I once followed and supported Kim Kardashian – but after her promotion of appetite suppressants, I can't pretend she's a feminist any longer

The sisters vehemently argue that a woman should have free agency to do what she pleases with her body. Unless of course you have a larger body – in that case, you must suppress your appetite

She could use her enormous public profile to tell women that they can dress however they like and that they should celebrate their bodies, whatever their size (Reuters)

“Literally unreal.” That’s how Kim Kardashian chose to describe appetite-suppressing “Flat Tummy Lollipops” on Instagram this week.

Kim advertised this weight loss aid to her 111 million followers, posing topless alongside a discount code of 15 per cent off.

Immediately there was uproar. Actor and model Jameela Jamil took to Twitter to call the arguably most famous Kardashian sister a “terrible and toxic influence on young girls”. My Twitter was awash with fellow influencers completely aghast that the already-rich-beyond-our-wildest-dreams megastar was hawking such products online.

For one, with a reported net worth of over £85m, does Kim really need the money?

But it goes deeper than just selling out for a quick buck.

The Kardashian follower demographic is largely made up of young girls and women who look up to the clan as role models. It has been 11 years since they first burst onto our screens in Keeping Up With The Kardashians. The show has since become a way of life for many of their fans, who strive daily to “keep up” by buying their expensive makeup products, appropriating their style – which is already appropriated from black culture – and obsessing over their every move on social media.

But what happens when the family graduates from selling harmless liquid lipsticks and denim lines to appetite suppressants?

Kim’s comments underneath the lollipop advert ranged from shock and outrage that she’d sell such a product to messages of support from her fans, and eagerness to try it out.

I’ve followed Kim from the early days. Her response to her revenge porn sex tape – how she turned it into an entire career – is admirable. At the time, I wrote that it wasn’t right for her to be slut-shamed each time she posted a nude photo. How she was showing women everywhere that bodies were to be celebrated. Kim has also done a wonderful job campaigning for prison and gun reform, for example, and has been using her platform to raise awareness for Alice Marie Johnson, a woman serving life without parole for a first and non-violent drug offence.

But is she now abusing that feminist stance to sell? This brings us to the crux of the matter. Her influence.

An influence that is so great that it can reportedly garner up to £250,000 per social media advert, including ones that tell her followers to suck on a lollipop when they get hungry so that they don’t resort to eating.

Sufferers with disordered eating no longer need to take to forums and darker places of the net to pick up tips on how to suppress their appetite or how to lose weight quickly – their favourite celebrity is splashing them across her grid.

Even young women without disordered eating may see that post and think to themselves that by using a product that Kim herself uses, they too can have her body without her surgery, trainer, private gym and chef.

And what about her impressionable followers who were previously content with their bodies and eating patterns? They now have the seed implanted that being hungry is somehow wrong.

The Kardashian women call themselves feminists.

They suffer huge public backlash whenever they post sexually suggestive pictures and they vehemently argue that a woman should have free agency to do what she pleases with her body.

Unless of course you have a larger body – in that case, you must suppress your appetite.

She could use her enormous public profile to tell women that they can dress however they like and that they should celebrate their bodies, whatever their size. She could share tips on healthy and sustainable ways to change your lifestyle.

But instead she seems that she just doesn’t think about her followers at all.

Kim is using her platform to tell the world that hunger is not Instagram-worthy and that they should hate the way they look enough to #suckit.