Did we, "the Sheeple", make the Kardashian's famous?

I generally don’t watch TV save the occasional movie torrent, but the last few days have been a binge sesh! Many thoughts while in limbo over where to settle down, I sometimes find solace in mindless TV shows.

Stay with me here.

I went through 4 seasons of Keeping Up With The Kardashians since Monday (seasons 9 -12) and couldn’t bring myself to stop! So bad but so good, I had to see about the family who forever show up on my Instagram explore page. While I realize the last thing anyone cares to read or hear about are the Kardashians, I am both fascinated and in knots.

Fascinated: The Kardashian’s are brilliant self publicists!

Kim flipping her stupid (or genius?) mistake and publicity into the multi billion dollar Kardashian empire? Gold. Was her sex tape deliberately leaked? Did she just #girlboss the whole situation?? Girl owned the damn thing and made a pretty penny from being underestimated. If people didn’t care so much what others do in their personal lives, she wouldn’t be a big deal to begin with. Attention = money these days! We are sheep.

According to Forbes:
"Since its June 2014 launch Kim Kardashian: Hollywood has been downloaded 45 million times and generated $160 million in revenue. FORBES estimates that Kardashian has pocketed $45 million from it over that period. This year she earned $51 million to land at No. 42 on FORBES' Celebrity 100 list; 40% of her yearly paycheck came from the game."

Kylie’s dermatologically enhanced lips and her enormous success with her lip kits placed her in Forbes Magazine’s 2017 Top 30 under 30. As a woman, I can appreciate how she turned her biggest insecurity into a highly lucrative business making her a mogul in her own right. The Kylie Lip Kits took social media by storm in 2015, sold over 200 000 lip kits, crashed her website a half hour after launch, and continues to do so with every new launch. Fueled by the controversy over her lips, Kylie chose to come clean about her temporary lip fillers in 2015.

It is painfully obvious the Kardashians are Queens of visual communication and own the selfie game. Evidenced by their Gram', Snapchat, game and app successes, and of course Kim’s book “Selfish”. - They are everywhere!

Can I also bring attention to the fact that this family always find a way to make bank over their grievances? They market the living daylights out of their misfortune; like squeezing the very last drops of a lemon! Ruthless. Must, must respect the advertisement and business savvy.

The whole Bruce/Caitlyn and Kris Jenner experience, Kendall being a supermodel, Khloe’s denim venture, Kourtney’s healthy lifestyle - I’m often left inspired yet wondering how any of this is real life; not trying to take away from anyone’s efforts or talent.

Knots; Fake reality or genius marketing?

There’s always the question of authenticity, right? Like, is this made up drama to increase ratings and relevance? Or is this living reality, strategically edited for ratings and relevance? Does it matter?

Why do we watch the show? Do we really want to know how the bold and beautiful live? Are we simply nosey? Why do we even care? Are we looking for something to compare our lives to?

Have we been conditioned by media/society to look to such lifestyles/individuals as a measure of #goals? Are we all simply lacking contentment that we look outside ourselves, our situations, our circumstances and silently affirm “If I had that lifestyle, if Life was easy, if I lived in Beverly Hills, if my job paid as much, if I looked like that, if…”, instead of appreciating what is present?

Did I start watching the show and social-media-stalk this family because I have been subliminally influenced by the ‘explore’ page on Instagram, E! News, YouTube, magazines, tabloids by the cashier in grocery stores, fashion, music (thanks Kanye) etc.,? That is, do I “want to know more” because I have been so exposed, I am now familiar with the name? Have we been conditioned to like a show we don't really care for? Everyone loves to hate the Kardashians, yet most are customers/followers.

Mental notes on what it was that had me hooked:
I enjoy looking at beautiful people, I enjoy drama that isn’t my own, the homes, the cars, the clothes, the bling! I don’t necessarily want to be watching a show about someone else’s life and have them make money off my attention, unless it’s some sort of a documentary. But here I was, watching the Kardashians.

All reasons, materialistic and ego serving. I am aware.

I am of the opinion that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and while the only constant to ‘what is beautiful?’ is that it changes, the Kardashians seem to be It for the 2000’s.

p.s.: A little unnerved over why I watched a show I don’t necessarily like back-to-back, despite my reservations. Why did I search the first episode to begin with? I remember reading something about the Kardashians freeing the nipple in my email last Monday. That was click bait, and I binged.

p.p.s.: Learn more about the actual Free The Nipple Movement.