Kim Kardashian, high priestess of capitalism, is back with yet another merch drop that captures and commodifies the current cultural moment (at least in her native Southern California). Kardashian’s latest product line is clearly aimed at those who are young, learned in the ways of social media, festival-bound and flush with disposable income. (Who else would spend $98 on a pool floatie shaped like a giant speech bubble proclaiming it’s “Lit”?)
Yesterday afternoon, the tie-dye heavy line of T-shirts, bandanas, camper hats, lighters, cell phone cases and floatation devices hit kimoji.com. Some are decorated in Kardashian’s more popular Kimojis (i.e. the ugly-crying face, French-manicured middle finger and butt emojis). Others come emblazoned with phrases one often hears uttered at weekend-long music festivals, such as “I’m on the list,” “Still drunk from yesterday” and “WYA?”
OK, we get it, drinking and smoking are pretty normal festival behavior — we’ll never forget that time Rihanna rolled a blunt on her security guard’s bald crown — but Kardashian’s greenlighting of certain products (a flask that reads “Still drunk from yesterday,” tie-dye rolling papers that read “lit,” because double meanings) seems weirdly out of sync with her post Paris robbery social media persona. For a public figure so adept at branding, it seems odd that she’d seemingly endorse alcohol and drug use by her festival-bound fan base (some of whom have yet to reach drinking age), while filling her Instagram with soft-focus images of her idyllic family life — and young children.
Plus, as any true fan of Keeping Up With the Kardashians will tell you, the social media star does not partake of drugs or alcohol (though, once in a blue, she’ll indulge in the latter), making the existence of a Kim K-branded flask that much weirder. It seems Kardashian is aware that the merch doesn’t quite jive with her carefully curated Instagram persona — she recently deleted all posts promoting the drop from her page.
But why waste our time questioning the thought process behind any Kardashian-branded merch, ridiculous though it may seem? Just as Kylie Jenner’s derivative hoodies and shirts sold out, so to will her older sister’s smoking paraphernalia. Case in point: the $12 “Kim Crying Tie Dye Lighter” is already gone.
[ via Fashionista ]
