---
title: "Bloomberg Hires Fyre Fest Promoters to Make Memes"
description: "The 2020 Democratic primaries are well underway and the campaign for Bloomberg is getting down and dirty with top-notch Instagram memes."
date: "2020-02-13"
modified: "2020-02-13"
authors:
  - name: "Jacob Banas"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jake"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/bloomberg-campaign-meme-accounts-instagram-fyre"
categories:
  - "Future Society"
tags:
  - "instagram"
  - "memes"
  - "politics"
  - "the digest"
---

# Bloomberg Hires Fyre Fest Promoters to Make Memes

![The 2020 Democratic primaries are well underway and the campaign for Bloomberg is getting down and dirty with top-notch Instagram memes.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/bloomberg-hires-fyre-fest-promoters-to-make-memes.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Trevor DeHaas\</em\>*

## How Do You Do Fellow Kids?

As the 2020 presidential primary crescendoes, we've seen an [app catastrophe](<https://futurism.com/iowa-tried-use-app-election-disaster>) in Iowa and new legislation intended to [curb political deepfakes](<https://futurism.com/law-political-deepfakes-illegal>). But the (well-financed) Michael Bloomberg campaign just took its online media warfare to new heights (or lows) — in the [form of paid memes](<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/13/style/michael-bloomberg-memes-jerry-media.html>) from some of Instagram's top meme accounts, according to the *New York Times*.

## One Fyre-y Meatball

The former New York City mayor's already run a relatively unorthodox digital campaign, including an [awkward ice cream spot](<https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/world/bloombergs-big-gay-ice-cream-campaign-ad-confuses-many/ar-BBZsEGc>) and a bizarre mid-debate tweet of "[Meatball Mike](<https://nypost.com/2020/01/14/meatball-mike-bloomberg-has-a-weird-night-on-twitter-during-democratic-debate/>)." The new ads, styled to look [like direct messages,](<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/13/style/michael-bloomberg-memes-jerry-media.html>) depict Bloomberg asking creators to make memes about him. The campaign is the work of a new company, Meme 2020, whose leadership is comprised of some of the puppetmasters at Jerry Media, better known by it’s [controversial](<https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/2/18208446/fuckjerry-elliot-tebele-meme-joke-aggregator-repost-new-policy-change>) Instagram account, [@fuckjerry](<https://www.instagram.com/fuckjerry/>), or maybe more infamously, as a promoter of the [disastrous Fyre Festival](<https://www.heyalma.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-fuckjerry-and-the-fyre-festival/>) in 2017. Astoundingly, this tactic of leveraging influencer accounts was exactly what Jerry Media [had done in 2017,](<https://www.wired.com/2017/05/blame-fyre-festival-fiasco-plague-celebrity-influencers/>) resulting [in the FTC developing](<https://uclawreview.org/2019/03/25/fyre-festival-aftermath-new-rules-for-influencers/>) disclosure rules around influencer promotions.

## Forget Meme Not

Over 18 popular accounts with a collective 60M followers appear to be involved in the campaign, [according to the *Times*](<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/13/style/michael-bloomberg-memes-jerry-media.html>). With coverage from several other outlets, and government social media accounts [only getting weirder](<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/29/style/government-twitter-state-local.html>), it's not unreasonable to expect this to be not an exception, but the beginning of a new normal. *Editor's note 2/13/2020: This post has been corrected to reflect the fact that Meme 2020, comprised of Jerry Media staffers, is the company being utilized for the Bloomberg campaign.* **READ MORE:** [Michael Bloomberg’s Campaign Suddenly Drops Memes Everywhere](<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/13/style/michael-bloomberg-memes-jerry-media.html>) \[New York Times\] ***More on memes and politics:*** [Instagram Hoax Fools Department of Energy Head Rick Perry](<https://futurism.com/rick-perry-instagram-hoax>)

### Author social links  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacobjbanas/>)