Many people wonder how the Kardashians have grown into such a household name across America. Some might say it was their popular E! network program “Keeping Up With The Kardashians” that led to their unprecedented success, or even their 11 worldwide businesses that thrive because of their fan base. Before any of that, their brand was built on the manipulative use of scandals to boost their popularity. 

Everything the Kardashians say, post, and advertise is scrutinized. They are constantly being put in headlines for some part of their lives being taken out of context. Whether their scandals are intended or not, they have sometimes taken responsibility for the sole purpose of not getting canceled by their fan base. 

In March of 2022, Kim Kardashian was under fire for saying the infamous line “it seems like nobody wants to work these days” in a women in business segment with Variety. Many of the watchers criticized this statement because she herself was brought up in a prominent Los Angeles family, while others are single moms working three jobs to make the smallest fraction of what she does. While this seems like a negative way to go viral for Kim, it puts her name in the headlines, which for her equals a successful promo. At her level of fame, it takes a lot of wrongdoing to be rejected by the public. This often allows her to avoid responsibility for her actions, because in the end people are still going to buy her products and support her social media. In this case, she supported her insensitive comments by claiming that she and her sisters are still “self made” because they work equally as hard as others. In this example and many others, it proves that at a certain point celebrities reach a level that allows them free range of speaking without severe consequences.

Similarly, in May of 2021, the website Elle Canada accused Kendall Jenner of capitalizing on the use of Mexican culture in her brand 818. In her promo for her new alcohol brand, she was taking pictures of the agave farmers  and dressing up in common clothes of the farmers. People were in outrage over this because she was using Mexican stereotypes to make her business appear more authentic. Jenner was also found changing the filter on the photos to make them fit in with a traditional Mexican look. This promo raised the question of how much the farmers were benefiting from the campaign, and how much money they were making in harvesting the agave for 818.  With this, followers of Jenner  were equally concerned about a major business taking away from the local ranches. Jenner never took responsibility for her hurtful campaign and instead turned off people’s ability to comment on her 818 post. With celebrities now having the power to limit the criticism of their social media, it is now easier to avoid responsibility completely. In all of social media, celebrities are controlling their own perception by the public.

Likewise, in 2015, Khloe Kardashian started a new segment across social media labeled “Khlo-C-D”. Originally meant to give life hacks for cleaning and organizing, it quickly gained controversy for misbranding what OCD actually is. From the name, it makes it seem like OCD is when you are obsessed with having everything orderly and neat, when in reality it is a disorder that makes someone overly focused on routine and repetition. Some of the episodes include organizing a cookie jar or cleaning out closets. Kardashian received an overwhelming amount of backlash for this as she was accused of profiting off of mental illness and simplifying the disorder. Viewers also believed she should be using her platform to gain awareness for mental illness and not trigger people who are suffering. Again, Kardashian never issued a statement on this issue, avoiding responsibility completely.

The real question becomes, to what extent should the Kardshians be held responsible for their offensive actions? It seems that in their case if they apologize, they are considered brave, and if they avoid confrontation, the issue is forgotten about. Even in some of their largest scandals, the result has just become publicity. Without facing the consequences some might say they deserve, they have free reign because they know their brand will be protected regardless. With the massive following of the Kardashians, losing a few million of supporters means nothing. The combined number of followers of Kris, Kourtney, Kim, Khloe, Kendall, and Kylie is nearly 1.5 billion. A scandal for most celebrities is detrimental to their success and losing millions of followers is a life or death situation for their career. However, since the Kardashians are so popular, losing followers over an offensive action is miniscule compared to their overall following. 

The real issue is the Kardashians are just one example of how major celebrities get away with it every time they do something wrong. No one has to take responsibility because it is frequently easier to deny or apologize for wrongdoing instead of trying to fix it.