look over the discussion posts of your classmates and respond to at least two of them.
1st students discussion
In 2017 business man Billy McFarland Ceo of Fyre media and rapper, actor and personality Ja Rule formulated a plan to help lunch a music talent booking app called Fyre. This idea was to hold the world’s largest, most exclusive music festival. This event was broadcasted all over social media and claimed to have a set list of the top musical talents from around the globe. It was set to be on a private island and be on inclusive. A V.I.P ticket got the purchaser 5 star lodging, food and drinks and even drugs. This ticket also included access to all shows over the duration of the event. Little did the customer know, this was all a lie. The creators tried to get the festival to happen and worked around the clock however, the money was just not there. They took to using the pre-sold ticket income to create videos and social media post selling this event that has not actually been created yet. Shooting videos of this island and showing off the models that would be there and putting together set lists of music acts they have not booked yet.
Come time for the event people started showing up to a desolate island with nothing but red cross like disaster tents, shipping containers full of food and beverages spoiling in the hot sun. no stages set, no sign of the numerous celebrities and music moguls they were promised to see. Nowhere to sleep and not even water to drink. Rental companies packing up their things because no payment was received and the “acts” booked for the shows explaining they were never contacted about or agreed to the event. This is the most unethical false advertisement I have witnessed in the last few years. McFarland knew he couldn’t afford and would never be able to afford this. He used his standing in the entertainment industry and connections to create a fake music festival paradise event, took money from people wanting to attend and never showed. In fact the time of the event when people were arriving to a less than half set up venue he was across the county with no intentions on going to his own event. This was such a disaster documentaries were made about the whole ordeal and the court case that followed.
2nd students discussion
I previously worked for the company (they are out of business) Portrait Innovations. I started out as an hourly sales associate and worked my way up to a traveling manager. About the time that I became a store manager, about 3 years into me being an employee of this company, they tried coming out with what they called the APC package. This was the cheap package that was typically $9.99 and was to get the customers in the door. This package always included a "free item" that was holiday specific. One example was around mothers day they would include a coffee mug. Now, this product was NOT free. They charged an astronomical "shipping and handling" charge that always TICKED off the customers. I cannot for the life of me remember how much it actually was but it was over $5 and under $10 for one item. The more items that you bought it would charge that shipping and handling more than once. We had so many complaints when this first started as you can imagine. This shipping and handling charge was fraud in my opinion. They were not even shipping the item to their house, it was coming to the store so customers would then have to drive BACK into the store to get their "free" gift. Their marketing strategy to get customers in the door was the APC package and then they would hit them with this bogus charge that I am sure covered the price of the item and the bulk shipping. Portrait Innovations also had their own manufacturing facility so they were making the products in house and shipping in large boxes to the store.
Portrait Innovations use a tactic that is pretty similar to a bait and switch. You have this coupon that says you get this package of pictures and then a "free" gift, but it wasn't actually free. Before they released these products, the customers would typically just get 5 or 10 free cards, which we printed everything in house so the overhead for those cards was very minimal to the company. There are many reasons why this company closed and not only their marketing strategy, their treatment of employees, and their prices forced them to shut their doors.