Take your brand to the next level - have a baby! Or don’t

It’s a whole new ballgame in Kim’s case because it seems she is willing to exploit her baby to pull in the bucks – something Brad and Ange certainly wouldn’t do.

Indeed, the possibilities for cashing in on the kid are endless.

Just hours after the pregnancy announcement, she already had $100 million of endorsement offers.

New Idea tells us there would be a $25 million fee for rights to film the birth and promotional photos, $2 million for endorsement deals for baby-related products, $500,000 for a post-birth weight loss deal, and $1 billion for the baby’s potential earnings from a clothing line, cosmetics and reality show.

Yes, it’s amazing, but selling the rights to the actual delivery is being talked about in a serious fashion.

Should Kim broadcast the birth live, she will presumably do for childbirth what Demi Moore did for pregnancy when she posed naked on the cover of Vanity Fair – except there will be more use for hot towels, and much more blood.

At this stage it’s just conjecture, but Kim has an ongoing deal with the E! Network, so they’re likely to be heavily involved in any negotiations.
Kanye, Kim’s partner, has already appeared on the Kardashian reality show that also features other family youngsters, so expect to see much more of him and the bub in coming years.

Too bad that the Kardashian kids are too young to consent; before they even understand it, every thing they do is already broadcast to the world. (Hmmm sounds like a few Facebook mums I know…)

Kim has told Us Weekly that the baby will not be seen for the first six months on the reality shows. But the signs are not good: she’s already oversharing on the topic of pregnancy cravings (carrots, celery and ranch dressing) and whether she wants a boy or girl (doesn’t matter, as long as it’s healthy).

The word privacy is clearly not in the Kardashian dictionary. But Ka-ching sure is.

And there are no signs that Kim is slowing down. For New Year she received $300,000 for appearing in a look-at-me flesh and black lace peekaboo outfit, and happily posed for pics with the obligatory hand on the bump.

The way the baby news broke gives us an idea of what’s to come for this famous foetus.

While most pregnant women quietly tell a few friends and family members they’re expecting, Kanye announced it on stage in Atlantic City, surprising even Kim, who was in the audience.

I’ve written in the past that we don’t have to like Kim, but we should admire someone who makes such a tidy living out of just living her life and keeping herself tidy.

She isn’t an actor, singer or entertainer; she’s just famous for being herself.

But when you throw a baby into the mix, it does change things I think.

A baby shouldn’t be just another marketable commodity sold to the highest bidder.

Of course, there will be pressure on Kim this time around to make sure she doesn’t look like she is cashing in on the baby. Remember the fallout from her alleged $4 million windfall from her 72-day wedding?

At this stage Brangelina have taken the high moral ground, and donated the $14 million rights to the first pics of their twins Vivienne and Knox to a children’s charity.

But there are many others who were clearly happy to just pocket the cash, such as Jennifer Lopez, who received $5 million from People magazine for the first pictures of her twins.

There is a catch, though. Sure, it’s easy money, but it’s then pretty hard for the celebrities to plead privacy when they’ve sold access to their kids to the highest bidder.

Most of these performers have more money than the rest of us would ever dream of, so selling baby rights like this does seem like little more than a greedy cash grab.

You are also establishing your baby as a commodity, and a legitimate topic for public consumption.

Just look at what happened to Jessica Simpson when she signed a $3 million deal with Weight Watchers soon after she conceived. It meant that her baby bump, her weight gain and her post-baby body
became topics of immense public scrutiny. Would she lose the 25kg by the baby’s first birthday? Were there weight loss clauses built into her contract? What’s going to happen if she gets pregnant again?

Sure, she made a bagful of dollars, but the pressure Simpson put on herself, her baby and her body was enormous.

I do wish Kim and Kanye all the best for their pregnancy, but it would be nice for them to keep the bub out of the spotlight for a while.

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