Tesla did not pay socialite Kim Kardashian for a recent publicity opportunity with the company’s Optimus robot, dispelling any claims that the influencer took payment.
Kardashian is paid over two million dollars per post for promoting products from other companies due to her social media reach, which includes over 359 million followers on Instagram.
Earlier this month, skepticism and speculation regarding Kardashian’s potential relationship with Tesla started to catalyze as Kim put video and pictures of her with Tesla’s Optimus robot and the company’s recently revealed Cybercab Robotaxi on her social media pages.
Tesla Optimus’s busy week includes $10k action figures and Kim Kardashian
Last year, Kardashian was one of the first celebrities to obtain a Tesla Cybertruck. She also posted various images with the vehicle to her social media pages and had custom work done to the all-electric pickup.
The Cybertruck was one of the hottest vehicles for celebrities through the last few months of last year and into 2024. However, Kardashian’s posts with the Cybertruck were not candid photos taken by paparazzi, at least for the most part. They were taken with photographers and appeared to be images taken of her on wishes.
We speculated about what could possibly going on with Tesla and Kardashian recently, and we were confused as to why she seemed to have such unique privileges with the company’s products:
@teslarati What is going on between Tesla and Kim Kardashian?? #tesla #kimkardashian #teslacybertruck #fyp #teslaoptimus #optimus ♬ I’m a Fool (for U) – Rebecca Mardal
Because Tesla is so heavily against the idea of spending massive amounts of money on advertising, it seemed far from reality that it would use Kardashian, whose social media posts can cost companies over $2 million a pop, to gain publicity on things like Optimus and Cybercab — two products that are likely to gain visibility on their own simply because of their capabilities.
Tesla did not have to pay, according to her publicist, who revealed the information to The New York Times.
It seems Kardashian may have just simply had the special privilege to test some of Tesla’s most heavily sought-after products. Lucky her!
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