Overnight, internet rumours emerged that allege Kim Kardashian is suing Lana Del Rey. The supposed lawsuit reportedly concerns a Skims campaign that Del Rey starred in back in January 2024.
While that campaign was recently involved in a National Advertising Division assessment — at the time of writing, there is no evidence to support the claim that Kardashian is actually suing the songstress.
So… where did the rumour come from?
Where Did the Report Kim Kardashian Is Suing Lana Del Rey Come From?
On March 29, pop culture account @ThePopTingz made a post on X (formerly Twitter), that claimed something was awry between the two women.
“Kim Kardashian is reportedly suing Lana Del Rey over her SKIMS partnership, claiming the singer failed to disclose the post as an advertisement,” the post read. Despite the claim citing “WWE” as its source, there are no known reports from WWE — a magazine affiliated with the wrestling franchise of the same name — or other credible sources confirming the lawsuit.
Despite the lack of a credible source, the post quickly gained traction on the social media platform and has racked up 5.1 million views and 51,000 likes at the time of writing.
The NAD Assessment, Explained
Two days prior to ThePopTingz’s post going live, the fashion outlet WWD published an article reporting that Del Rey’s Instagram posts promoting her Skims campaign had been reviewed by the National Advertising Division (NAD).
NAD is a division of the independent, non-profit BBB National Programs and is not affiliated with any government body.
Del Rey, along with influencer Brittany Mahomes, was mentioned in a recent review by NAD.
NAD said in a statement that it had assessed Skims’ advertising practices “to ensure that its partnerships with celebrity influencers Brittany Mahomes and Lana Del Rey complied with the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Endorsement Guides regarding the proper disclosure of their financial relationship with the brand.”
Per the guidelines, if an influencer endorses a product on social media, they should make it clear in their messaging that they have a relationship — whether that be personal or financial — with the brand.
In 2024, Del Rey starred in Skims’ Valentine’s Day campaign and shared three Instagram posts promoting it. Prior to that, in 2023, Mahomes appeared in a holiday campaign for the brand alongside her NFL quarterback husband, Patrick and two of their children.
In the enquiry, NAD “focused on whether Del Rey and Mahomes adequately disclosed their financial relationship and material connections with Skims while promoting its products on social media.” It also considered the steps the brand has taken to ensure influencer compliance with the FTC’s guidelines when promoting its products.
“NAD reviewed three Instagram posts by Del Rey from January 2024 that featured Skims, either mentioning the brand by name or tagging Skims. NAD noted that Skims had taken steps to ensure its contracted influencers comply with FTC Guides, such as providing posting instructions to its influencers and monitoring its influencers to inform them of insufficient disclosures,” the statement said.
“Skims specifically asked Del Rey to discontinue or modify the three posts that mention or tag Skims without a clear and conspicuous material connection disclosure to include #ad and/or #sponsored as their contract indicates. For compliance purposes, NAD will treat this voluntary modification as though it was recommended by NAD and agreed upon by Skims,” the statement continued.
Skims issued what NAD described as “an advertiser statement,” too.
“As a supporter of voluntary industry self-regulation, Skims welcomes the opportunity to work with NAD in upholding high standards of truth and accuracy and appreciates NAD’s recognition of the steps Skims has taken to ensure its contracted influencers comply with the FTC Endorsement Guides,” Skims said.
At the time of writing, neither Kardashian nor Del Rey has addressed the unsubstantiated rumours that the former is suing the latter.
Watch here for updates.
