* New suit alleges FTC violations for social media plugs
* Kendall Jenner was paid $250k without disclosing
* Other celebs were paid at least $20k each
Fyre Festival was supposed to be a luxury experience set on a private island, complete with bottle service, gorgeous models and musical acts. Instead it melted into a disaster, perhaps because instead of planning logistics, festival organizers Billy McFarland and Ja Rule blew all the cash paying celebrity “influencers” to promote the event on social media.
We previously told you about the $100 million class action suit filed against the organizers. Now, a second suit is taking aim at FTC violations allegedly caused by models who promoted the event on social media, but failed to disclose that they were paid for the posts.
“These ‘sponsored posts’ were in direct violation of Federal Trade Commission Guidelines on disclosing material connections between advertisers and endorsers,” alleges the new lawsuit. “Social media ‘influencers’ made no attempt to disclose to consumers that they were being compensated for promoting the Fyre Festival. Instead, these influencers gave the impression that the guest list was full of the Social Elite and other celebrities.”
As Vice News reports, Kendall Jenner was paid $250,000 for a single Instagram post. Other lesser known influencers were paid a minimum of $20,000 for their posts.
According to Variety, the new suit calls out by name not only Kendall Jenner, but also Bella Hadid, Hailey Baldwin, Emily Ratajkowski, Anastasia Ashley, Mike Thomas, Corbin Kelly and Julia Kelly. Of those named, the only one who didn’t blur the lines between sponsored content and an authentic endorsement was Gone Girl actress Emily Ratajkowski, who labeled her post with the hashtag, #ad.
