Gen Z label Bye Bambi has pulled its “HELP ME I’M POOR” baby tee after TikTok outrage as critics accused it of striking the wrong tone during the cost-of-living crisis
A fashion label has removed a controversial AU$90 (£46) T-shirt from its sales after a huge backlash with critics branding the design “tone deaf”.
Melbourne-based brand Bye Bambi sparked fury when it released a fitted, bright orange baby tee emblazoned with the slogan “HELP ME I’M POOR” in bold black letters.
The row erupted across TikTok and Instagram after content creator Sophie “Spophie” posted a fiery video reacting to the top, pointing to a screenshot of a model wearing it and questioning how it ever made it to market. She exclaimed: “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 further vented: “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 then pointed to the real-world impact the slogan appeared to mock, News.com.au reported.
The TikToker said: “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]?” Other creators piled in.
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.”
Someone else penned: “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.”
Another person wrote: “Then putting it on a black woman. Yea no”. Nevertheless, some defended it as one claimed: “It’s from a movie called Bridesmaids!!!!
“It’s a quote!” Bye Bambi has now pulled the tee and scrubbed promotions,as per News.com.au. “Hi, thanks for calling this out,” the brand wrote in a response to Sophie’s TikTok.
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.”
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