Fyre Fest — Discussing the Documentaries.
Fyre Fest, One of the biggest failures in modern-day history. It brought so much attention to how social media has an influence on society and how people can misuse their power. After this catastrophe happened, Netflix and Hulu both created documentaries on Frye Fest and both talked about what went into the operation, who played a part in all of this, and the aftermath. Both had similarities and differences when it came to handling the story of fire first, but they both showcase how social media has the power to influence for good, and for bad.
Fyre Fest has its negative connotations [and that’s an understatement as much as one can be] but as I said earlier, it did show the sheer power of social media and what it can do to influence people. There were some positive takeaways from Fyre Fest, as controversial as that statement may be. One example could include the fact that effective marketing works. What are the motives are good or evil, using effective social media can influence and persuade people. This whole debacle showed how choosing the proper imagery and knowing trends can get people interested and can get people on board with what a company is trying to sell or show. Both documentaries showcased the number of influencers that were involved and how each advertising tactic worked. in the Instagram post below, the orange square was one of the most notorious and infamous icons of this entire event. Influencers were instructed to send this Burt orange square and comment about how they were excited to go to Fyre Fest, and doing so this generated a lot of talk about the event and gained so much attention overnight. Literally, an orange square with nothing else on it generated this much hype. Knowing the audience and knowing what you want to accomplish, you have to know how to get a reaction out of a mass amount of people and show that it is possible if you follow the right trends and if you know how to do so.
Another example of how Fyre Fest brought some positive influence to the table is simply accountability. As much as the documentaries showed the while in a fun atmosphere that this festival is supposed to bring, it showed that people who are deceptive when it comes to marketing and people who use deceptive tactics are held accountable. At the end of the documentary, it discusses what legal actions Billy McFarland had to face. Morality is a big part of a brand and if people want to exploit and manipulate a large number of people, they have to face the backlash, especially in a society where people are more aware of such tactics. I mean Billy McFarland, after all of the legal proceedings to take place, was sentenced to six years in prison by a federal judge, even though the Netflix documentary said that he’d never go. A follow up after watching both documentaries I wanted to see what had actually happened and if he actually went to jail, and he did, but he did make a statement saying “I’ve lived every day in prison with pain, and I will continue to do so until I am able to make up for some of this harm through work and actions that society finds respectable” (Bucksbaum, Refinery 29). Whether you think that his words hold some sort of truth of them is another matter, but it does sound like he deeply regrets all the actions he had done and he has to live with those consequences for the rest of his life. Billy was the only one that faced backlash two, influencers that promoted Fyre Fest also in the line of fire. In the post below, Gabrielle bluestone tweeted about how Kendall Jenner was paid $250,000 to promote the festival. people were outraged that she got paid so much and her name was plastered all over advertising this event and she receives backlash from so many people because she just promoted the event. whether you agree or not, accountability needed to be held by people who promoted such a disaster, and she fell into the line of fire.
One Final positive thing to come out of this whole situation is people’s awareness of the entire situation. I remember when Fyre Fest was taking place in real-time and thinking how stupid it is that all of these influencers are going to get together and have this giant music festival and try to replace Coachella. After seeing everything unfold, I didn’t feel bad for the people that went to Fyre Fest and did all of this. People spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to try to make themselves become influencers and try to portray this persona that might not even be true to who they are. So many people watched all of this godown and so many people didn’t feel bad because they were so easily tricked. The effective marketing tools, the aesthetic that they were trying to go for, it worked. It tripped so many people into spending so much money and because of this entire campaign, I believe people became more aware of scams and deceptive tactics. That may just be me, but at least looking back at The aftermath, I got that understanding that people now know to look a little bit harder when it comes to scams.
A question that can be asked now after this whole mess is; are social media companies responsible for making sure their client is providing accurate information. Well, I want to say yes, I don’t think it’s that simple. When you run a company, you can dictate the morals and ideology of your brand. If Client comes to you and you know they are being deceptive or not telling the truth, it is been up to either the social media company to continue working with him, or you as an individual to be a part of that, because one of the big things that came out of the documentaries is that Fuck Jerry, social media company for Fyre Fest, received a lot of backlashes because they were the entire face of this brand. In my opinion, I believe that if at any point you feel that a client is not being truthful or trying to deceive, you should shut it down and end it because then you could potential he get in trouble, regardless if you were even a part of the company that is trying to be deceptive. receiving a bad name in the industry can make or break someone’s career and if they get work and you having your name attached to a company that promotes such atrocities could hurt your career overall. In the instance of Fyre Fest, if I had any questions or any sort of inkling that I believe that they were being untruthful, I would’ve immediately shut it down.
Going into the future, I think people are now more aware of these types of situations and hopefully, Frye Fest was able to get across the idea that social media is a powerful tool and should be used properly. This entire campaign was based on trends and influencers and it led to hundreds of people being deceived and having the entire world watches all of this transpired. Social media can be scary and this was one instance where this was true.
