The Netflix documentary “Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened” illustrates the journey of the promised luxury music festival experience, Fyre Festival, which was in reality one big lie. Billy McFarland and his team came up with the idea to throw an over-the-top luxury music festival in the Bahamas that guaranteed a once in a lifetime experience to those who attended, but not just anyone could take part. Ticket prices started at $2,000 and there were VIP package deals that went for more than $12,000, so only those who could afford to shovel over several thousands of dollars could go to what they thought would be the best weekend of their entire lives.
The main reason the Fyre Festival got any attention in the first place is because of social media influencers. The team planning the festival decided to hire extremely well-known influencers like Kendall Jenner, Hailey Baldwin, Bella Hadid and Emily Ratajkowski to post the famous orange square with the Fyre Festival logo on their social media pages. Not only was this the main way everyone found out about the Fyre Festival, but it made other influencers and “wanna-be’s” crave attendance in order to satisfy their following and uphold their reputation. Crystal Abidin describes how “the allure of influencers is premised on the ways they engage with their followers to give the impression of exclusive, intimate exchange” (Abidin). Because influencers make it seem like they have a personal relationship with each and every one of their followers, the follower forms a sort of trust with the person. They trust that the influencer is promoting things that are both cool and true. As the festival got closer, more videos and teasers were posted on social media of the same influencers and other famous models frolicking around on private beaches and boats. These videos made it seem like not only would the festival’s setting be luxurious and exclusive, but also that there would be gorgeous and famous supermodel influencers everywhere. The role of influencers in the Fyre Festival was huge because without their social media presences, the festival would not have been so verified or widespread.
Devon Powers describes hype as “a state of anticipation generated through the circulation of promotion, resulting in a crisis of value” (Powers). Hype was an extremely relevant concept surrounding the Fyre Festival. In the age we live in, hype is what determines if something is cool or desirable. Because of how much promotion the festival got, starting with influencers, it became a product of hype. It was what everyone was talking about, and what everyone wanted to be apart of. Because of the hype the festival got, and the trusted influencers that were promoting it, no one was even thinking of the possibility that this entire event was one, big sham. Hype is such a strong concept that makes people override logic and reason in order to take part in the fantasy of attending such an extravagant and elite event like this. No one acknowledged that it would be essentially impossible to obtain everything that Fyre Media promised to be apart of the occasion, let alone be delivered to and setup on an island in the middle of the Bahamas. The notion that there would never be enough space to fit all of the facilities and amenities that were promised on the island was not in people’s minds because they were too distracted by the sheer desire of attending such an event. The hype surrounding the event made the entire illusion possible because it distracted everyone from having any sort of doubt that any of this was even feasible, which is exactly what McFarland and his group wanted to happen.
Instant communication played an immense role in both the build up and the fall out of the Fyre Festival. The fact that today one can interact with celebrities, influencers and companies in real time is crucial to fraud like the Fyre Festival even being able to gain any sort of traction. Fyre Media was able to essentially tell every single social media user about the festival because of instant communication abilities. The second that they shared any video regarding the festival, or the influencers involved in the promotions, it generated a massive amount of buzz and sharing. If instant communication was not possible, there is no way the Fyre Festival would have had any chance in becoming as popular as it did because it would not have been so easy to share with the target audience.
From the fall out of the Fyre Festival, we can learn a lot about digital technologies and popular culture. Digital technologies make it possible for ideas and promotions to circulate much faster and reach a much wider audience because of the ability to share things so effectively. The Fyre Festival failure reveals a lot about popular culture because it shows how people get information and verification from social media and other forms of popular culture. This can be very detrimental to society because one should not always trust that anything seen on social media is the truth. If people put too much faith into social media, then scams like the Fyre Festival could happen way too often. Popular culture, and the idea of being in the know of what is cool and trending, has such a strong hold on people that they become so desperate they believe whatever the leaders of the industry tell them. The Fyre Festival was a pivotal moment for both popular culture and digital technologies because it illustrated how people can be completely manipulated and shielded from the truth by people like Billy McFarland hiding behind trusted influencers and well-made advertisements.
Works Cited
The main reason the Fyre Festival got any attention in the first place is because of social media influencers. The team planning the festival decided to hire extremely well-known influencers like Kendall Jenner, Hailey Baldwin, Bella Hadid and Emily Ratajkowski to post the famous orange square with the Fyre Festival logo on their social media pages. Not only was this the main way everyone found out about the Fyre Festival, but it made other influencers and “wanna-be’s” crave attendance in order to satisfy their following and uphold their reputation. Crystal Abidin describes how “the allure of influencers is premised on the ways they engage with their followers to give the impression of exclusive, intimate exchange” (Abidin). Because influencers make it seem like they have a personal relationship with each and every one of their followers, the follower forms a sort of trust with the person. They trust that the influencer is promoting things that are both cool and true. As the festival got closer, more videos and teasers were posted on social media of the same influencers and other famous models frolicking around on private beaches and boats. These videos made it seem like not only would the festival’s setting be luxurious and exclusive, but also that there would be gorgeous and famous supermodel influencers everywhere. The role of influencers in the Fyre Festival was huge because without their social media presences, the festival would not have been so verified or widespread.
Devon Powers describes hype as “a state of anticipation generated through the circulation of promotion, resulting in a crisis of value” (Powers). Hype was an extremely relevant concept surrounding the Fyre Festival. In the age we live in, hype is what determines if something is cool or desirable. Because of how much promotion the festival got, starting with influencers, it became a product of hype. It was what everyone was talking about, and what everyone wanted to be apart of. Because of the hype the festival got, and the trusted influencers that were promoting it, no one was even thinking of the possibility that this entire event was one, big sham. Hype is such a strong concept that makes people override logic and reason in order to take part in the fantasy of attending such an extravagant and elite event like this. No one acknowledged that it would be essentially impossible to obtain everything that Fyre Media promised to be apart of the occasion, let alone be delivered to and setup on an island in the middle of the Bahamas. The notion that there would never be enough space to fit all of the facilities and amenities that were promised on the island was not in people’s minds because they were too distracted by the sheer desire of attending such an event. The hype surrounding the event made the entire illusion possible because it distracted everyone from having any sort of doubt that any of this was even feasible, which is exactly what McFarland and his group wanted to happen.
Instant communication played an immense role in both the build up and the fall out of the Fyre Festival. The fact that today one can interact with celebrities, influencers and companies in real time is crucial to fraud like the Fyre Festival even being able to gain any sort of traction. Fyre Media was able to essentially tell every single social media user about the festival because of instant communication abilities. The second that they shared any video regarding the festival, or the influencers involved in the promotions, it generated a massive amount of buzz and sharing. If instant communication was not possible, there is no way the Fyre Festival would have had any chance in becoming as popular as it did because it would not have been so easy to share with the target audience.
From the fall out of the Fyre Festival, we can learn a lot about digital technologies and popular culture. Digital technologies make it possible for ideas and promotions to circulate much faster and reach a much wider audience because of the ability to share things so effectively. The Fyre Festival failure reveals a lot about popular culture because it shows how people get information and verification from social media and other forms of popular culture. This can be very detrimental to society because one should not always trust that anything seen on social media is the truth. If people put too much faith into social media, then scams like the Fyre Festival could happen way too often. Popular culture, and the idea of being in the know of what is cool and trending, has such a strong hold on people that they become so desperate they believe whatever the leaders of the industry tell them. The Fyre Festival was a pivotal moment for both popular culture and digital technologies because it illustrated how people can be completely manipulated and shielded from the truth by people like Billy McFarland hiding behind trusted influencers and well-made advertisements.
Works Cited
Abidin. (2018, February 28). Communicative ❤ Intimacies: Influencers and Perceived Interconnectedness. Retrieved from https://adanewmedia.org/2015/11/issue8-abidin/.
Powers, D. (2019). On trend: The business of forecasting the future. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press. Intro
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