A former social media designer at FireFestival says that social media promotes idolatry of bad actors and con artists.
Oren Aks spoke with Fox News Digital after Fyre Festival 2, a supportive version of the original Fyre Festival that failed in 2017.
Oren Aks, who was employed at Jerry Media when he worked in graphic design and social media strategy at the Fire Festival in 2017, told Fox News Digital that in the age of social media he would create icons from scammers and criminals like Delvey and Mangionen.
McFarland is no exception, he said.
“We see them as symbolic, and… at some point you are obsessed with them as this story you built, not as who they are.
Aks added that the masses, especially the American people, have not spoken about billionaires and billionaires business mogul success stories in the same way they discuss “Money Grubbers” with scammers, especially on social media.
“Previously… this inspirational route was for you to have a career, raise a ladder, earn a house and buy a house or something. Now we slander those people.
“Like a style icon or a freedom fighter, or any other imaginary title you want to assign them to. And I think… it’s very worried as a social change.
Aks added that America has built the idea that “we have to fail big to win big or we are working hard to succeed.”
“And they’re like a train wreck that’s almost never ending… that’s what fuels the internet,” he said. “That’s why people care about this Luigi Mangion man. Does this live in the universe that this is a related story to praise these people as an image of success?
Aks said he was excited about the 2017 Fyre Festival project. Because he worked in the music industry and was passionate about music festivals. The event and McFarland have promised attendees who paid thousands of tickets for a gorgeous music festival in the Bahamas, but instead delivered a glorious campsite to the island.
“Writing on the wall” before the festival began should have been a sign that the event was a disaster. It says it will be a disaster from credit cards until FireFestival partners are removed from the logistics planning loop.
He recalled the moment when he knew things were heading south.
“When we arrived, the point that really hit me was actually… I went down into the valley where there was nothing over this hill, in the beach area where the festival is being held, seeing the tents and the actual Media Center Stage area,” he said.
“In my brain, logistics didn’t work, but I thought it wasn’t my territory. I’m a graphic designer. They’re like an architect or someone who deals with it.
After the 2017 Fyre Festival failed, it went viral on social media when Hulu and Netflix released a documentary about the failed beach bash, created the #Fyrefraud hashtag and created photos of the scattered sandwiches offered at the festival.
The festival reached a settlement with 277 ticket holders in 2021, and was ordered to pay each recipient a $7,220 award.
Fyre Festival 2 has since been postponed, and McFarland announced this week that it is selling the Fyre brand.
“We have decided on the best way to achieve our goals. This is to sell the FireFestival brand, including its trademark, IP, digital assets, media reach, and cultural capital. For operators who can fully realize that vision.”
McFarland said the Fyre brand “deserves to be a team with scale, experience and infrastructure, and therefore it deserves its full potential.”
