Crisis Management Expert Predicts Whether Kim Kardashian's Brand Will Survive Crypto Controversy - Exclusive

Kim Kardashian, who's no stranger to messy scandals, has found herself at the end of the Security and Commission Exchange's (SEC) ire. On October 3, the SEC announced a charge against Kardashian for promoting EthereumMax's crypto security asset on Instagram without divulging her personal compensation, per TMZ. According to the publication, the Skims founder was paid $250,000 for the series of Instagram posts in June 2021. 

Now, Kardashian will have to shell out $1.26 million in fees to the SEC, per CNBC, and is prohibited from promoting crypto across her social media accounts for the next three years. According to the New York Post, Kardashian is already ready to move on. "Ms. Kardashian is pleased to have resolved this matter with the SEC," read a statement on the reality star's behalf. "Kardashian fully cooperated with the SEC from the very beginning and she remains willing to do whatever she can to assist the SEC in this matter."

Despite the hefty fine, Kardashian is far from the first celebrity or influencer to end up on the wrong end of the SEC's radar. However, this also isn't the first time that Kardashian's business ventures and social media promotion strategy has been called into question. As such, Nicki Swift spoke with crisis management expert Eden Gillott to gauge whether Kardashian's brand can survive her latest scandal.

Despite maintaining an empire largely sustained by her social media following, which exceeds 330 million on Instagram alone, Kim Kardashian has experienced quite a few missteps in the promotional department. However, Eden Gillott — President of Gillott Communications, a strategic and crisis management firm — believes Kardashian's brand is "strong enough to weather this short-term PR volatility" for one key reason. "For most of Kim's followers, the SEC investigation won't phase them because it doesn't impact them personally," Gillott exclusively tells Nicki Swift. "For the few crypto investors that were swayed to invest because of Kim's endorsement and who had significant losses, that's a different story." With that said, Gillott believes that Kardashian could lose potential partnerships with companies who fear "guilt by association." 

If the past is any indication, it sure seems that Kardashian's brand is great at bouncing back from scandal. In 2015, the FDA blasted Kardashian for promoting a morning sickness drug without thoroughly listing possible side effects, per DigiDay. And in 2016, the Federal Trade Commission launched an investigation into much of the Kardashian-Jenner clan for "undisclosed product placements" in posts, per Variety. Most recently, in September, Kardashian (along with Scott Disick) got slapped with a $40 million class-action lawsuit for allegedly getting her followers to participate in a lottery that promised luxurious prizes, all in an effort to shadily harvest their data, per TMZ. However, it doesn't appear anything, or anyone, is knocking her hustle long term.