Kim Kardashian Turns 2025 Bar Exam Failure Into Update Ad as 54.8% Passed Test

Q: Will commodifying her bar exam setback ultimately hurt Kim Kardashian's credibility as she continues her journey to become a lawyer?

Probably not in any lasting way, unless the joke starts to look like a substitute for real progress. Kardashian’s ad fits a pattern that has often worked for her: absorb criticism, turn it into self-aware humor, and fold it into a brand narrative. In this case, she is not hiding the failure. She publicly acknowledged that she did not pass the July 2025 California bar exam, said she would keep trying, and has previously been open about failing the “baby bar” three times before passing in 2021. That transparency can actually protect credibility more than silence would. The bigger issue is not the ad itself but what comes next. Legal credibility is earned through persistence, competence and eventually passing the exam, not through marketing. For supporters, the campaign may read as resilience and control over her own story. For skeptics, it reinforces a long-running criticism that she commercializes everything, including a profession that depends on seriousness and discipline. There is also a practical reputational risk because Kardashian reportedly skipped the February 2026 exam and does not plan to retake it until at least 2027. If delays continue while her legal ambitions remain part of her branding, the gap between image and achievement could become more damaging. For now, the ad is unlikely to seriously undermine her standing on its own. But it raises the stakes: the more she monetizes the journey, the more she will eventually need a real legal milestone to validate it.

3 articles · Updated · Business Insider · Jul 24

Thursday’s Update ad on X has Kim Kardashian joking about her failed July 2025 California bar exam to sell the relaunched energy drink brand she joined as a cofounder in February.
Gloria Allred appears in the spot asking whether Kardashian ever passed the bar, setting up the punchline: “No, I didn’t pass the bar. I raised it.”
California’s State Bar said 54.8% of 7,362 applicants passed the July 2025 exam, while Kardashian wrote afterward that she was “still all in until I pass the bar.”
The campaign extends Kardashian’s business portfolio beyond Skims, skincare, fragrance and private equity; Forbes estimates her net worth at about $1.9 billion.