Are there no moral depths the Kardashians will not plunder to sell products that they probably don't even use? Let's find out.
Only four days ago Kim Kardashian was slammed for promoting 130 calorie meal replacement shakes on Instagram (this, from a woman who just marketed a line of perfumes based on her love of 'confident women no matter what shape or size they are'). And Kendall Jenner is now facing backlash for using language usually associated with #metoo or #effyourbeautystandards statements to...sell spot cream?
Well, we say Kendall but really we mean Kris Jenner. It's always Kris. On Friday she uploaded a post on Instagram suggesting that her 23-year-old daughter would be revealing her 'most raw story' on Sunday night.
With hashtags like #bethechange and #shareyourstory, Kendall had the collective eyes of the internet trained on her instagram page by Sunday night. After all, this is the syntax of social media language that capitalizes on stories we've become accustomed to seeing in association with #metoo and #effyourbeauty standards and surrounding the discussion of mental health issues, domestic abuse: the list goes on. So we were all listening to what Kendall Jenner had to say, and her great, soul-searching story turned out to be that she suffered with acne before she discovered proactive solution (and of course $4000 dollar facials. That bit was left out).
This in itself wasn't even the bad part. I have sympathy for Kendall Jenner, I really do, skin problems can deeply affect your self-confidence, we've all been 16 and refused to leave the house because mount Vesuvius has appeared on our foreheads. That is undoubtedly amplified when your face is public property subject to any unfortunate tabloid headline or cruel tweet. Kendall touched briefly on this in the minute long ad for Proactiv solution 'I remember going online and seeing all the horrible things people were saying about me and my skin. I felt so good that I completely forgot I had bad skin.'
But Kendall, we're really confused. And we have questions. For one: why didn't you use this to, I don't know, maybe point out that it's unacceptable to make petty and cruel comments on the internet? For two: exactly what #conversation is being promoted here? That rather than addressing jibes about your skin you should go out and buy the first product marketing itself on the back of your anxieties?
Aside from being the most duplicitous type of clickbait, we're bored to the back teeth of seeing the Kardashians using the same kind of Wonderbra 'Hey Boys' advertising that fuels anxiety about the way that you look to sell a product. Why don't we #changetheconversation to have an industry-wide boycott on letting the Kardashians do sponsored content so we can stop having to endure this nonsense on our feeds?