Influencer marketing can be a powerful tool for brands, but as the infamous Fyre Festival showed, when hype outpaces reality, it can quickly turn from opportunity into cautionary tale.
PR and social media executive, Ella Adams, explores the good, the bad, and the ugly surrounding social media and influencer marketing.
Slimming teas, tanning gummies, hair growth serum that seemingly works overnight…
The world of social media ads appears to feel all too consuming, especially when all you want to do is sit, watch stupid cat videos or those relatable reels that you send to your friends with the standard ‘this is so us’ comment. Instead, nowadays you could practically think about something, and it would come up on your feed.
But the focus of this blog isn’t necessarily about whether a mysterious powder in a sachet will reverse aging within a week (sus), or a supplement that could make you a foot taller (extra sus).
We are here to talk about the individuals who sell you these products…influencers.
The influencer market is forever expanding, and it seems that every Tom, Dick and Harry wants to jump on the bandwagon. I mean, aside from constantly having to document every aspect of your life, the trolling comments, the risk of being cancelled or uninteresting the minute you have a wrinkle or grey hair, and the obsessive screen time – it sounds like an easy profession to keep when you are in it.
But the same way you get the whole ‘if someone told you to jump off of a cliff, would you do it’ lecture, just because someone with a momentum of ‘followers’ tells you to buy something LIFE CHANGING, doesn’t mean you necessarily should.
I mean, tanning gummies…seriously? The only thing you’re getting from those is most likely kidney failure or severe hair loss.
Influencer marketing is good, scarily good. A perfect example of what I’m trying to get at is the Fyre Festival. If you haven’t heard of it, I would strongly recommend googling it or watching the Netflix documentary but only after reading the rest of this blog, duh.
Fair to say my mind was BLOWN when I stumbled upon the Fyre Festival scandal.
Just to summarise briefly- in 2016, a series of mysterious orange tiles appeared across Instagram, posted simultaneously by some of the world’s most recognisable influencers (Bella Hadid, Kendall Jenner, Emily Ratajkowski). With little to no explanation, the campaign quickly turned curiosity into hype, and that hype was all it needed to absolutely blow social media up.
These orange tiles marked the launch of the Fyre Festival, a supposedly ultra-luxurious music festival in the Bahamas, co-founded by entrepreneur (loose term) Billy McFarland and rapper Ja Rule (yep, never heard of him either).
It promised private villas, gourmet food and performances from artists like Blink 182, with tickets ranging from anything around $1000 to over $100,000. The marketing was predominantly driven by influencers, with their lifestyle becoming the product. Importantly, not like anyone bothered to notice, a lot of the ads did not disclose that they were paid promotions.
The reality? An absolute sh*t show. When attendees rocked up in April 2017, it was, as assumed, too good to be true, with flights being cancelled, guests stranded in disaster relief tents and little to no security, water or food.
What was once showcased as a once-in-a-lifetime experience quickly became a disaster, and funnily enough, a case of fraud.
Ok, so to my point. How did they ‘pull’ it off?
Three things:
Followers trusted the Fyre Festival influencers more than bog standard traditional advertising. When they promoted the event, they pushed not only their brand but also their trust onto the festival, even though they didn’t have any involvement in the planning. But hey, it worked right?
Touching on social proof, as a social media user seeing dozens of high-profile influencers post the same campaign subsequently created an illusion of widespread endorsement. To many, it felt less like advertising and more like a cultural moment. Little did they know…anyway.
Onto my last point, the campaign never focused on the logistics. Instead, it sold an experience of luxury, exclusivity and ultimately, status. Consumers weren’t buying a festival; they were actually buying the idea of belonging to that world.
And if the above hasn’t freaked you out enough, *trigger warning – this next part will.
One of the most controversial aspects of the whole scandal was the lack of clear advertising disclosures. It was reported that Kendall Jenner earned thousands of dollars for a single post but didn’t once use a #sponsored or #ad label.
Audiences believed they were seeing something authentic, and not a marketing campaign, which I guess is kind of good marketing in a way?
Hang in there, we’re nearly done.
The reason why Fyre Festival works so well as an example is because it exposed the weaknesses in influencer marketing, basing credibility on image rather than expertise. It wasn’t simply a failed festival, it was a perfect demonstration of how easily and quickly trust can be manufactured and exploited.
There’s no doubt that the world of influencer marketing is impressive and vast, but just a thought to end this piece – if influence could sell a luxury festival that never existed ten-years ago, imagine what it can convince you is real and worth your attention and investment now.
Ella Adams- PR and Social Media Executive
Ella is the newest edition to the Source team. As a PR and Social Media Executive, she works with clients on press releases and social media campaigns and strategy. Drawn to the creative and dynamic nature of PR, her days involve working closely with clients, building relationships and helping them get their campaigns out there. When she is not at her desk, she is most likely chasing miles on a long run, head in a book, or plotting her next shopping trip. Don’t be fooled, she is extremely partial to a sweet treat and if anyone mentions a movie night in to watch Pride and Prejudice for the one hundredth time, she will be there.
