Caitlyn Jenner is ready for her close-up with the launch of her reality show tomorrow but Americans may not be as eager to welcome the former Olympic champion as a transgender woman on to their televisions, cereal boxes and billboards.
Despite the furore last month over Jenner’s glamorous coming out Vanity Fair photo as Caitlyn, she still has a way to go to keep up with Kim Kardashian – her reality queen step-daughter – in terms of popular appeal, according to marketing experts.
Caitlyn as her former self Bruce at the 44th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards in Las Vegas, in April 2009. Photo: Steve Marcus/Reuters“In New York and California, she [Jenner] has become a very accepted story. It remains to be seen what people think about all this in Ohio or Oklahoma,” said New York branding consultant Hayes Roth.
With I Am Cait set to make its premiere on E! television tomorrow, the market research firm E-Score, which tracks the popularity of some 8,000 celebrities, said this week that Jenner is liked by 23 per cent of those it surveyed and disliked by 34 per cent.
People are unsure about Jenner’s motives for the show, said Gerry Philpott, CEO of E-Poll Market Research, which produces E-Score.
“They will be looking to see if she is exploiting the transition for publicity and money or is sincere in her efforts to present transgender issues.”
The first episode shows Jenner’s mother, two sisters and teenage daughter Kylie seeing her for the first time as a woman.
The mother, Esther Jenner, confesses that “it’s going to be so difficult to call you Caitlyn” after she arrives at her daughter’s Malibu home.
There are many hair and make-up sessions, and time in the closet where Jenner and famous stepdaughter Kim Kardashian (appearing with rapper husband Kanye West) peruse dresses sent over by designers Tom Ford and Diane Von Furstenberg.
But before the fussing, and in the opening scene, Jenner is stripped of make-up and sleepless at 4.30am as she worries about helping transgender youth who are thinking of killing themselves. She’s had those thoughts too.
Jenner doggedly dodges paparazzi to make a visit to the family of a 14-year-old transgender boy who killed himself. She and the mother talk about how to help transgender children and the show wraps with a suicide hotline number.
People are unsure about Jenner’s motives for the show
After becoming the fastest account in Twitter history to reach one million followers in June, @Caitlyn_Jenner now has 2.7 million Twitter followers.
Kim Kardashian, perhaps the world’s best-known reality TV star thanks to Keeping Up with the Kardashians, has 32 million Twitter followers and estimated earnings last year of $52 million, according to Forbes. That comes largely from her clothing, kids clothing, sun tan, fragrances and video game products, some of which are joint ventures with her sisters.
Jenner, 65, has yet to announce any marketing tie-ups ahead of the premiere of her show. Her representatives said there has been “a lot of interest” regarding potential deals but they declined to discuss specifics.
That does not mean the advertising world has turned its back on Jenner, the most high-profile American to transition publicly to a woman. But both sides appear to be biding their time.
“This is new territory,” said Jeetendr Sehdev, professor of marketing at the University of Southern California. “We don’t know whether Caitlyn Jenner is going to influence people to purchase or whether she is going to alienate people. That is where brands are being very cautious at the moment.”
In 1977, after winning an Olympic gold medal for the decathlon, Bruce Jenner graced the Wheaties box and became a spokesman for the cereal. General Mills has declined to discuss the possibility of featuring Caitlyn Jenner in the same way.
Millennials are more likely to respond positively to Caitlyn Jenner than older people, according to Megan Hartman, strategy director at Red Peak Youth branding agency in New York.
“I think brands would be very smart to align themselves with her because she is such a brave spokesperson. I think we are going to see a lot of brands across all categories – beauty fashion, sports, entertainment – looking to get a piece of her,” Hartman said.
“She probably feels a certain responsibility as one of the first transgender celebrities and will be a little more cautious in terms of deals. But she definitely has the potential and the same marketability as any of the Kardashians.”