- The Kardashian and Jenner family – KarJenners – have been dominating pop culture for over a decade
- The family are facing questions of relevance amid many scandals
- The family have made billions of dollars and all had successful businesses
- But it appears the family are struggling to adapt to a new era of reliability – “They simply are outdated”
As the Kardashian empire falls, let the era of excess burn
Social media is convinced the Kardashian-Jenner empire is falling and their grip on pop culture is weakening. Online, fans and critics believe the empire is losing its relevance – as they are struggling to keep up with a changing world, that no longer idolises excess wealth and privilege.
It’s been over a decade since the Kardashian-Jenner family first hit our screens, with the wildly popular show – Keeping Up With The Kardashians. The show has spawned countless spin-offs and turned the family into individual stars, with many different business ventures for the famous family. And those businesses have been (mostly) incredibly successful, raking in millions of dollars, turning several of the members of the family into billionaires.
“They rose to fame and influence at a time where we wanted ‘aspirational’ content, overly edited pics were so in style coupled with the desire to look perfect”
Social media expert and marketing guru Jamie Love
But the empire is waning, in 2020, Keeping Up With the Kardashians announced that it would be ending after 14 years and 20 seasons on the air. The family aired its new TV show, The Kardashians, which was met with poor reviews from US critics. The family also have a variety of other businesses and projects but it remains to be seen whether they will be able to maintain their level of cultural relevance without the show that made them famous.
The family has also faced a lot of backlash in recent years, with critics accusing them of cultural appropriations, promoting unrealistic beauty standards and contributing to the “fakeness” of social media culture.
Despite this, the Kardashians have proven to be incredibly resilient and adaptable over the years. It’s entirely possible that they will continue to find new ways to stay relevant and successful, even if they are no longer dominating the headlines quite as much as they once did.
The end of the Kardashian era
The world is rapidly changing, and following the global pandemic, the publics’ view on the kar-Jenner family (and arguably celebrity culture) has changed massively.
Social media expert and marketing guru Jamie Love at Monumental believes the family are “struggling to stay relevant”.
“They simply are outdated,” he told Indy100. “They rose to fame and influence at a time where we wanted ‘aspirational’ content, overly edited pics were so in style coupled with the desire to look perfect.”
But in 2023 and the rise of TikTok “authenticity trumps perfection, people want the real thing,” he said, using the likes of Lewis Capaldi, Lizzo, and Adele, who he calls “relatable and down to earth – unlike the KarJenner clan.”
Gen Z represents a cultural and generational shift in attitude, and the family appears to be struggling to adapt to this new standard of authentic content.
A recent study revealed the Kar-Jenners are fading. When Gen Z was asked to name their favourite influencer – no one in the family made the top five.
The family’s struggle to transition to the TikTok generation was highlighted in a recent podcast, The For Life says the family find it “hard to relate because I feel like the new TikTok generation is so young and they’re not.”
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She continued: “They’re also so – I don’t want to say ‘fake’ – but everything’s very like put together and planned and just like meticulous – whereas the new wave of content in media is the real, raw things.”
But the family are known for being adaptable and jumping on the latest trends – Kim recently posted photos of her trip to the dentist, in an apparent attempt to be seen as relatable. For her fans, it was massive to see Kim in an ordinary moment.
Others suggest the family’s fall is due to the excessive nature of their PR stunts, with most coming across as being detached from reality. During the height of the lockdown, Kim Kardashian flew her friends and family to a private island to celebrate her 40th birthday, it was met with wide backlash. For many, it highlighted just how out of touch the family are. It’s not just the fact they would fly to a private island during covid restrictions, but that they would post the images online and flaunt their excessive wealth and privilege.
People have had enough of hearing about the Kar-Jenners paying thousands of dollars for 15-minute private jet trips all whilst they preach about climate change and eating vegan. They’ve had enough of hearing the Kardashians feign ignorance over cosmetic surgery, tired of hearing lazy comments such as Kim telling working women to ‘stop being lazy’. The people have just had enough of seeing the family everywhere at all times.
Time for a Karjenner rebrand
The difficulty for the family is that, unlike an actor or musician, what they offer to the world is nothing but themselves. Their projects have to involve their names because their names and faces are the money maker.
Either way, the Kar-Jenners are highly successful businesswomen and because of this, there’s a high chance the family empire won’t completely fall but they might lose their hype. As people struggle with the cost of living crisis, war and Covid, the public seems less interested in focusing on the luxurious lifestyles of the rich and famous.
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It could be that the family come back with a major rebrand in the future, with a focus on clean living, health and wellness and climate activism (stop using those jets, Kyli!
The leader of the pack, Kim Kardashian recently said she would consider ditching Hollywood altogether to become a full-time attorney.
It’s likely the Kar-Jenner family will continue to lose its star power in the coming years, regardless of whether they are able to successfully adapt to the new trends and norms of the decade. They’ve been on our screens for so long, they run the risk of boring the public. If they are smart they’ll step back from a spotlight they are struggling to be relevant in and relaunch themselves into something that is of value to today’s audience.
Either way, this era of Kardashian – the excessive wealth, flaunting of unrealistic beauty standards, and the 15-minute private jet trips, needs to come to an end. The world needs to be rooted back in reality and focus on rebuilding our planet and seeking a more authentic lifestyle for us all.