Authenticity

This week’s lesson on Promotional Culture and Digital Media highlighted the moral and ethical responsibilities both influencers and consumers have in understanding the brands they come in contact with. Influencers share the responsibility of understanding the products they are paid to endorse. The Fyre Festival documentary on Netflix is a key example of a lack of understanding by influencers and could have been an easily avoidable disaster. Similarly, consumers need to understand which brands are trustworthy and worth the recommendation, and which are faulty. Fact checking and conducting due diligence must be part of the consumer checklist before buying into a brand — whether that be a person, item, or both.

The idea of authenticity was questioned after this week’s lesson because of how easily people can be persuaded online. Brand trust is built overtime and can be destroyed in seconds. How consumers choose to accept a brand reflects their own value and self-worth. Fyre Festival owner Billy McFarland managed to con everyone who bought into the festival itself, and then continued to re-con those on the email list after being arrested; miraculously, some people fell for it twice. This raises the question: how quickly do we adapt to brands, and why do we choose to support them after they fail and harm us? The Fyre Festival’s brand was clearly not authentic and did not merit any further support, but for some, faith in the con artist that is Billy McFarland was great enough to continue supporting him. Authenticity must be gauged and re-gauged on a constant basis, otherwise we fall trap to brands who may not be worthy of honest support.