Fyre Festival Instagrams By Kendall Jenner, Bella Hadid, Other Celebs Could Cost Them Millions

Remember back a few months ago when it seemed like every other celebrity on the planet was putting this promotion for the Fyre Festival on their Instagram page?

https://www.instagram.com/p/BN8ErpVhh39/

(Here are a couple more that amazingly still haven’t been scrubbed from Instagram, yet.)

Everyone from Kendall Jenner to Bella Hadid, Bella Thorne, Emily Ratajkowski, Hailey Baldwin and NUMEROUS other celebs promoted what turned out to be a monumental disaster of an event.

Here’s a look at some of the MANY “Fyre Starters” the promoters used to tout their failed venture (via Vanity Fair)…

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Now with multiple lawsuits pending, many of these celebrities could be forced to cough up some serious cash for their part in fleecing those who paid to attend the dumpster fire of an event.

Reports NPR…

The plan was to build awareness and attendance by recruiting — you guessed it — influencers, who would promote it on their social media accounts. Dubbed “the Fyre Tribe,” each was given free tickets and flights to the festival in exchange for taking part in a coordinated marketing effort that had each — over 30 are listed, with links, in the deck — post an “ambiguous” orange slide on their Instagram with the hashtag #FyreFestival. In the aftermath of last week’s debacle, most scrubbed their accounts of the promotion, though at least eighteen remained live as of this writing (see here, here and here for examples). Kendall Jenner, she of the lamentably anti-woke Pepsi ad debacle, was central to the Fyre Festival promotional campaign too, announcing the festival’s first headliner, G.O.O.D. Music.

That each post we reviewed seemed to run afoul of Federal Trade Commission rules around paid promotion may come to haunt the Fyre Tribe, however. Last month the FTC sent out “more than 90 letters reminding influencers and marketers that influencers should clearly and conspicuously disclose their relationships to brands when promoting or endorsing products through social media.” The letters “were sent in response to a sample of Instagram posts making endorsements or referencing brands.” (It also issued a template letter that begins “Dear {Influencer}.”)

As mentioned, a suit against the festival’s organizers was filed just two days after the situation on the ground became public. The FTC tells NPR that, so far, all cases brought over paid (but undisclosed) social media marketing campaigns have been against companies, not individuals, though a class action suit brought by individuals outside the FTC remains an open question.

Fortune magazine takes it even further…

…while the $100 million case grabbed the most headlines, the more interesting complaint may be one filed a day later in California state court. That case names not only the organizers but also the social media influencers, who are being sued for fraud, negligent misrepresentation, and unfair trade practices.

According to William McGeveran, a law professor at the University of Minnesota, concertgoers could have a case against anyone paid to hype the Fyre Festival.

“In the offline world, there is precedent for such claims. For example, door-to-door salespersons using deceptive high-pressure tactics could be personally liable for fraud or violating the California [commercial code], right alongside the company that employed them,” he said. “The plaintiffs here are arguing that Fyrefest is the Instagram equivalent of door-to-door sales fraud.”

So far, however, the celebs are in the clear. However, they might not be for long…

For now, the California class action suit has yet to name specific influencers, instead referring to 100 unnamed “Jane Does.” McGeveran says this decision not to name Fyre influencers like Jenner or model Emily Ratajkowski could be a tactic to encourage the influencers to turn against the organizers to keep themselves out of trouble. It could also be a tactic to use the legal process known as discovery to learn more about how Fyre recruited and paid the influencers.

But however the legal process unfolds, it’s likely to make Instagram celebrities think twice about how they rent out their social media profiles. Not only did the Fyre Festival promotions hurt their credibility with fans—it could also hurt them in the pocket books if a judge decides they share any of the legal blame for the event.

If nothing else, perhaps this will teach people to stop giving celebrities so much sway in what they say and do. Eh, probably not.

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