The Kardashian-Jenners: A Paradigm for PR
FRIDAY, NOV. 5 — Ten people are (eventually) found dead, and hundreds more injured, following the tragedy that would occur during a crowd surge at the Astroworld Music Festival in Houston, Texas. All eyes would turn to rapper Travis Scott and his partner, Kylie Jenner; both of who handled the situation in an inarguably unprofessional manner. Scott issued a halfhearted apology on his Instagram story, as did Kylie Jenner, whose claims of ‘not knowing what was going on’ were almost instantly proven false as a story post from the night of the incident displayed the glaring lights of an ambulance only feet away from her.
The incident was a PR disaster. Kylie and Travis’ inability to appear even the least bit authentic didn’t fall on deaf ears. People, even fans of the two, were rightfully upset. Boycotts of both celebrities’ products would ensue over the following weeks, as would intense media scrutiny. The average celebrity doesn’t escape public relations fiascos so easily, but as the saying goes: “the Devil works hard, but Kris Jenner works harder.”
In the weeks following the Astroworld tragedy, a myriad of ‘incidents’ and changes drawn to the public’s attention would occur within the Kardashian-Jenner clan, likely as a subtle PR effort to draw people’s attention away from the morbid scandal. The first to occur took place at a recently resuscitated celebrity, Paris Hilton’s, wedding. On Nov. 12, a week after Scott’s fatal concert, Kendall Jenner flaunted a dark black dress that would be deemed as universally inappropriate for a friend’s wedding. The outfit, which consisted of an almost completely bare torso (saved for a cloth clipping of black fabric tracing Jenner’s sides) was all anyone could talk about: Paris Hilton’s wedding was no longer Paris Hilton’s wedding. It was the wedding that Kendall Jenner upstaged.
This effectively took the attention off of Kylie and Travis, but the work wasn’t done yet. As Kendall Jenner’s clothing calamity would be the new “worst thing” the family had done, the rest of the reality television clan had some space for reconstruction. An imminent effort has been made to humanize the Kardashian-Jenners in the last few weeks, and what screams innocence more than children? On TikTok, one of the currently most popular media platforms, the Kardashian sisters, would begin debuting mother-daughter accounts. @KimandNorth, featuring Kim Kardashian and her daughter, North West, is the most popular of them all, and features videos predominantly of the mother-daughter pair.
This quick-thinking elevated the Kardashians away from their half-sisters, and with a new “family friendly” platform established, it was time to bring Kylie back up to the top. In the last few days, pictures taken by W Magazine, ‘prior to Astroworld’ and then scrapped following the incident, were allegedly ‘leaked.’ The photoshoot is simple, shot with a vintage-lens camera, and appears to be a homage to domesticity; Kylie and Travis are pictured with their daughter, Stormi Webster, and Kylie is in the midst of a full-bellied pregnancy. The series of photos, being of deceivingly low quality and geared towards the aesthetic of a middle-class family from the late 1990s or early 2000s, seeks to humanize Jenner and Scott as your average, everyday family.
In a personal take: I really don’t believe that this shoot was taken before Astroworld. Although it certainly could have been, what better way to save Kylie and Travis from being demonized than to picture the couple as attentive parents expecting another child? Kris Jenner is a master at public relations, and if anything, her ability to completely divert the public’s attention is stunning: Travis has gone from the neglectful, responsible party of a massacre to a normal, family man in a month’s time. That’s pretty impressive. The Kardashian-Jenners have a 14-year dynasty and it’s no question why; they know how to redirect. Something to consider, then; when tragedy strikes, don’t be too easily drawn away from the events that follow. Everything within the confines of media tends to be calculated. Just make sure that you can see the full equation.