The Kardashians - Going Ethical or Not?
Photo: Courtesy of Greg Swales/Hulu
The Kardashians or Kardashian/Jenners’, a big family of influencers, entrepreneurs, models, brand owners, reality TV and social media stars, you name it. The whole world knows about this famous family. But what we wonder is, being such an influential group with fans all over the globe, how are they influencing a sustainable lifestyle? Keep reading to get to know what we have found out.
Kourtney was the first member of her family to ditch drinking from plastic bottles in an effort to help the environment. But not long after her plastic-free announcement, she was seen drinking from a plastic bottle during a Keeping Up With the Kardashians episode, whoops! She pushes for healthier and more sustainable school lunches at her children’s school, plants trees with climate change organisations and is often promoting a plant-based or flexitarian diet. Her one year younger sister Kim is promoting a vegan lifestyle and got rid of all her fur garments to replace these with faux fur. But let’s not forget that Kim’s successful SKIMS brand produces shapewear and loungewear in just about every material and colour imaginable with huge success. The brand has also been accused of cultural approbation, lack of transparency, poor working conditions and not being able to pay its workers (we are not talking about the supply chain here) their fair wages. The lack of information and the warning signs has made Good on You rate SKIMS as a brand to avoid! But being fair to Kim she has been working on her criminal justice reform project. In other words, Kim has learned about the prison system and its many flaws in order to help incarcerated people get justice.
Kim’s and Kourtney’s little sister Kylie is the owner of Kylie Cosmetics, which is a vegan makeup brand attracting teenagers and women globally. But, the brand is criticised by The Good Shopping Guide for not being ethical enough, Kyle Cosmetics has an environmental report but lacks for example verification about being called vegan. And last but not least, Kendall has created a Vegan oral care brand. Again, a little reminder, just because something is vegan, doesn’t mean it’s sustainable.
It’s obvious that the Kardashian/Jenners are following the “trend” of switching to sustainability a little by little. But the frequent private jet trips, overconsumption and mass production are areas where they can strive to do better. As a matter of fact, a 2018 study concluded that private jet passengers account for 10 times as many greenhouse gas emissions as a commercial travelers and 150 times more than train travellers.
Having a huge platform comes with a huge responsibility. And on the one side, these women are just people like all of us, at the same time, they have the means (at least financially) to make a greater impact if they want to. We hope that what we have seen so far is just a start for taking real responsibility. What influencers really can do is normalise repeated outfits, hire CSR staff (to make sure entrepreneurial ventures run responsibly), especially if you’re planning to have a fashion or beauty brand (!) and support the environmental and social cause by creating awareness on their platform. To call current efforts sustainable would not be true, but to say there are some good signs and more to be dealt with is probably more realistic.