Tag Archives: Kim Kardashian

Branding, , , , ,

Kylie Jenner, 17, is an American reality television personality, socialite, model and fashion designer. She is Kris Jenner’s daughter and the stepsister to Kim, Courtney, Khloe and Rob Kardashian. She been on the cover of Seventeen magazine, modeled for Sears and other brands, raised money for charity and has nine million Twitter followers.

Last week she launched the #kyliejennerchallenge on social media. It encouraged girls to give themselves fashionably puffy lips using a natural technique: blowing hard on a shot glass with a closed mouth.  It backfired.  Yes, there was backlash. But it increased her visibility without undermining her brand. From a reputation management point of view, she is in a prime position to make a real impact.

Here are five ways she can. Once a week:

1.  Tweet about the rising number of Syrian refugees. The crisis has driven ten million people from their homes. Of those, 51% are female.  Many are between 12 and 17, the age of most Kylie Jenner fans. Don’t let them be forgotten.

@Refugees

2. Spread the word about lost, missing and runaway children and teenagers who might be in serious danger. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has sharable facts about how communities can help autistic children from becoming lost, as well as a hotline runaways can call for help.  (According to their statistics, one in six runaways in 2014 was likely a sex trafficking victim.)

@missingkids

3. Launch a challenge to pledge one million monthly donations of $10 to Doctors Without Borders, which serves citizens in countries facing the worst humanitarian crises. Right now they are sending eight teams to assist those affected by the earthquake in Nepal.

@MSF_USA

4. Help kids learn how to stop, respond to and avoid being hurt by bullying. Tell them about the StopBullying app and that the National Suicide Prevention Hotline is available 24/7 if they need help.

@StopBullyingGov

5. Support the Human Rights campaign for lesbian, gay and transgender rights.  The violence facing transgender people is a national crisis.

@HRC

Kylie already leverages her celebrity to support philanthropic causes. As a supporter of The Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, she auctions off her used clothing on eBay and all profits go to it. She has helped raise serious money for several other organizations, including the Robin Hood Foundation. We say take the #KylieJennerChallenge to the next level—and keep it there for a year.  The results will be big…and show the power of #truebeauty.

 
 
Crisis Management, Internet Legal Issues, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Recent revelations about widespread hacking of celebrities’ accounts tell us a lot about the current state of online privacy and security.

While Cameron Diaz fairly called the hacking a “major violation” and Emma Watson noted that the reaction to the leaked photos has been even more disturbing, Kim Kardashian zeroed in on another important point. “I think it’s a big wake up call for people to make sure they have every privacy setting,” she told the BBC.

Steps to safety

Navigating the online world is part of our everyday lives, but the terrain can still be treacherous.

Despite the unwelcome attention, hacking victim Jennifer Lawrence has managed set a great example. By confronting the issue head-on, “she turned what could have been a minor embarrassment into marketing gold, reinforcing her own celebrity-brand values and differentiation,” writes Wall Street Journal columnist Gregory J. Millman.

Many tech companies have been reluctant to restrict questionable content such as the recently leaked photos (because of both free speech concerns and the valuable traffic they can bring), but there are signs of potential change. “Twitter, YouTube and others may ultimately decide to take a more active approach to policing user-generated content,” observes the New York Times’ Mike Isaac, and Facebook just introduced a new “Privacy Checkup” feature to help users manage what they share and with whom. Such steps might help, but for now the forecast for online privacy remains the same: cloudy with a chance of embarrassment.

 
 
Social Media, , , , , , ,

There’s been a lot of talk about Vogue’s choice to feature Kim Kardashian and Kanye West on its April cover, but Christina Binkley’s piece for the Wall Street Journal’s Speakeasy blog zeroes in on an important point:

Kim has 20.3 million Twitter followers, to Kanye’s 10.3 million. Vogue has a mere 3.63 million followers, so the magazine has everything to gain from this association, in a publishing world that is increasingly focused on social media.

Kim and Kanye landing a Vogue cover demonstrates how building and maintaining social media followers has emerged as a type of equity.

Cover Sparked Heated Debate

This isn’t anything new for Kim, who can make five figures from a single sponsored tweet, but it’s understandable that Anna Wintour’s decision has sparked heated debate. “Arguments reverberating around the Internet over the last few days have largely focused on this central question: Does Kim Kardashian deserve to be on the cover of Vogue?” observes the Washington Post’s Cara Kelly. Sarah Michelle Gellar and others appear concerned that Vogue is compromising its standards. But more likely those standards are just evolving.

Wintour explained her decision by invoking the magazine’s history of highlighting “those who define the culture at any given moment.” And social media now plays a significant role in culture. Perhaps Vogue’s choice of Kim and Kanye is a signal of the magazine’s adjustment to that significance—“evidence of a shift in target audience toward younger, more socially connected readers,” as Adweek puts it.