Fyre Festival

The 2017 fraudulent luxury music festival in the Bahamas organized by Billy McFarland and Ja Rule — which collapsed catastrophically on its opening day, stranding thousands of ticket holders without food, accommodation, or performances — and which generated two major documentaries.

Became the defining modern case study in influencer marketing fraud — demonstrating that social proof, luxury signaling, and celebrity endorsement can sustain a narrative of a product that doesn't exist long enough to sell thousands of tickets — and made the gap between Instagram reality and actual reality viscerally visible.