Kim Kardashian has helped create a branding empire for she and her sisters that is massive, but since getting married and filing so quickly for a divorce in 2011 her popularity has started to wane. Football fans who look forward to seeing star celebs like Kim K in Superbowl commercials will not get to see her famous face advertising health and fitness products made by Skechers tennis shoes this year. While last year she made a sexy commercial that showed her ditching her hot trainer for Shape-Ups athletic shoe wear, this year a French Bulldog is taking her place. She might be hot, but when it comes to selling products right now (apparently) she’s not.
Kim Kardashian’s career is going to the dogs. At least that what some psychics and critics are saying– like the folks at People Magazine. The reality television star is struggling to keep cash rolling in to fund her empire. As rumors she conned fans into believing she was interested in NBA basketball play Kris Humphries so she could make a big payoff from her wedding day special continue to circulate, some advertisers who had success working with her in the past as a luxury product promoter are actually shying away. One such company is Skechers, an organization that primarily promotes their moderate to modest line of footwear. They came out with some higher dollar products the past few years, and last year Kim K was featured in their Superbowl commercial.
US Weekly magazine reports, “Kim got us more attention than we ever dreamed,” when she acted as a celebrity product sponsor for their new line of athletic shoe wear. Leonard Armato, the current president of Skechers Fitness, told USA Today, that since the product first hit te market and took off, the company has already started launching a “high-tech” shoe business.
“We have to establish Skechers as more than a lifestyle company…” he says. The shoes Kim K endorsed were a Shape-Ups brand that was designed originally to help tone women’s legs and buttocks. However, nurses at hospitals who were forced to walk a lot quickly figured out that the shoes helped decrease lower back stress and heel pain. Men figured out that long shifts at work that caused them foot and back pain were able to benefit from wearing the shoes. Then, all sorts of women who wore high heels on a regular basis at work found out the ShapeUps and ToneUps footwear was a great alternative to wearing painful flats when you had to do a lot of walking in a casual store.
[They ramble on about shin pain and heel pain and needing to take the pressure off their low backs or the front ball of the foot. I’m not a woman or a doctor, so I have no idea what they mean, but that’s what the ladies I have asked say about the footwear. I just think that for trying to wear high heels at all, women are good sports.]
According to the rumor mills, “Kardashian’s contract with the company expired at the end of last year; she helped company grow from 100,000 to 400,000 Facebook fans, Armato said.” That’s awesome product awareness, branding, and grass-roots marketing growth.
But the bad press the Kardashian sisters have gotten thanks to the whole Kim Kardashian – Kris Humphries divorce last year combined with the high cost of paying her for the celebrity product endorsement stopped the company from aggressively pursuing the flashiest of the Kardashians.
Skechers told Us Weekly in a statement the reality star “has had a tremendously positive effect” on their brand. “Not only did Kim’s Skechers Super Bowl ad generate over 1.6 Billion positive media impressions for Skechers, but she played a big part in Skechers moving up last year from 388 to 99 among companies with the highest brand trust.”
“While Kim’s contract with Skechers simply came to an end at the end of last year, we continue to have a great relationship with her as we do with all the other talent who have worked with the brand over the years,” Skechers’ statement continued.
But the funniest part of the mainstream media news report has to be who the company claims they have chosen to replace the reality television star in their marketing campaign. Word is she’s being replaced by a French Bulldog.Granted, the company might change their mind and film a last-minute surprise commercial where the hottie is seen walking the purebred dog and then turning to the camera to say something funny, but from the sounds of the celebrity interviews, the company has another marketing plan in mind entirely for 2012 [sans Kardashians].
We can hear Kris Humphries and his team mates who know and understand what he has been through while involved with the charitable philanthropist still laughing from hear. That girl is a handful (from the looks of how she has been portrayed on reality television) — and her family and BFF appear to have wrecked what could have been a loving relationship for her.
Not that I’d admit to sitting home and watching Kourtney and Kim Take New York or Keeping Up With The Kardashians.
All I can say as a fan is the network is making a great decision to give each of the Kardashian sisters their own show. Why? Because Khloe Kardashian and Lamar Odom are actually a good couple with a lot of promise as star celebs if they stay out of Kim’s celebrity scandal mix — and coupon clipping frugal Kourtney would actually be a doll to watch if she every ditched that dips%$& Scott Disick.