COMMENT
British actress Jameela Jamil has called out Kim Kardashian's endorsement of an appetite-suppressing lollilop, expressing concern the sponsored post promoted negative body image.
Jamil, the co-star of Netflix comedy The Good Place, has written extensively about body image in the entertainment industry on her . She wrote an angry tweet criticising Kardashian for the sponsored post addressed to her 111 million followers, saying the ad was a 'terrible and toxic' influence on young girls and made her feel 'despair' over what women are reduced to.
Jamil followed up with another tweet saying, "Maybe don't take appetite suppressors and eat enough to fuel your BRAIN... And to have something to say about your life at the end, other than 'I had a flat stomach'."
The original post attracted nearly 60,000 likes, with many social media users expressing admiration for her tweet.
A Twitter user known as 'Mangy Jay' (@Magi_jay) said: "Had an eating disorder for 14 years. If I had seen this ad as a teenager, I would have been running for this product. Despicable."
Another Twitter user known as Barry Malice-Son (@_aharrison_) said: 'This is a systematic problem. The celeb is of course gross but the marketing culture that pays crazy money for this is the issue.'
Most critiques of Kardashian express a kind of snobby eyeroll or shades of slut-shaming at her rise to fame. Jamil's critique has hit home because as a young celebrity of colour in entertainment, she engages with the phenomenon of the multi-billion dollar Kardashian brand in the era of the Insta-celebrity with a kind of anti-dote messaging - to the same target market.
While Jamil expresses admiration for the relentlessness of the unapologetic Kardashian machinery and 'exploitative and innovative' genius of Kardashian's mother Kris Jenner, she poses serious questions on the ethics and responsibilities of branding in the self-publishing era.
Most women's and teen magazines have faced criticism for promoting negative body image and have worked to at least pay lip service to concerns in cosmetic adjustments to their messaging.
Jameela Jamil, right, and Kristen Bell on The Good Place. Source: Supplied
The social media platforms the Kardashian brand is sold on, however, means there is little self-regulation of the products and endorsements they advertise.
It's easy to dismiss the influence of Kardashians. But I remember as a young journalist, tasked to cover the reality star's visit to a Melbourne shopping centre. Kim Kardashian was in Australia spruiking another dubious brand. I was blown away by the thousands of fans who had gathered to see her - largely young women and teens. Many of the young women were Arab and Muslim women of colour.
Some of the girls I interviewed appreciated Kardashian's dark colouring and voluptuous curves. They saw a reflection of a kind of body they didn't feel was reflected as desirable in an Anglo-dominated public sphere.
Others enjoyed the relationship the star had with her family in her show that reflected their own extended female-centric family networks. All of them felt like she a was a role model they sought to emulate.
I am loathe to say artists and celebrities have to be 'role models', but fame and platform involves some responsibility, particularly if your brand is built on the backs and wallets of a target market audience of young impressionable women.
It's not the first time, Kardashian has promoted questionable, but with 111 million fans as potential collateral damage, Jamil's critique of the Kardashian brand is as on-point as calling out powerful institutions and companies for corporate responsibility. It must and should continue.
