In The Wake Of FYRE Fest, Celebrities Vow To Expose Advertising Campaigns

Bella Breakdown

If you’ve seen any of the FYRE documentaries, or have read up on the latest news and findings from the scam, you know that a big issue during the marketing of the festival was its paid advertising agreements with big influencers. Particularly on Instagram, FYRE execs paid dozens of models, celebrities and influencers to post about the festival, or even to come to the Bahamas and shoot live footage for promotion on social media.

Now that hundreds of people have been scammed out of thousands of dollars after buying tickets to the festival, those influencers who promoted the event are coming under fire. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has been trying to crack down on celebrity endorsements for some time now, and in light of recent FYRE events, those celebrities are coming forward to make a promise for transparency.

“Influencers can have a huge impact on what their fans decide to buy. People could, quite rightly, feel misled if what they thought was a recommendation from someone they admired turns out to be a marketing ploy,” said Andrea Coscelli, the chief executive of the CMA.

“You should be able to tell as soon as you look at a post if there is some form of payment or reward involved, so you can decide whether something is really worth spending your hard-earned money on.”

Celebrities like Rita Ora, Alexa Chung, and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley have made a promise to reveal when they are promoting an ad, and more and more celebs and stars are following suit.