Google Wife Still Determined to Get Your DNA
Remember last year's Fashion Week party for Anne Wojcicki (Mrs. Sergey Brin) and Linda Avey's gene-testing site 23andme.com, where the likes of Ivanka Trump touted their newly-discovered genetic blessedness while other attendees spit into test tubes to enjoy the scientific equivalent of a palm reading? While spending money to find out that your shortness is hereditary, or that you'll go bald at 35 then succumb to heart disease at 50, isn't likely to be high on people's priority list during a recession, the company, which is backed by Wendi Deng and Harvey Weinstein, is still going. It is, however, employing some ingenious/desperate new marketing tactics.
You might not care about your own genetic trajectory of doom, but what about your unborn child's? That the question Wojcicki and Avey are asking pregnant women, who for just $399 can find out which medical conditions they, and therefore their offspring, have a propensity for.
"It's all about whether you are ready to become part of the genetic revolution," preaches Avey. "I think in the future, we'll think, 'Wow, you didn't do this? And you could have known that your child was predisposed to things that you could have tried to prevent?'" In other words, do you wish to be seen as a complete barbarian who willfully chose not to do the best for your kid? Fine, but don't think you'll ever be able to hold your head up in polite society.
