In the era of social media, celebrities have more influence over our purchases than ever before. If you’re active on Instagram or Twitter, you may have spotted Kim Kardashian promoting her Skims Waist Trainer, or Flat Tummy Co’s Appetite Suppressant Lollipops. She claims these products have attributed to her figure and her confidence.
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Kim advertising "Appetite Suppressant Lollipops" on Instagram |
With over 157 million followers, Kim Kardashian is the 7th most followed person on Instagram. Her audience is over half 13-24 year old women. This demographic is especially vulnerable to messaging about body image, and Kim takes advantage of this to make hundreds of thousands of dollars off of each sponsored post, in addition to selling her very own waist trainers at $68 each.
What Kim is sharing each time she uses her social media platform to promote these products is what Harry Frankfurt refers to as "bullshit".
"The bullshitter may not deceive us, or even intend to do so, either about the facts or about what he takes the facts to be. What he does necessarily attempt to deceive us about is his enterprise...in a certain way he misrepresents what he is up to” says Frankfurt in his piece On Bullshit.
Appetite suppressants and waist trainers will not make the average woman look like Kim Kardashian, a multi-millionaire with a personal trainer, personal chef, and rumored body modification surgery.
Doctors warn that prolonged use of waist trainers can lead to health problems by displacing the internal organs, and the "appetite suppressant" in Flat Tummy Co's lollipops is not proven by research to work. Dietitians do not recommend using them as a weight loss tool.
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| Twitter users @etherealbunny and @GraceSpelman criticize Kim for her promotion of appetite suppressants |
Kim received a lot of backlash from those who recognized her attributing the way she looks to these products as bullshit.
As Shannon Vallor says in her paper Social networking technology and the virtues, “Honesty as a virtue is the willingness in words and deeds to put one’s authentic self in play.” People felt discomfort with her lack of authenticity, because they trust influencers they follow on social media.
The blog catches my eyes with the title and pictures. The blog has a solid example, which explains Frankfurt’s “bullshit” very well. However, the writer does not state her main argument at the beginning of the blog, and it would be better if she can develop more critical thinking throughout the blog.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very clickbaity title, I love it. The left justification of the image and subtitle works well. I appreciate the liberal use of hyperlinks. Generally, the prose is quite good. On a rewrite, it would be helpful to introduce the concept of 'bullshit' earlier. I'm not convinced that what Kim is doing (and, by extension, advertising in general) qualifies as bullshit--although it shares similarities and the quote supports the argument, here. Nice post!
ReplyDeleteThis was an awseome blog-post. The title was great It drew me in and introduced me to a topic I had not seen before. I think the examples of how what Kim is advertising is misleading were really great. Especially since you linked to actual medical evidence. In general though I would put the tweets on their on line, instead of combining them with text. I did not love the look of that. I would also recommend introducing Frankfurt earlier in your blog-post to use as a vehicle for the blog. To tie most of the blog back to the idea of truth lies and bullshit. Other then that great job!
ReplyDeleteI loved your title. It drew me in because I knew there was a conversation to be had. I liked how your post is formatted similar to a story. This made your claims and insight easier to follow while keeping me engaged. I also thought your additional links and images added more depth to your argument. My only suggestion is to watch for formatting. Larger images can sometimes throw off the text wrap which can break the reader's flow.
ReplyDeleteThe title of this article really drew me in since these days pretty much everybody wants to know what is going on in famous people's lives, especially people as famous as the Kardashians. The post is well constructed and put together with connections to Frankfurt's article on bullshit and Vallor's opinions on honesty in information technology, both of which add intesting perspective to the post. I really do think this is a great example of what Frankfurt was pointing to, since Kim Kardashian certainly does not seek to deceive her audience, but rather just profit off of them and their devotion to her and her "techniques" to living a healthy life.
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