Fyre Festival was advertised as a luxury music festival held in Exuma, Bahamas. It was also deemed the worst epic event failure in the past decade and dubbed the modern-day con. Billy McFarland, CEO of Fyre Media Inc. and Jeffrey Atkins, aka rapper Ja Rule, created an app to promote music talent. They used the Fyre Festival to help promote the Fyre Media app.
As a result of the festival failure, Bill McFarland was charged with a crime. In addition, many contractors lost thousands of dollars because of their role in the Fyre Festival, which was to help create a luxury experience for the people who attended.
Directions
Read the following article and watch the following videos:
• Read the article Fyre Festival: How a 25-year-old scammed investors out of $26 million.
• Watch the video Ja Rule defends himself after Fyre backlash.
• Watch the Hulu trailer Fyre Festival Documentary.
In approximately a 750-word essay following APA guidelines and including two references, address the following:
• Compare and contrast the punishments applied to both Atkins and McFarland. Should Atkins be held to the same standards of punishment for deceiving the public as Billy McFarland? Explain your answer. Analyze what steps should the contracts have taken to ensure a binding contract.
• Billy McFarland showed a lack of leadership. Identify and describe the leadership qualities Billy McFarland should possess in order to run a successful event.
• Describe how the outcome of the Fyre Festival would have been different if Billy McFarland possessed the appropriate leadership qualities.
