How Kendall Jenner became the worst kind of celebrity brand. 

It's fair to say that tearing down a member of the Kardashian-Jenner family for entertainment purposes is as groundbreaking as selecting florals for spring.

And yet, there's something to be said about the evolving brand of Kendall Jenner – the second-youngest member of the famous family dynasty that has become its own cornerstone of the pop culture realm over the past few decades – and it's not entirely positive.

Hopefully, by this point in time, we've put to rest the uncreative question often found lurking in Instagram and Facebook comment feeds that surfaces whenever the Kardashians and their various family are mentioned, the old "but why are they famous??". 

This has always been an odd thing to say about the cast of a long-running TV series, who regularly grace the covers of magazines and talk-show couches, and who became the faces of multiple high-end brands before launching their own businesses.

While each of the famous sisters has carved out their own niche in the entertainment industry, Kendall Jenner's brand has evolved to that of the reluctant star, and not in a way that always paints her in the most sympathetic light.

Listen to The Spill discuss the evolution of Kendall Jenner's brand. 

In 2019, the model told Australian Vogue that being associated with the famous Kardashian name was a setback in her modelling career, saying: "A lot of people assumed that because I came from a 'name' that it was a lot easier for me to get to where I got, but actually it's the complete opposite."

The year before, she faced a wave of criticism after telling Love magazine that she didn't feel the need to walk in multiple fashion shows. “Since the beginning, we’ve been super selective about what shows I would do. I was never one of those girls who would do like 30 shows a season or whatever the f**k those girls do. More power to 'em."

Her comments were met by backlash from fellow models, saying that they didn't have the luxury of family wealth and a famous last name allowing them to turn down work and not build their own profiles. While Kendall later released a statement saying her words were taken out of context and she has the utmost respect for her peers, much of the damage to her reputation had already been done.

This week, Kendall gave an interview to The Wall Street Journal entitled How Kendall Jenner Wants to Ditch the Nepo Baby Playbook, where she once again reiterated her frustration with fame and being tied to her family's lucrative business.

“Since I was really young, I felt out of place in my family," she said. "I was born into this life, but I didn’t choose this life.

"I’m not built for this by any means. I’m not good at it. I do it, and I’ve learned how to do it," she continued. "It took me almost 20 years to be like, OK, I guess I’m getting used to it now, and it’s fine, and I get it.”

Looking at these quotes, along with the fact that Kendall has regularly reiterated on Keeping Up With The Kardashians, and the family's new series, The Kardashians, that she dislikes fame and the way her family's name has held her back, it would be easy to pigeonhole her as an out-of-touch starlet who is somehow unaware of how these things have actually paved the way for her to follow her modelling dreams. Rather than being a hindrance to it. 

In many ways, every time her comments about family and fame go viral, it contributes to her name being tied to the worst kind of celebrity brand. 

When we look to celebrities, we need them to be one of two things: With either of sense of humour or relatability drawing us into their world, or a tendency to go the opposite way. Bringing us into a place of over-the-top opulence far removed from our own, gifting us with juicy tales that provide a form of light escapism from our own lives.

With her brand becoming centred around a hatred of fame and a misuse of privilege, it's becoming increasingly common for the Kendall Jenner pile-ons to get rather vicious. Or for fans to find discomfort in watching the life of a woman in the public eye constantly revolve around how she wishes she could escape it.

However, there is another way to look at the evolution of Kendall Jenner's brand.

At 27 years old, Kendall has been on our screens since the age of 11 when Keeping Up With The Kardashians first aired. Over the years, her mother and manager Kris Jenner has repeatedly said that she and her younger sister Kylie Jenner were never forced to film the show, but at such a young age it would be hard for either of them to fathom the life they were signing up to.

In many ways, the Kardashians are the original influencer family.

An example of parents who monetised their lives (and those of their children) in order to carve out a lucrative livelihood. In this case, it was via a TV show, rather than Instagram or YouTube as so many other influential families have been doing over the years, with the world watching their every move and their children grow into adults.

In the case of these children growing up in the public eye, they would of course tend to deal with fame in different ways. Either by embracing it, running away from it completely, or in the case of Kendall Jenner, uncomfortably straddling both worlds. Feeling hatred towards fame, but at the same time unable to turn away from its shine and the luxe life it offers.

Kendall Jenner herself is not a person who deserves hatred but the conversation around her, at times, does.

Laura Brodnik is Mamamia's Head of Entertainment and host of The Spill podcast. You can follow her on Instagram here. 

Image: Getty + Mamamia. 

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