Ebony Bell gives kredit to the Kardashians.
Kim Kardashian’s emoji app Kimoji only gets two stars out of five on iTunes. And yet this £1.49 app quickly became Apple’s App Store’s top grossing entertainment app after it launched last year, and currently makes more cash than Candy Crush.
Why? Because people want to associate themselves with superstars, and ever since the TV hit Keeping Up With The Kardashians made the Kardashian/Jenner clan one of the most famous families in the world, Kim has been a superstar.
And stars cluster in constellations, so inevitably soon after the app was launched, celebrities such as rapper The Game and actress/model/designer Amber Rose (not so coincidentally the ex-girlfriend of Kim’s husband Kanye West) were letting people know they were using it. The celebrity glamour of the app means it already has 31 million followers on Instagram, and counting…
Kimoji allows you to post 250+ Kim Kardashian Emojis to friends and on social media. The emojis on offer include cartoon representations of Kim’s booty, and Kim’s breasts – with the nipples redacted. They also include an icon of Rob Kardashian’s fiancé Blac Chyna – which for some reason has sent social media into a frenzy.
Not everyone is impressed. Creative Arts graduate Shanice Sheilds-Mills gave me her take on the hype:
“This whole worship of celebrities is like a zombie movement. Celebrities are now royalty in their own right and easy to access through … social media sites … leaving … the ‘normal folk’ wanting to be their own franchise and brand.”
But I am impressed, and if ever there was a successful brand, it’s Kim. According to Forbes magazine the 34-year old entrepreneur earned $28 million dollars in 2014 alone, which shows that she has proved herself to be a powerhouse of a businesswoman.
So I was surprised to read reports that there was a flaw in the app, which meant that fans could sometimes download it for free.
Given how much I respect her business acumen (if not her approach to being a woman) I wondered if I should condemn the fans who have downloaded Kim’s app for nothing. And I decided I should not. Why? Because given how rich she has become on the back of her fans, she can afford it.
So, as far as celebrity obsession is concerned, I agree with Shanice – it’s ridiculous. But the fact that Kim exploits this obsession just makes her a great businesswoman – who has raised the bar for other businesswomen, and that’s a good thing.