Kim's Trumping Paris in the Celebutante WarsWe saw a picture of Paris Hilton accompanying an article about her faux drug bust in South Africa and almost thought, Paris who? Not really. Paris Hilton is certainly unforgettable in almost every way, but it did make us think about how Hilton has dropped off of our celebrity radar lately and how she has most certainly been usurped in the celebutante market by her former friend and assistant, and celebutante second-mover Kim Kardashian.

Paris Hilton has been a part of our world since 2003. Since then she has evolved from a club-hopping, panty-eschewing, party princess into a global brand.

And like most successful businesses, Hilton spawned imitators, other wealthy socialites who, because of their family money and their good looks also thought they deserved to be famous. In 2007 Kim Kardashian, Hilton's former friend entered the celebutante market, determined to reach Hilton levels of success. Kardashian used the Paris Hilton business model of utilizing personal exploitation to sell both her image and consumer goods, and as the second mover in the market was able to learn from Hilton's mistakes and did indeed become quite successful.

But now Kim has become so much more. Kim has used Keeping Up With the Kardashians as the mothership for various product extensions and have managed to cannibalize a lot of the consumer mindshare that used to belong to Paris Hilton.