The Joke That Is Ivanka Trump's Brand

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President Trump's daughter-wife (kudos to Bill Maher for coining the denomination) had dreams of Versace. Then, reality slapped her in the face and she had to pivot! The New York heiress with no sex tape decided to become an inspiration for what a very smart marketing team called "Women Who Work". After all who could embody the dreams of self made success better than Donald Trump's daughter? Gag on the irony!

For Ivanka's target audience, Donald Trump was just the Orange guy who hosts the apprentice and who whines about everything Obama. They knew nothing or very little about the sex scandals, the bankruptcies, the I-would-date-her-if-she-wasn't-my-daughter, the obsession with the Central Park Five, the marking-Afro-Americans-applications-with-the-letter-c-for-colored and every other thing that surfaced or resurfaced ever since he declared all Mexicans rapists. Even if they knew, they didn't really care. As far as they were concerned, Ivanka was her own person and they had no reason to blame this self-made - some people really need to google self-made - successful entrepreneur and business woman for her father's sins. 

The secret of Ivanka's success with #WomenWhoWork is the result of the unknown marketing and communication genius who created the "relatable Ivanka". "Relatable Ivanka" is one hell of a superwoman: she's the queen of the boardroom, a hands-on mother, a entrepreneur who started from scratch, an attentive and approachable boss, a loving wife, healthy and athletic, stylish and on message at all times, AND MOST IMPORTANTLY DOING IT ALL ON HER OWN, THROUGH PRIORITIZING AND WRITING DOWN GOALS!

Reality check: Ivanka is an heiress, she's the queen of Daddy's boardroom, a full-time nanny employer, an heiress who relied of Daddy to start her own business, a boss who adopted paid maternity leave only to stay on brand, a Met Gala red carpet socialite in designer's gowns, and a puppet constantly on message, as long as the message is platitudes salad. 

Her Instagram account - that used to be her brand's account too - was filled with pictures of relatable pastel Ivanka, the woman next door who managed to have it all. She had a million followers. Just like any other white-marble-pink-gold fashion and lifestyle influencer. This is what she really was: a social media influencer, who instead of promoting her sponsors was promoting her own brand. 

Question: would it be fair to wonder if Ivanka's hooked audience saw her as this great example to follow and learn from or actually saw her as an influencer who prefers Ivanka shoes to ASOS or Zara? Think about it! 

Ivanka Trump's brand presents itself as Inspiring and empowering women to create the lives they want to live. The girl's got her father's altruism and selflessness. 

A woman who checks this website for advice is welcomed by feminine fonts and pastel colors. If you're not the frilly kind, don't bother! The website proposes an easy formula to achieve success and balance in your personal and professional lives:
  • First, be sure to shop your workplace to play-date or date night combo at retailers selling Ivanka Trump. You can do anything once you own a floral dress, a blazer, a pair of pumps and the soho bag. 
  • Second, don't settle for less and work smartly to achieve success
  • Third, if you're expecting some real advice or solution - the "how to" of the obvious - you're at the wrong place! ivankatrump.com is for word salad
The ivankatrump.com website promotes Ivanka Trump (the brand) 's products through inspirational words jams, marketing the products as the stepping stone into becoming Ivanka Trump (the created image the real Ivanka wants you to think she is). Overall, it's a combination of overpriced cheap clothing items and dreamy quotes. Even if Ivanka herself isn't figured in every article, it is obvious that the website - just like her unreadable book - is based on a easily challenged theory: Not only is success a choice but so is failure, grocery shopping isn't important, to have it all you only need is to want to have it all! Do you doubt it? Don't, because Ivanka did it! Never mind her name, her inheritance, her Daddy's connections, her husband and his family's connections, the hired help, the stylists, the nanny, and the fact that "tremendous" isn't enough if you're starting from scratch. 


Truth be told, she managed to pull the con for a while. Then Daddy pulled a Norma-Desmond-on-an-escalator, Ivanka showed her true colors and her brand unraveled. 

Remember that mission about being all about women and helping women create the lives they want to live? Well, there's a problem: women seeking empowerment aren't swayed by the brand of a woman working for her sexist, racist, lying bigot, abuser and groper of a father who actually engages in lewd comments about her and who had publicly said he would date her if she weren't his daughter. Not quite inspiring for women in the times of the Me Too movement or in any other time to be quite frank! 

Today, Ivanka Trump has 4.2 million followers on Instagram. Back in November 2016, that - same -  account that served as her personal account as well as her brand's had a little less than a million followers. Once she became assistant to the President and supposedly divested from her businesses even though she remains its breathing billboard, the brand created its own account. The latter goes by the username Ivanka Trump HQ and has today a total of 65.6K. Ever since the creation of this new account for the brand, Ivanka's personal account gained 3.2 million followers. If the difference in the numbers alongside the fact that her long awaited book Women Who Work sold less than 40 thousand copies are of any indication, the queen of winning is actually loosing. And that's just the very beginning of the end for the Crown Princess of 666 Fifth Avenue.

Read my previous blog entry of Ivanka : Ivanka or The Book On Fake Feminism 

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