Kylie Jenner: Meme Kween
If I cut my hair or got lip injections, or altered my appearance in any way, chances are my mom might notice, my boyfriend definitely will not, and my friends probably won’t (until I post an instagram captioned “flow chop”, of course).
However, that is definitely not the case for celebrities, like Kylie Jenner, who have fans and stalkers gawking over their every move at all times. When something in the celebrities life changes; a new boyfriend; hairstyle; tattoo; fans go straight to Instagram and Twitter to repost, comment, and make memes about it. The Kardashian family built their name and empire on capitalizing off of bad publicity, starting at the very beginning with Kim and Ray J’s infamous sex tape.
It didn’t take long for the youngest of the family to catch on to her sisters noisy, but profitable, strategy.
A couple of years ago, way before she was a mother and had a real career of her own, Kylie posted a selfie that, to the unfamiliar eye, looked completely normal. It was simply a photo of her face; no endorsed products, not a #ad, it was a selfie that your average girl could easily mock.
And they did.
But, not before they realized that there was something a little different about their favourite 17 year old (at the time). Her lips. Fans speculated upon the socialites pictured pout, comparing it to old photos, new photos, paparazzi photos: it was obvious that her lips appeared much fuller and larger as of recent photos of her. These young and impressionable girls deduced that the stars accentuated smile could be a result of two possible things: either she got lip injections OR she suctioned a shot glass to her lips in order for them to swell up into the perfect pout. Well, in accordance with millennial meme culture and the rise of ridiculousness on the internet, it only seems just that her fans concluded the latter (not to mention, it is way easier for teens to find a shot glass than a doctor willing to give a 13 year old botox).
And over night, probably before the selfie even reached 1 million likes, the “Kylie Jenner Lip Challenge” was born. Fans, “trolls”, the curious follower, were all trying this seemingly easy 5 minute shortcut to fuller lips. However, the results were everything short of Kylie’s perfect pout.
See this “Kylie Jenner Lip Challenge Fail” http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3049621/Kylie-Jenner-responds-grotesque-lip-plumping-trend-sweeping-social-media.html#v-4186995020001
Kylie’s Lip Challenge fails became the meme of the year in 2015. Albeit the star felt bad for hiding the fact that she actually did have some work done on her lips and eventually came clean about the wonders of lip injections, she had no problem turning this publicity scandal into a business venture.
Not even a year later, Kylie released the first segment of her now fully fledged cosmetic brand, the Lip Kits. A safer, and more temporary way to achieve the Kardashian pout, the star created matte liquid lipstick and lip liner kits that retail for $29 USD which sold out in minutes on her website. She went on to release various colour combinations and has since moved on from just lips, to eyes, eyebrows, and face makeup as well. KylieCosmetics even “broke” Google Analytics back in 2016 due to so much activity on the servers. According to Vanity Fair, by the end of 2016 Kylie, at only 18 years old, had already made approximately $9 million off of branded merchandise like the Lip Kits. She continues to use her influence on social media to promote her brand and company by regularly posting sneak peaks of new releases and Snapchat story make up tutorials — and her followers keep buying into it.
Kylie Jenner managed to turn a rumour into a meme, and then turned that meme into a business, and THEN turned that business into a multimillion dollar cosmetic company.
All hail Kween meme!
