This is a sentence, and a story, I never thought I’d write: I come to praise Kim Kardashian, not to bury her.
Ever since she parlayed her leaked sex tape into reality stardom in 2007, I’ve done my best to avoid her—no small feat given that for most of that time, I was an editor at People magazine, which breathlessly covered her every movement with the fascination it had once reserved for celebs like Princess Diana and Tom Cruise. But after the events of the past couple days, I must embrace the truth I’ve been denying for years: Kardashian, simply, is the world’s best marketer.
The most recent proof of that came on Tuesday, when she shared racy photos of her (NSFW) Paper magazine cover shoot—via her Instagram, of course. The photos didn’t quite “Break the Internet,” as the Papercoverline proclaimed, but they undeniable ignited a frenzy of heated reactions and hilarious memes. Then 24 hours later, just as the brouhaha had died down, Kardashian one-upped herself—this time viaTwitter—by linking to even more graphic (and doubly NSFW) photos from the shoot.
It’s the latest brilliant strategy by Kardashsian, who never tires of selling herself and her family. Whether it’s her Keeping Up with the Kardashians reality franchise, her 72-day marriage to NBA player Kris Humphries, her lavish wedding to Kanye West, keeping the entire tabloid industry in business, or her nonstop selfies, Kardashian remains laser-focused on doing whatever is necessary to stay in the spotlight—and keep her fans begging for more.
Break the Internet? More like break the bank: Kardashian has amassed a gargantuan social media following — 25.3 million Twitter followers, 21.3 million on Instagram—and turned those loyal fans into anestimated $45 million fortune, thanks to her reality shows and various fashion and fragrance lines.
And her income is skyrocketing by the day, thanks to her ridiculous—and ridiculously successful—“Kim Kardashian: Hollywood” app, which is free to download but requires in-app purchases for players to upgrade their characters as they try to become virtual stars like Kim. The addictive app generated $43.3 million in sales from its June 27 launch through the end of September, and has been downloaded more than 22.8 million times. Kardashian is earning an estimated $700,000 per dayfrom her revenue-sharing deal.
Those eye-popping figures are a direct result of her relentlessly marketing her image and her brand. Even if you didn’t look at thosePaper photos in the past day, you were likely aware of their existence, and probably even talked about them. Once again, Kim wins: no matter how hard you may try, you cannot ignore her.
Just two months ago, we were all wringing our hands, rightfully so, over the release of hacked nude photos featuring celebrities like Jennifer Lawrence. But now, we can’t stop talking about — and looking at—just one naked celebrity, who is disseminating the photos around the globe herself: Kim Kardashian.
That’s why it’s time to stop making fun of her and start taking her seriously, if not as a reality star, than at least as a masterful businesswoman and marketer. In a world where reality hits come and go every few years—Jersey Shore, Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, The Osbournes, The Hills, Jon & Kate Plus 8 and The Simple Life, starring her former pal Paris Hilton—Kardashian is the only one with the acumen and perseverance to turn a fad into a fortune. Forget 15 minutes of fame: she’s now more than halfway to 15 years.
No, I still don’t particularly like her. But I can no longer dismiss just how brilliant she is at her number one job: marketing Kim Kardashian.
This winter’s new miracle drink is bone broth
As winter descends on the northern hemisphere, a new healthy beverage trend is on the horizon. It sits at the intersection of current tendencies toward old-fashioned comfort food, and the lust for primitive paleo diets. And it is most at home in a Mason jar.
Bone broth, which is nothing new to home cooks around the world, is the strained stock that results from boiling animal bones, usually with herbs and vegetables to add flavor. Chefs commonly use the liquid to add flavorful depth and body to soups and stews.
Now celebrity chefs and nutritionists are touting not just the savory, warming appeal of bone broth, but also its health benefits: mood-enhancing minerals, digestion-assisting and inflammation-reducing amino acids, and even collagen for healthy skin and hair. The LA Lakers’ nutritionist, who makes bone broth an essential component of the basketball players’ diets, compared it to a “growth hormone that people inject themselves with” (in a good way).
For the fashion set, bone broth seems to be the new green juice. Gwyneth Paltrow (who calls store-bought stocks “insipid”) included bone marrow broth in Goop’s “winter detox” menu for 2014. The London-based sisters behind the hip foodie empire Hemsley + Hemsley even make tote bags bearing the message: “Boil your bones.” (Harper’s Bazaar executive editor Laura Brown, pictured here between the Hemsleys, appears to be a fan too.)
Earlier this week, Marco Canora, the James Beard-winning chef and owner of the Manhattan restaurant Hearth and the Terroir wine bars, opened Brodo, New York’s first takeout window devoted to bone brothsin the city’s East Village neighborhood—a major green juice zone. He told New York Magazine the stuff has helped him turn around the adverse health effects of “twenty years of eating bread, drinking booze, smoking cigarettes, and working in kitchens.”
At Brodo, a cup of ginger-infused grass-fed beef, organic chicken, or Hearth broth (which comes from two turkeys, 40 pounds of beef shin, and 15 stewing hens) in a coffee-style takeaway cup will cost between $4 and $6.75, depending on the size.
But it’s easy to make at home too. Canora’s forthcoming cookbook will contain recipes for bone broth. Here’s a recipe from Well + Good for abeef bone broth that, like Canora’s, contains ginger, as well as one that’sadaptable for any meat.
And of course, this could be a great way for Americans to make good of all those Thanksgiving turkey bones.
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