Byron bane
The residents of Byron Bay—a picturesque Australian coastal town, renowned for its beaches and relaxed lifestyle, and popular with the Hollywood glitterati—are calling for a boycott of a proposed Netflix reality show. They're concerned that Byron Baes, centred on influencers doing what they do best—whatever that is—against the backdrop of New South Wales' coastline will trivialise the reality of life in the the town.
We, the community of Byron, Ballina, Tweed, and Lismore Shires are not the perfect backdrop for this series. We are a community experiencing significant challenges driven by influencer culture and rapidly shifting demographics of residents. We do not want to be cast as the perfect backdrop and magnet for social media influencers. We do not want to appear in 'Byron Baes'. Rather than using our region as a reality show punch line we want our Local, State and Federal government representatives and relevant regulatory authorities to focus on supporting our community to address systemic issues of housing affordability, coastal erosion, increasing unemployment, traffic management challenges, low high school completion rates and high levels of gendered and domestic violence.
If the residents of the town don't want the show there, their wishes should be respected. But, as an outsider, there's something that I find far more insidious about Byron Baes.
Unveiling plans for the series last month, Netflix said: "It is a truth universally acknowledged that an influencer in possession of a good follower count must be in want of a beach backdrop. "And there's no better backdrop - or magnet for influencers - than Byron Bay, the perfect setting for our next Australian Netflix Original." It said the "docu-soap" would follow "hot Instagrammers living their best lives".
For the love of the children, hot Instagrammers living their best lives
? That, right there, is enough to justify cancelling my Netflix subscription! As if these narcissistic airheads didn't have enough unwarranted exposure already.
Reality TV and celebrity culture have truly reached their nadir. Things couldn't get any worse, could they?