What's Bye Bambi? Explaining the Australian influencer and Coachella trip drama.

A fight between a micro-influencer and a Melbourne fashion label is captivating TikTok, despite both parties being relatively unknown. 

The drama is dominating For You pages after a TikTok user called Yasmin, slammed clothing brand Bye Bambi for not inviting her on its brand trip to Coachella.

The up-and-coming label which describes itself as a slow fashion brand was created by Andy Short and has 58k followers on TikTok and 91k on Instagram.

The label will instantly make anyone born before the 2000s feel ancient and out of touch. From my millennial perspective, the clothes almost look like costumes with plenty of ruffles, co-sets, micro-minis, metallic fabrics and the return of the 2000s fluffy Ugg boot.

But first, here's how to work with influencers. Post continues after video.

What is the real story behind the Bye Bambi TikTok drama?

In November Bye Bambi celebrated its fifth year in business and asked TikTok user Yasmin to be the face of its birthday campaign. 

While Yasmin has a relatively small Instagram following of 17k, she has more than double Bye Bambi’s followers on TikTok, with an invested community of 135k people for the label to tap into.

As the face of the birthday campaign, Yasmin alleges, she took part in a 10-hour photoshoot, promoted Bye Bambi’s products across her social channels and hosted the brand’s pink carpet event – all in exchange for a voucher.

So, when it was announced Bye Bambi would be holding a pop-up store in LA and taking influencers on an all-expenses paid trip to Coachella, Yasmin assumed she’d get the call-up.

Alas, despite ‘promoting the sh*t’ out of the brand Yasmin didn’t make the cut, with TikTok’s latest ‘it girl’ Sam Guggenheimer and her girl group, Jasmine Ettavares and Izzy Armitage landing the gig. 

@byebambi Coachella we’re on the way 🪽 #byebambi ♬ Pilsplaat - Bonkers

TikTok has been awash with the girls checking into their luxury villas, driving around in flashy jeeps, going to upmarket restaurants and of course showing off their latest Bye Bambi Coachella 'fits.  

Yasmin’s inbox was instantly inundated by followers questioning why she wasn’t on the brand trip; with many confessing they’d never heard of Bye Bambi until she started promoting it.

@yassssyyy try on > @yasmin 💕 thank you again @Bye Bambi ♬ original sound - Yasmin 🐆

The micro-influencer responded by posting a five-minute video to TikTok slamming Bye Bambi for not inviting her on the trip and alleging the brand took advantage of her. The video has since been deleted.

Speaking to her 135k followers Yasmin said, "At the core, I feel taken advantage of. I feel like they knew how much I love the brand. They knew I would do anything for them. They knew I would f**ken die for them. They knew I would host the event; they knew I would do all of this stuff for them for literally no money at all. I just feel like they were like you’re done, you’re done. Next.

"This thing has come around and people are asking me like, 'I hope you got invited.' Babe, I didn’t get any invite. Don't get me wrong… Of course, they can choose who represents their brand and who comes to these events and who they send overseas but when you just do so much for someone or something you feel like you’re going to get… I just felt like I was creating a relationship with them. I just feel defeated and like what the f**k was the point of all that."

The Melbourne creator revealed she’d hoped the free work would open her up to further opportunities with the brand.

"Don’t get me wrong, I was happy to do it for free, I signed a contract. I knew what I was getting myself into by doing that stuff for free and getting a voucher in return. I thought I was going to get really good exposure and in return, it would be a great experience for me because I’ve never hosted an event before and it was huge," Yasmin said. 

This incident demonstrates how over-saturated and competitive the influencer landscape is becoming and how young creators are signing contracts they’re not comfortable with in the hope of landing their big break.

@rowisingh Scratching my head 🤨 #byebambi @Yasmin 🐆 ♬ original sound - Rowi

In the online world, Coachella is 'Influencer Christmas'. The biggest creators from around the world come together in one all-mighty explosion of sequins and bandanas to be seen. Many are either paid to be there or receive all-expenses-paid trips.

Social media has a way of making brand trips look very personal. The word 'invite' is loaded. To be invited to something makes it sound like a social event, when in reality it’s a business decision to bring on a brand trip.  

Brands often use campaigns or collaborations as a way to test out an influencers' return on investment. With Coachella being a pivotal branding opportunity for an up-and-coming brand like Bye Bambi, selecting the right creators for the trip would have been crucial.  

The influencer industry is built on contra deals and networking. This scenario isn’t uncommon for other young people entering the workforce for the first time and undergoing unpaid internships in a bid to make connections and crack into a competitive industry.

Feature image: TikTok @sharnidew + @yassssyyy.