Ok, so I'm pretty sure you've seen Kim Kardashian's spread in Paper Magazine by now. If you haven't, you're probably living under a rock. Anyways, this thing showed up everywhere, and I mean EVERYWHERE. I couldn't get away from it, no matter how hard I tried. This lead me to re-ask myself this question for the 1000th time: Why is Kim Kardashian famous???!!!!
I know that I personally ask myself this question every time she shows up on my Facebook news feed, or as the subject of a front page story on the Huffington Post. She's not famous for being talented, obviously. However, she is still one of the most recognizable faces in the world. Now, how does that happen? Well, in my opinion, Kim K's "success" is due in part to genius management and PR.
Yep, it was her management and PR team that took Kim from sex tape infamy to world-wide superstardom. How did they do it though? Let's go back in time to 2007 when Keeping up With the Kardashians first aired on E!....
It was October, approximately 8 months after Kim's sex tape leaked on the internet, when one of the most successful reality shows first aired. No one knew who the Kardashians were, nor did they care. The only things attracting viewers were: Some people who knew that the late Robert Kardashian was O.J. Simpson's lawyer during the whole "O.J. Simpson controversy," and a whole bunch of people who heard of "that girl who had a sex tape earlier this year." The producers of the show were smart in showcasing Kim as the star of the show, mostly because she was the only semi-familiar face in the entire family besides Bruce Jenner.
E! promoted the show well, and people were genuinely interested in the Kardashians. The show immediately became a hit, and now it's been around for seven years! I know, I don't get it either. The Kardashian family's fame could have come and gone just as fast as any other one hit wonder, but they've been milking it so much that it actually kind of made them actual A-listers.
Kim's first step was succumbing to becoming the person everyone thought she was. Since her sex tape, people thought of Kim as a sex symbol. So, her management/PR team pitched Playboy, and she ended up being on the cover of a 2007 issue of Playboy. So, it's safe to say that 2007 was the year that launched Kim Kardashian.
The reality show remained successful and Momager Kris Jenner, along with the rest of Kim's team, came up with the idea of monetizing everything they could by sticking Kim's name on EVERYTHING. By everything, I mean everything. Like, there's a fricken video game with her name on it. Anyways she started charging for everything: club appearances, tweets, endorsements, etc. The more things she put her name on, the more people started to recognize her, which in turn caused an upward ascent on the price of the Kim Kardashian name. If your company wants Kim Kardashian to show up at a party or talk about your product, it's gonna cost you upwards $750,000.
So essentially, Kim's team did what any other PR professional does. They saw an opportunity, and they TOOK IT. Despite the fact that I strongly dislike every member of the Kardashian family, I do have to give props to the team that made her as famous as she is today.
And now, to the Paper magazine spread. So here's an example of a perfectly planned publicity stunt, and Kim's camp has crafted plenty of those. Pretty much anytime Kim is no longer trending on Twitter, something super crazy happens involving Kim Kardashian. What a coincidence right???? If you guessed that it's not a coincidence, you're most definitely right. Her televised wedding to Kris Humphries? PR stunt. Kim's Instagram post where all she's wearing is a teeny weeny white bikini? PR stunt. And of course, Kim bearing it all in this month's issue of Paper Magazine? DEFINITELY a PR stunt. She's been trending the entire week, and I'm sure that's just the way she wanted it.
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