AMERICANS’ PAIN IS KARDASHIANS’ GAIN
by COLIN STEWART
Orange County Register
May 29, 2011 Sunday
California
The publicity-hungry Kardashian family has become inescapable on TV,
online and in print because they mirror so many painful insecurities
of the American public.
Even without spending hours watching their unending reality TV shows,
it’s clear that a key to their success is that they have struck a
nerve – several nerves, in fact – among fans and detractors.
On the strength of that, they have built a multifaceted,
multimillion-dollar business enterprise.
>From plastic surgery to self-promotion, from sex and celebrity to
Twitter and fashion trends, they embody what many Americans worry
and obsess about, and they’re not shy about discussing it all:
Body image Each of the Kardashian sisters is anxious about her body,
says tall and solidly built Khloe Kardashian.
Khloe tries not to focus on her weight, but that’s not easy amid
sniping from family members and outsiders.
“When the world literally gets on you every single day and tells you,
‘You’re fat, you’re fat, you’re fat,’ eventually you are going to
break and agree,” she says.
As for Kim Kardashian, she says she wanted a nose job.
“It’s my biggest insecurity,” she says.
But she didn’t like the shape of the new nose that a plastic surgeon
planned for her, so she opted out of the surgery, she says.
Kim also worries about invisible wrinkles, so she got Botox shots at
age 29. She frets about cellulite and has tried VelaShape treatments
in hopes of smoothing it away.
Khloe says, “She complains about cellulite and I tell her, ‘I’ll
trade your cellulite for my love handles.'”
Pushy mom Kris Jenner, the family’s business manager, repeatedly
tells her daughters what to do.
She nags Khloe about her weight, saying that it jeopardizes the
family’s profits from their QuickTrim brand of alleged “weight-loss
supplements.”
“My mom told me that I am too fat and that I am ruining what we all
worked for. We have a brand, QuickTrim … and that I am ruining all
of that single-handedly.”
Khloe snaps back that her mother is a pushy “raging lunatic.”
Keeping up appearances Although she denies it, Kris allegedly
has prodded her daughters to get plastic surgery to improve their
appearance. That includes urging Kourtney Kardashian to get her breast
implants and reportedly urging Kim to get butt implants.
In Touch magazine quotes a source saying that her younger daughters
Kylie, 13, and Kendall, 15, are “agonizing over perceived flaws in
their appearances. … Kris has been telling them that anything can
be corrected with surgery, once they’re older.”
Kim acknowledges getting cosmetic treatments, but denies having any
actual plastic surgery. Her former husband, though, says she got breast
implants and liposuction, and plastic surgeons see signs of a nose job.
The uncertainties lead to more gossip, more speculation and more
publicity. The Kardashian machine grinds onward.
Sex Getting a career boost from a sex tape? Unbelievable, but that’s
what Kim accomplished, and many have unsuccessfully tried to mimic her.
Men’s role, if any On TV, we’re mostly keeping up with Kim, Kourtney
and Khloe, plus their mom. Kris’ husband, former Olympian Bruce Jenner,
feels like a fifth wheel.
When he’s around, he often acts like the wimpy emasculated males of
traditional sitcoms.
Self-absorption Kim’s 7.6 million followers on Twitter tap into to her
continually self-promotional stream of consciousness, 140 characters
at a time:
I’m craving something sweet, but know I shouldn’t eat junk food
this late.
I am in a really annoyed mood
Just walked into my photo shoot with Annie Leibovitz! This is going
to be an iconic Sears ad campaign! She is such a legend!
I hate being late to meetings! Traffic sucks!!!!
And on. And on.
Race Anxieties about race are one pervasive American trait that the
Kardashians seem immune to, as seen in the sisters’ relationships
with black sports stars such as Reggie Bush and Lamar Odom.
That fact doesn’t go unnoticed. They’re often asked questions like
that of comedian George Lopez, “What’s up with y’all and the black
guys?” But the sisters, with their Armenian-Dutch-Scottish background,
mostly treat this as a non-issue.
If Americans’ obsessions were arrayed on a five-by-five grid, the
Kardashians long ago would have shouted out “Bingo!” for covering so
many of those squares, even without the black-white one.
The payoff for this particular American bingo game is another American
fascination:
Getting rich The four women’s focus on appearance drives their multiple
business endeavors.
In addition to their reality TV shows and QuickTrim, they’ve entered
into many enterprises with varying degrees of success:
Kim’s online shoe retailer, ShoeDazzle.com, which recently landed
a $40 million investment and is expected to bring in $70 million in
revenue this year.
The Kardashian Khaos store and Kardashian-themed products for the
Mirage in Las Vegas.
Kourtney and Khloe’s Dash stores.
Their book, Kardashian Konfidential.
Kim’s jewelry collection for Bebe stores.
Kim’s perfume.
The Kardashian Kollection promised this year at Sears.
Kardashians’ Beach Bunny swimwear.
The Kardashian Glam Pack of rubber bracelets.
Kourtney’s PerfectSkin endorsement.
The abortive Kardashian Kard, the prepaid credit card that they
abandoned last year, three weeks after it launched, because the
attorney general in Connecticut criticized it for having excessive
fees. The financial firm behind that card took them to court, seeking
$75 million in damages for pulling out.
Last year those totaled an estimated $65 million in income.
When will it all end? When Americans stop being obsessive (ha!) or
find other people to be obsessive about.
That never needs to happen, Kris confided hopefully to the Hollywood
Reporter.
“My fantasy is to have ‘Keeping Up With Kardashians, Season 26,'”
she said. “Who knew it would be this profitable? I should have had
more kids.”
From: A. Papazian