Greenpeace is lashing out at Kim Kardashian after she joked about climate change in an advertisement for her “nipple bra,” accusing her of using the crisis as a cheap “punchline” to turn a profit.
“Using melting glaciers and rising sea levels as a punchline to improve your profit margins makes a mockery of an issue that is devastating millions of people’s lives,” the environmental group wrote in a fiery Instagram post Friday.
At the center of its ire was a video Kardashian posted to TikTok late last month teasing the release of a new product in her clothing line SKIMS: a bra with small protrusions beneath the fabric intended to make the wearer appear to have erect nipples at all times.
“The Earth’s temperature is getting hotter and hotter. The sea levels are rising. The ice sheets are shrinking,” the 43-year-old star quipped in the video. “I’m not a scientist, but I do believe everyone can use their skill set to do their part.
“That’s why I’m introducing a brand new bra with a built in nipple, so no matter how hot it is, you’ll always look cold,” she said, while showing off her chest complete with steadfastly hard nipples.
“Some days are hard, but these nipples are harder. And unlike the icebergs, these aren’t going anywhere.”
Kardashian has promoted the bra with promises that 10% of its proceeds will go toward One Percent for the Planet, an organization which solicits businesses to donate 1% of their annual profits for environmental causes. But Greenpeace argued Kardashian’s brand was merely “co-opting” the climate crisis to sell lingerie.
“Kim is co-opting the language of climate activists to promote a plastic product made from petrochemicals,” the group wrote, adding the promise to donate proceeds was “alarmingly vague.
“This is an obvious case of greenwashing,” the group added, referring to the dishonest business practice of using dishonest environmental claims about a product to market it.
“We desperately need global icons like Kim to champion the fight against climate change,” Greenpeace said. “Kim’s new advert perpetuates the harmful profit-driven system accelerating the climate crisis, and diverts attention away from more impactful actions.”
Kardashian has previously used her platform to promote awareness of climate change, but she and her famous family also have faced accusations of hypocrisy over their extensive private jet use, which produces hundreds of times more emissions than the average Americans does in an entire year.
Others joined Greenpeace’s outrage at Kardashian, with many pointing out the video’s sarcastic tone as being out of place with her claims about truly caring for the environment.
“There is something utterly maddening about probably the most influential woman in the US using the climate crisis as a sort of punchline to her new bra that is created from a material inextricably linked to said crisis,” said Katya Moorman, editor of the conscientious fashion publication No Kill Magazine, to Vogue Business.
