Sunday 13 November 2011

Kim Kardashian wedding: brilliant PR stunt or career killer?


Kim Kardashian is/was a star on the rise following the success of the television show ‘Keeping up with the Kardashians’ and various spin-off shows, which have launched her into stratospheric heights of stardom.


Being all too aware of this she may have thought she was untouchable, made of Teflon perhaps, but the recent backlash against the most prominent Kardashian over her divorce announcement has left fans with a bitter taste in their mouths, and the lingering question - was this all just a PR stunt?


Far be it from me to cast aspersions on her marriage but having lasted a mere 72 days, one can rightly speculate that the decision to marry was career and not love driven. While her manager (and mother) defends her client stating she ‘didn’t earn a dime’ from the wedding, reports in the New York Post speculate that she, and the Kardashian clan, stood to make nearly $18 million dollars, which over 72 days equates to about $250,000 a day, from the marriage and ensuing promotion and television deals.


News of the divorce was met with an outpouring of contempt from fans towards Kim, with most taking to Twitter to air their views. A trending topic on the subject listing things that have lasted longer than Kardashian’s marriage became an overnight sensation, with some of the best tweets captured in a recent Yahoo! article. If you want to have a look type #thingsthatlastedlongerthankimkardashiansmarriage into Twitter.


Numerous comments have been posted on articles written about the divorce showing a turn in the tide of support for the Kardashians and anger that it was assumed the public would not see what the marriage inherently was – a PR stunt. So much so, that E! is looking to suspend re-runs of the four hour wedding special and debating the release of the latest series of ‘Kim and Kourtney take New york’, in which Kim and Kris talk about having a break (an obviously outdated decision at this point).


Whilst the normally infallible Kardashian clan has rallied around their sister in her time of need, and Kris Kardashian has appeared on a bevy of shows refuting rumours of the wedding being a PR stunt, there is no argument that the Kardashian stock is in a recession of its own.


Whatever your opinion of the wedding, there is no denying that the Kardashians made money from the affair but at what cost in the long run? In time, the loss of scores of fans and vicious tirade against the Kardashians could far outweigh their payoff. Worse still, this story contradicts the findings of my last blog surrounding Guy Fawkes and how there is no such thing as bad PR. Apparently there is….

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