Kim Kardashian Divorce: Kardashian Brand Could be Affected
Kim Kardashian filed for divorce after just 72 days of marriage last week and sources say the Kardashian empire could be affected.
According to sources, the Kardashian brand is worth in excess of $500million thanks to the hit reality TV show "Keeping up with the Kardashians," and many lucrative deals including one that earns Kim $10,000 per single tweet for a "mention" on Twitter.
When news broke of her engagement to NBA star Kris Humphries back in August, the media was abuzz with wedding talk that left businesses, vendors, and sponsors desperately flocking to be associated with the star studded "… other wedding of the year" as referred to by CNN's Stephanie Goldberg in relation to Prince William and Kate's Royal wedding.
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Among the businesses that put their own brands on the line for what has now been labeled by some critics as a "PR Stunt motivated by greed," is world famous designer Vera Wang who designed 3 wedding dresses all worn by Kardashian on her big day.
Author Joe Piazza says he understands why businesses like Wang's may suffer and explained to Fashionista.com: "Especially someone like Vera Wang who pretty closely aligned her personal brand with Kim's in the wedding special. This wedding was very obviously a publicity stunt and a money grab by the Kardashian family. The divorce will tarnish their brand, E!'s brand and even some of the vendors who participated in the circus."
The media backlash began as soon as Kardashian filed for divorce and it was quickly revealed that she would pocket $18million from the wedding for selling her wedding pictures to People Magazine and signing a lucrative deal with the E! Network that bought the rights to broadcast coverage of the event.
Forbes.com's Samantha Ettus pinpoints the cause for upset among Kardashian fans, "This current crisis takes a household name and paints her as someone who cares about money above all else; time for the wedding planning but no time for counseling."
