With hundreds of millions of loyal fans following her every move, Kim Kardashian West has an enormous influence across the globe. While she and her sisters have gotten pickier and more strategic about who they partner with and endorse in recent times, that wasn’t always the case. Thinking that their fifteen minutes of fame would eventually run out, they partnered with any and everyone to make sure they could line their pockets with as much money as possible.
Though Kardashian West knew that she wielded no small amount of influence, she underestimated just how powerful her endorsement was for several years. In a recent interview with The Cut, Kardashian West reminisced on the exact moment when she felt the power of her endorsement with a little help from her momager, Kris Jenner. “My mom might know if you want me to call her just to get you a really specific thing. Don’t write, like, ‘She had to call her mom.’ I mean … You could, it’s funny, but —,” Kardashian West said playfully.
Momager, Kris Jenner, to the rescue
The 39-year-old did, in fact, call her mother in order to answer the question as honestly as possible. “Was there a specific moment when I realized that I was worthy of an endorsement?” she asked of the momager. She then made reference to her little sister, billionaire, Kylie Jenner. “Like, it would blow up if I said I liked it. Kind of like when Kylie said, ‘Snapchat sucks.’ And then it tanked. I would honestly maybe say Dubai at the milkshake thing,” the KKW Fragrance owner stated. She went back and forth with her mom a bit more before she landed on the story of the milkshakes.
When Kim K realized how powerful her endorsement was
“So I’d say 2010, 2011 was like, “I’ll do anything.” Cupcakes, milkshakes. So I go to a milkshake place in Dubai, thinking, Oh, it’s just, you know, some little milkshake store. Maybe like 250,000 people showed up to the Dubai mall,” the SKIMS owner recalled. Of course, that statement was wildly hyperbolic. The National reported than only 3.000 actually showed up, rather than 250,000. Nevertheless, it was still a huge crowd who showed up off of the sheer strength of Kardashian West’s word.
Kim Kardashian West was shocked by the milkshake place
Kardashian West recalls being floored by just how many people were there to support something that she’d given her stamp of approval to. Even her manager, Jenner, was taken aback by just how powerful her endorsement had become. “I had never seen anything like it before. We had to sneak out the back. I mean, I took videos of the thousands, hundreds of thousands of people at the mall in Dubai. My mom and I looked at each other — because I made her come with me — and we were like, “Holy s*it. What is going on? A milkshake place?” Kardashian West recalled.
Instagram influence
A lot has changed since the early 2010s These days all the KarJenners know just how powerful their influence and endorsements are. They are offered hundreds of thousands of dollars just to promote brands and products in a simple Instagram post. Kardashian West is especially strategic about who and what she supports. She’s certainly come a long way since promoting foreign milkshakes. One can only guess what she’ll give her stamp of approval to next.