Episode 159 - Kim Kardashian climate change nipple bra ad reviewed by Spring Hoteles and Socially Powerful
Kim Kardashian has unleashed a 'nipple push up bra' on the planet in a bid to save it. Is this digital marketing genius or making light of climate change?
Thanks to our guest panelists - Spring Hoteles' Ana Maestro and Socially Powerful's Lloyd Williams who gave this 2.5 out of 5.
Episode 159 - Kim Kardashian climate change nipple bra ad reviewed by Spring Hoteles and Socially Powerful
Transcript
This is automatically generated, so it’s not 100% accurate.
Tom Ollerton 0:00
Hello, and welcome to Advertisers Watching Ads. This is a weekly show where brands watch other brands' ads.
My name is Tom Ollerton. I'm the founder of Automated Creative, the creative effectiveness adtech platform, and we're brought to you by our partners, Contagious, who have helped choose the ad this week. But before we get to that creative, let's speak to this week's guests.
Ana Maestro 0:42
I'm Ana Maestro. I'm currently Marketing Director for Spring Hotel, a Spanish hotel chain.
Lloyd Williams 0:48
I'm Lloyd. I'm Head of Strategy at Socially Powerful.
Tom Ollerton 0:50
Fantastic. Right. Let's see this week's ad.
How many votes would you give it out of five? Vote your fingers... One, two, three... A three and a two. Okay, Ana, can you please explain what is going on here?
Ana Maestro 1:44
At the beginning, I thought it was like a comedy, like a sketch, a bit of a joke. Of course, she's raising awareness or talking about climate change in a very sarcastic, witty way, you know? I did read, like, 10% of the earnings will go to fight climate change. But, yeah, she's pretending to be the sexy scientist fighting against climate change. And by using that, she's trying to sell her new product, the new nipple bra. I did a bit of research and yeah, in the press coverage, she was talking about giving 10% of the earnings to fight climate change, but in this piece of content it's not clear.
Tom Ollerton 2:16
And Lloyd, what was your reaction to this as a social media specialist?
Lloyd Williams 2:20
I do view this kind of ad as a piece of social media content. Like, first and foremost, I guess because it's for Skims and for Kim... "I've got 350 million followers. It's going on my socials." So that kind of simplifies it. And then, so it becomes social first, I guess in terms of attention-grabbing, you know, controversial, it's kind of satirical. It hits all those like tick points straight away. First time watching, you're like, "Where am I supposed to be looking here? Like, am I supposed to be watching this?" And it does make you feel a bit uncomfortable... I guess? Which is the whole point. Reviews is getting a bit of controversy because it's like using climate change in a kind of in a way to sell products. And ultimately, the product isn't like backed by particularly like eco ingredients and stuff like that. But I think, first and foremost, it's just really attention-grabbing and it makes you watch it, and you kind of get sucked in to watching it which is the whole point.
Ana Maestro 3:07
I thought although she's trying to sell the product, I think the campaign is to drive, kind of like, brand awareness rather than product awareness. I did read the comments and people were talking about Kim Kardashian, about the brand... So I think it makes people talk about Skims by talking about this campaign and this bra. I wouldn't think that would be a bestseller because I think the opposite as a woman, you want the opposite effect. You don't want your things to show up. So I don't see the consumer need or product fit. I just think she's using a provocative product and theme to stand out and to grab people's attention.
Tom Ollerton 3:44
She's saying the way to combat climate change is to wear a bra because she's saying, "Pretend it's cold by having this bra." Am I missing the point here?
Ana Maestro 3:52
I mean, the way I understood it is, yes, because climate change is going to happen and it's going to get hotter. You want to still want to look cool. So that's why you need the bra, And you do two things... By buying the bra, you're fighting climate change. You cool down and then you help fight against it with the profit.
Tom Ollerton 4:10
Yeah, and I'd love to see the calculation on the, you know, the cost of making the bra and the marketing and, you know, the server power and all that stuff. Like, 10%, you know, I don't, I don't know. I don't...
Ana Maestro 4:20
I mean, I did read that the bra is made of plastic and is not sustainably made. So there's a contradiction there as well because Skims is not known for being eco-conscious or eco-friendly in the way they do their products.
Lloyd Williams 4:32
For her, it is slightly playing on a fashion trend, I guess, but it is more, I think, poking the establishment a little bit because she kind of knows that it's going to get people talking. I think she is poking the bear a little bit with this ad. That's why I kind of love about creator-owned brands, if you want to call them that. Like they're disruptors, they're challenger brands, they don't do things by the book. She's a creator and a media owner, so she has complete license really over what she wants to do. There's no red tape there. And that allows her to completely own it and be completely provocative with it. It's going to create noise because she's done that throughout her whole kind of career.
Ana Maestro 5:06
She has a track record of going against like the establishment. She's bold and disruptive in that way. She's broken those standards. What is right to do. She's gone the opposite way. I think because it's Kim Kardashian, people, is not allow it, but they expect it. So I'm not sure if a serious brand will be allowed to do something like this. She's always been controversial. I think it's in her DNA. It's part of the brand. I don't know if you agree, Lloyd.
Lloyd Williams 5:34
Yeah. She's obviously like trivializing climate change. And that's what a lot of the backlash has been about and taking advantage of that or using climate change very loosely in order to drive sales of the product I think, is she a good role model is a completely different kind of debate, I suppose, but it sort of crosses a line into what if like Lady Gaga did it? She's someone who's like an artist and Kim Kardashian is seen as like this marketing machine, I suppose.
Tom Ollerton 6:02
Is she using her platform and her status and her power to influence, people look up to her in the best possible way?
Lloyd Williams 6:10
It's interesting to look at what her, who her audience is because like notably she's got a lot less followers on TikTok. And TikTok is like no longer, you know, just for teenagers, but it's obviously still leans that way in terms of the core audience. She has like 360 million followers on Instagram, and I don't think she actually posted it on Instagram but you would expect that audience to be older, obviously, she has like around 9 million followers on TikTok. You just kind of expect it to be more. And there is shades of 90s in the ad, right? Like the sort of way that it's produced. It's got like old school computer in the way that it sort of comes together. It's very like a throwback 90s, but that's quite fashionable at the moment anyway. But like, yeah, she's definitely using her platform to sell products at the end of the day. And I don't think, it's not that she probably doesn't care, but she kind of, is breaking the traditional stereotypes of how women should look or how they should behave or what they should wear, I think, and that's probably quite liberating for a lot of people.
Ana Maestro 7:03
As a woman, I don't like the ad, and I don't have children, but I wouldn't want my daughter to look at Kim Kardashian as their, like idol. I don't think the values are right because yes, she's telling, yeah, use whatever you've got if it's your body to get what you want. So I was checking on Instagram, she didn't post it on Instagram. Just on TikTok, that her following is way less. And I went through the TikTok and I would say, 90% of the comments are negative. I do think it's disruptive, it's getting the conversation. I'm not sure is the right conversation because of two things. First, because she has, she's like, sexualizing herself and then using climate change to sell a bra. So she's just making a mockery of such a, kind of like, serious issue. For me, two serious issues, first, what we've achieved women in the last years and then around sustainability.
Tom Ollerton 7:54
Yeah, I think that's a really nice encapsulation of it, Ana. So would you sign off this creative in its current form, yes or no? One, two, three, thumbs up or down?
Lloyd Williams 8:05
I've changed my mind. So I think...
Tom Ollerton 8:06
There you have it! Thanks so much.
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