I chose the Netflix Film, FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened to watch for this assignment. For those of you who need a refresher on Fyre Festival, it was a music festival branded as an exclusive, luxury experience set to take place in the Bahamas, spring of 2017. The festival concept was created by, Fyre Media executive Billy McFarland and, rapper, Ja Rule. Most of the promotion took place through sponsored posts on Instagram by influencers, including Kendall Jenner and Hailey Baldwin. The event was executed terribly, and opening weekend was an epic failure from the moment the guests arrived. There were not enough tents for the people who had reserved them. The tents that were there were FEMA emergency shelters, rather than the luxury villas the customers had been promised. There were not enough planes to remove people from the island, meaning attendees were essentially locked in the airport or an extended period of time without food or water. While the Netflix documentary focuses on the preparation leading up to the event, the underlying themes that are discussed throughout the documentary are the power influencers carry to promote this type of event, the role of hype in this festival, and the agency consumers had through digital communication to voice their reaction to the event.
There are two major themes throughout the documentary that demonstrate the power of the relationship between influencers and their followers. Abidin (2015) says, “The allure of influencers is premised on the ways they engage with their followers to give the impression of exclusive, intimate exchange.” She defines intimacy “as how familiar and close followers feel to an Influencer.” The first theme is the power that this small group of influencers had to make this event go viral. The influencers were paid to leverage their connection with their subscribers and were the main source of promotion for this event. Many did not initially disclose that they were compensated for posting about the event. Followers trusted that the event was credible because it was endorsed by influencers, and many may have believed that they were posting out of genuine excitement to attend the event. This, among other incidents, led to conversations about the importance of mandating that influencer’s posts be disclosed as ads so that consumers view them with a more critical eye. The second is about the dynamic that arose between influencers and their followers after the event. Abidin (2015), discusses how influencers create intimacy with their followers by showing snip-its of mundane moments in everyday life. They also take their following along to exclusive “glamorous” events “disclosing ‘insider information’ from the Influencer’s point of view.” She believes, “When juxtaposed against the exclusive and glamorous ... these ‘behind-the-scenes’ portrayals of ordinary and relatable everyday life gives followers the impression that they are privy to the private, usually inaccessible aspects of influencers’ lives.” The Fyre festival represents a glamorous activity, inaccessible to many followers. When the festival went south, the internet reacted by laughing at the attendees for spending the money to attend the event. Admittedly, many of these people were not followers. But many followers reacted with little sympathy to these people trapped in the airport. They did not demonstrate the same emotional connection they did to the influencers in other circumstances. Perhaps this was because the original influencers that promoted the event were more celebrities than microcelebrity influencers, making fans feel more distanced from the event, even though many smaller influencers attended the actual festival. Another explanation for this behavior is that this experience was so out of reach for followers, and they only feel real emotions for things that they relate with.
There are two major themes throughout the documentary that demonstrate the power of the relationship between influencers and their followers. Abidin (2015) says, “The allure of influencers is premised on the ways they engage with their followers to give the impression of exclusive, intimate exchange.” She defines intimacy “as how familiar and close followers feel to an Influencer.” The first theme is the power that this small group of influencers had to make this event go viral. The influencers were paid to leverage their connection with their subscribers and were the main source of promotion for this event. Many did not initially disclose that they were compensated for posting about the event. Followers trusted that the event was credible because it was endorsed by influencers, and many may have believed that they were posting out of genuine excitement to attend the event. This, among other incidents, led to conversations about the importance of mandating that influencer’s posts be disclosed as ads so that consumers view them with a more critical eye. The second is about the dynamic that arose between influencers and their followers after the event. Abidin (2015), discusses how influencers create intimacy with their followers by showing snip-its of mundane moments in everyday life. They also take their following along to exclusive “glamorous” events “disclosing ‘insider information’ from the Influencer’s point of view.” She believes, “When juxtaposed against the exclusive and glamorous ... these ‘behind-the-scenes’ portrayals of ordinary and relatable everyday life gives followers the impression that they are privy to the private, usually inaccessible aspects of influencers’ lives.” The Fyre festival represents a glamorous activity, inaccessible to many followers. When the festival went south, the internet reacted by laughing at the attendees for spending the money to attend the event. Admittedly, many of these people were not followers. But many followers reacted with little sympathy to these people trapped in the airport. They did not demonstrate the same emotional connection they did to the influencers in other circumstances. Perhaps this was because the original influencers that promoted the event were more celebrities than microcelebrity influencers, making fans feel more distanced from the event, even though many smaller influencers attended the actual festival. Another explanation for this behavior is that this experience was so out of reach for followers, and they only feel real emotions for things that they relate with.
Fyre Festival was created to promote McFarland’s Fyre app for booking music talent. Naturally, they chose a concept and promoted it in a way that would receive a lot of attention. Powers (2012), defines hype as “a state of anticipation generated through the circulation of promotion, resulting in a crisis of value.” Coachella and other music festivals have become exceedingly popular in recent years, making their way through Gartner’s Hype Cycle, Gartner (2019). Fyre Festival did not complete the Hype Cycle. Its technology trigger was the concept of an exotic, luxury music festival. The peak of inflated expectations happened until just a few days before the festival. There were no negative accounts and huge anticipation up until this time. Fyre Festival never made it out of the Trough of Disillusionment. There were no positive accounts after it took place. It never maEde it to the Slope of Enlightenment and Plateau of Productivity, where it could have success after its initial execution. Part of what made Fyre Festival so shocking was the huge anticipation or “hype” that led to an outcome of total failure.
Instant communication and digital technology made this event only experienced by a small group of people a pop culture phenomenon. The public reaction to the event’s failure started conversations about wealth distribution in the U.S., and posts and comments on social media were very politically charged. People used the tools available through technology to address their political frustrations in addition to informing influencers and celebrities that they were out of touch by asking for sympathy from followers even though they had exercised so much privilege to attend the event. Fiske (1989) said, “Everyday life is constituted by the practices of popular culture, and is characterized by the creativity of the weak in using the resources provided by a disempowering system while refusing finally to submit to that power.” Followers used this chance to inform influencers that they felt they needed to acknowledge their privilege when addressing followers.
What can be learned about pop culture from the Fyre Festival is that many things in pop culture are related to important political and current issues like income inequality and advertising regulation. People were very vocal about what they felt was and was not acceptable for influencers to say and do in the context of their privilege. Pop culture should not be dismissed or overlooked because it has great societal value.
Word Count: 1010
References:
Abidin, C. (2015). Communicative <3 intimacies: Influencers and perceived interconnectedness.
Ada: A Journal of Gender, New Media, & Technology 8. Retrieved from: http://adanewmedia.org/2015/11/issue8-abidin/
Faughnder, R. (2016). Coachella by the numbers: a breakdown of the festival’s $700-million
impact. Los Angles Times. Retrieved from: https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-coachella-economy-by-the-numbers-20160420-story.html
Fiske, J. (1989). Commodities and culture. In Understanding popular culture. New York, NY: Routledge. pp. 23-47.
Word Count: 1010
References:
Abidin, C. (2015). Communicative <3 intimacies: Influencers and perceived interconnectedness.
Ada: A Journal of Gender, New Media, & Technology 8. Retrieved from: http://adanewmedia.org/2015/11/issue8-abidin/
Faughnder, R. (2016). Coachella by the numbers: a breakdown of the festival’s $700-million
impact. Los Angles Times. Retrieved from: https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-coachella-economy-by-the-numbers-20160420-story.html
Fiske, J. (1989). Commodities and culture. In Understanding popular culture. New York, NY: Routledge. pp. 23-47.
Gartner. (2019). Gartner Hype Cycle. Retrieved from: https://www.gartner.com/en/research/methodologies/gartner-hype-cycle
Powers, D. (2012). Notes on Hype International Journal of Communication, pp. 863.
Smith, C., Gabai, D., Purzycki, M. (2019). Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened. United States: Jerry Media, Library Films, Vice Studios, MATTE Projects
Powers, D. (2012). Notes on Hype International Journal of Communication, pp. 863.
Smith, C., Gabai, D., Purzycki, M. (2019). Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened. United States: Jerry Media, Library Films, Vice Studios, MATTE Projects
Isabella Yu:
ReplyDeleteThis post makes an important argument about the increasing power that influencers have over their followers in the context of selling and promoting products. Influencers were the main source of promotion for the FYRE Festival. Through social media, the popular influencers that were hired, including Kendall Jenner and Hailey Baldwin, used the seemingly intimate sense of connection that followers feel towards them to establish credibility for FYRE. As mentioned in the post, “Followers trusted that the event was credible because it was endorsed by influencers, and many may have believed that they were posting out of genuine excitement to attend the event.” Because followers develop a one-side illusion of intimacy and personal relationship with influencers, influencers feel more trustworthy. This sense of trust for influencers is what drove sales for FYRE. Followers willingly purchased expensive tickets for an event they had never heard of. Followers did not even feel the need to investigate what they were actually buying. If followers did not trust these influencers, they would not have bought tickets to such a new, unfamiliar of event. Therefore, I strongly agree with this post's comment on the “importance of mandating that influencer’s posts be disclosed as ads so that consumers view them with a more critical eye.” There should be regulations on social media platforms to protect followers from blindly trusting influencers. If influencers had disclosed that they were being paid to promote FYRE, followers would have been more wary and could have discovered the illegitimacy of the event before purchasing tickets.