Melbourne-based fashion label Bye Bambi has pulled its AU$90 (£46) bright orange baby tee emblazoned with the slogan “HELP ME I’M POOR” after a wave of criticism on social media, with detractors branding the design “tone deaf”.
TikTok backlash erupts
The controversy began after content creator Sophie “Spophie” posted a video reacting to the top, questioning how it made it to market. She said: “What are we doing? Did you design that and think it was a good idea? Did you pay someone to design that and think that [looks good]?”
She added: “Here’s my f—--- 100-dollar T-shirt, but I’m so poor … I could make that f—--- T-shirt at Officeworks down the street for 20 bucks.” Sophie also pointed to the real-world impact the slogan appeared to mock, according to News.com.au.
“Like, you’re telling me there are people … they don’t have homes, they can’t eat, they’re freezing outside on the streets of Melbourne and just Australia in general, and you think this shirt [looks good]?” she said.
Other creators pile on
Social media creator Lils posted a clip captioned: “We worked too hard for women’s rights to walk around in baby tees that say ‘help me I’m poor’.” A TikTok user commented: “In a cost of living crisis, this just lands really badly.”
Another person wrote: “I’m genuinely so confused about the target demographic … a poor girl who can afford a $100 top? Sounds like you’re actually just making fun of poor people.” A further comment read: “Then putting it on a black woman. Yea no.”
Some defended the design, with one person claiming: “It’s from a movie called Bridesmaids!!!!”
Brand apologises and removes tee
Bye Bambi has now pulled the tee and scrubbed promotions, as per News.com.au. In a response to Sophie’s TikTok, the brand wrote: “Hi, thanks for calling this out.”
The statement continued: “This slogan was originally a Bridesmaids reference and was intended as silly/satirical, but we can absolutely see that without that context it lands differently and feels tone deaf. We’ve missed the mark here, and we’re sorry.”
They added: “We’ve taken the feedback on board and have removed the tee from sale. Appreciate you raising it.”
Later, the brand added on Instagram: “We hear where you’re coming from. We understand that without that context [the slogan] landed very differently and missed the mark, and we’re sorry.”
“We removed the tee from sale earlier this morning and have been archiving our own content featuring it, as we don’t want to continue promoting a product we’ve withdrawn or messaging that has caused offence. We really appreciate you taking the time to call it out.”
