LOVE HER OR loathe her, Kim Kardashian is a very successful businesswoman. Over the past decade or so, she has managed to transform every aspect of her life into a lucrative revenue source.
She’s the star of a long-running reality show. She boasts a combined 145 million followers between Instagram and Twitter. She has her very own app (“Kim Kardashian West”) and game (“Kim Kardashian: Hollywood”).
According to Forbes, she earned an estimated $51 millon in 2016. So it’s safe to say that she’s doing very well for herself.
This afternoon, however, Kim raised eyebrows when she posted an ad for Fit Tea on both Twitter and Instagram – otherwise known as the lowest form of #sponcon.
“Detoxing with @fittea,” she wrote. “It tastes amazing and the ingredients are all natural.” This was accompanied by a rather unconvincing photo of Kim Kardashian pretending to consume a cup of Fit Tea.
Fans were puzzled. After all, what’s a successful, wealthy woman like Kim Kardashian doing shilling a teatox? Surely Kim has outgrown dodgy detox teas at this stage of her career?
Fit Tea describes itself as “a detoxifying tea blend of certified organic herbs which are formulated to enhance your weight management program as part of a healthy diet and exercise regimen”.
The brand boasts over 1.7 million followers on Instagram and frequently enlists celebrities and influencers to promote it on social media.
Here’s Chuck from Gossip Girl pretending to drink it in 2015.
And here’s Disney star Bella Thorne pretending to drink it on set earlier this year.
Other Kardashians have been known to plug it in the past.
Last year, Kylie Jenner claimed that she saw positive results after drinking a “relaxing” cup of Fit Tea.
Kourtney Kardashian stated that she was incorporating the tea into her New Year diet.
While Khloe Kardashian went one step further and told followers that she “literally” brings it everywhere.
Experts have warned in the past that these weight loss teas aren’t necessarily all that they’re cracked up to be with many making claims and promises – weight loss! glowing skin! more energy! – that cannot be verified.
So why do celebrities even bother? Last year, Racked reported that celebrities of Kim Kardashian’s calibre can expect to be paid up to $250,000 per endorsement.
But there comes a time in every celebrity’s life where they have to ask themselves if they want to continue taking teatox money or whether they want to hold out for more legit #sponcon.
For Kim Kardashian, that time is now.
Kim, if you’re reading this, we would just like to tell you that you’re out of Big Teatox’s league. Nobody believes that you’re detoxing with a fitness tea. We know that you work out like a maniac and eat very little. You’re fooling nobody.
Plus you are very, very famous. It’s time to hold out for money from Big Perfume or even Big Low Fat Yoghurt.
Resist Big Teatox’s money, Kim. We know your heart’s not in it.
