Kim Kardashian’s latest launch doubles down on monetizing the pursuit of her appearance — with an insidious twist

It had to happen sometime: Kim Kardashian’s empire is expanding into the “wellness” space.

The reality star turned mogul’s latest venture is a partnership with Alani Nu, a nutritional supplement company co-founded by fitness instructor Katy Hearn that sells protein bars and collagen peptide, super green and “fat burner” supplements with a twee millennial twist. The packaging is colourful and fun, the whey protein powder comes in a “fruity cereal” Lucky Charms knock-off flavour, and the protein iced coffee drinks taste like maple doughnut or salted caramel.

Kardashian’s product is an energy drink called “Kimade,” a special edition flavour described as a “twist on pink lemonade” with “zero sugar, and only 10 calories,” that contains vitamins B6 and B12. It also contains “up to” 200 mg of caffeine, which is equivalent to about two cups of coffee. That’s over the legal limit for caffeine in a 12 oz can here in Canada, where the max is set at 180 mg. The YouTuber Logan Paul and rapper KSI-backed Prime Energy drink, in high demand among the celebrities’ followers, was one of six energy drinks recently recalled in Canada for exceeding that caffeine maximum. (While the brand said the product wasn’t officially sold in Canada, some stores stock it without approval.)

Kardashian and Alani Nu announced the July 17 launch of Kimade with a glamorous fitness-focused advertising campaign. In one image, Kardashian lifts tiny weights an ’80s-style leotard and stilettos; in others she takes to the slopes in a puffer jacket but no pants, naturally, and poses in front of a surfboard. Barbie-pink cans of Kimade are close by in the shots, signalling the connection we’re supposed to make: This drink (sugar free! Only 10 calories! Caffeinated to fuel those workouts!) is our ticket to achieving the body ideal epitomized by Kardashian. The drink has already sold out.

When the collaboration was announced on Instagram last week, there were critical reactions. “Does it have a mixture of Ozempic in it and come with rib removal?” wrote one commenter, nodding to two different internet rumours about how Kardashian has achieved her newly slimmed-down physique. Some pointed out the dissonance of a fitness company working with a celebrity who is known to rely on cosmetic procedures. “Out of all the badass strong muscle mamis out there, you choose this route?” one commenter asked. “Are we being punked?” asked another, who seemed to be a fitness coach.

If you’ve followed Kardashian’s career at all, however, you’ll know that this collaboration is right on brand for her. Monetizing the pursuit of her appearance is the bedrock upon which she’s making her billions. Lest we forget the waist trainers she hawked circa 2014. Some of the first sponsored content many of us saw on Instagram was Kardashian and her sisters’ touting the Flat Tummy Tea that they had us believe was the secret to their slim bodies.

More recently, Kardashian has adapted her messaging to accommodate diet culture’s evolution over the past decade. Skims, her wildly successful line of shapewear that’s on track for a $4 billion valuation, shills its garments as offering “comfort and support,” but also calls itself a “solutions oriented” brand. If you’ve got a tummy that’s not flat, thighs that aren’t smooth or breasts that need lifting, Skims is there to help you fit the body ideal du jour. The brand does make some fantastically stretchy undies, but by and large Skims products are popular because they do that one thing that so many of us still chase: They make us look thinner.

This rebranding of outdated ideals is a common theme of the past few years. The language of wellness has proven a powerful tool for repackaging things we realized were problematic or damaging and making them acceptable again.

Case in point? Energy drinks, which have transitioned from means to an all-nighter end for exam-cramming or long, debaucherous nights out to protein-shake-adjacent workout aid. Kimade does this, of course, as does Prime Energy, which is marketed for its hydrating properties, leading with the fact that it helps with “muscle recovery” and contains coconut water, electrolytes and those B vitamins again. The drinks come in fruit flavours like Mango Orange and Strawberry Melon, and like Kimade’s pretty pink cans, Prime’s primary coloured bottles are a far cry from the lurid graphic design of early-2000s energy drinks like Monster. It’s little wonder that they’re popular with kids who idolize these celebrities.

At least in the high octane, loutish, Red Bull-chugging aughts, products like this weren’t pretending to be good for you.

Sarah Laing is a Toronto-based freelance contributor for The Kit, writing about celebrity and culture. Follow her on Twitter: @sarahjanelaing

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