliss out than meditating to the sounds of the HuffPost editor in chief’s Greek accent. Come to think of it, how great would it be if Rosetta Stone offered Arianna English classes? Who wouldn’t want to get that accent down?

gpssoul

Shockingly, the only person quoted in the “story” is none other than Huffington. How many plugs can a story on HuffPost get in for Huffington? Answer: At this point, don’t even bother to count.

“The philosophy behind it is based on two truths about human beings. First, that we all have within us a centered place of wisdom, harmony, and balance,” HuffPost President and Editor-in-Chief Arianna Huffington wrote about the app last year. “The second truth is that we’re all going to veer away from that place, again and again and again. That’s the nature of life. In fact, we may be off-course more often than we are on-course. So what we need is a great course-correcting mechanism — a GPS for the Soul — because otherwise the consequences can be serious, in terms of our health, our relationships, our jobs, and even our country.”