Another celebrity has found themselves at the centre of a social media firestorm. Kylie Jenner has been accused of being “deeply out of touch” after dropping a provocative Kylie Cosmetics promo over the weekend.
In the short film, shared to Instagram on October 11, the 28-year-old beauty mogul is handcuffed and escorted down a stark corridor by two police officers.
While Jenner’s loyal followers flooded the comments with heart emojis and excitement for her new makeup line, Reddit users had a vastly different reaction.
“Citizens are being dragged off by rogue badge-hungry rent-a-cops and Kylie Jenner drops a handcuffed hot-pants photoshoot to promote COSMETICS. This isn’t satire; it’s American rot,” wrote one user.
Others called the stunt “insanely disgusting,” “gross,” and “unbelievably tone-deaf,” with another adding bluntly: “KYLIE, YOUR PRIVILEGE IS SHOWING.”
The outrage comes amid ongoing Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids and protests across the U.S., where images of people being detained have flooded news feeds in recent weeks. Many critics argued the imagery trivialised police brutality and incarceration for aesthetic effect.
It’s not the first time a Jenner-sister campaign has gone up in flames. Commenters were quick to draw parallels to Kendall Jenner’s 2017 Pepsi ad, which was pulled within 24 hours for appearing to co-opt Black Lives Matter protest imagery.
“Is she actually trying to recreate the same controversy Kendall went through?” one Reddit user asked, while another suggested the move was intentional, likening the backlash to that received by Sydney Sweeney earlier this year after scrutiny of her American Eagle campaing.
“After they saw how Sydney Sweeney got so much attention, it’s clear shock value holds so much weight in marketing.”
The Euphoria and White Lotus star has also found herself in hot water over the spot titled “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans.” The videos feature Sweeney in double denim discussing her “great genes,” a pun that many saw as racially loaded.
From Sydney Sweeney’s great jeans to Jenner’s police-themed beauty promo, its clear that “shockvertising” works, until it doesn’t.
The Kylie Cosmetics clip might rack up millions of views, but the internet will always be there to bring celebrities back down to earth when they’ve crossed a line.
