Balloon artist fed up with influencers who want freebies

Some social-media stars are full of hot air.

Los Angeles-based Melody Pianga, known to her 61,000 Instagram followers as Feathered Fox Design LA, has been creating large-scale, avant-garde balloon installations for lavish parties around Los Angeles, like birthday bashes and baby showers, since early 2020. She typically quotes clients between $1,000 and $3,000 per job. But the 40-year-old said she’s fed up with “inconsiderate influencers” trying to get her to work for free.

“These people are flaunting their fabulous lives with their luxury purses and huge houses, and they want my work for free when they can clearly afford it,” Pianga said. “I’m running this business myself and I am at a point in my career when I deserve more than a mention on Instagram.”

During the pandemic, Pianga has received loads of requests for “collaborations,” which is how influencers refer to and get goods and services in exchange for a tag. In the last six months, Pianga she said she’s gotten 30 to 40 collaboration requests from influencers and celebrities — and that they tend to disappear when she says no but offers to take on the job at her regular fee.

In June, Tohi, a 33-year-old Persian singer with 12 million followers on Instagram, asked her “Do you collab?” in an Instagram exchange seen by The Post. Pianga responded: “I do not do collaborations for social trade at this point in my business. All of my clients are paying, repeat customers.”

She got crickets in response. Tohi did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.

A month before that, the assistant of Maryse Mizanin, a WWE wrestler and co-star of the reality show “Miz & Mrs.” on USA, slid into Pianga’s Instagram DMs with a request for a big installation.

“What [she] wanted — balloons cascading down from the roof of their house — would have cost between $4,000 and $5,000,” Pianga said. But before Pianga forwarded her the quote, Mizanin’s assistant asked if she did discounted or free work for tags.

“I said ‘No, but I would love to take on this project!’ And she just never responded. Completely ghosted me,” Pianga said.

Neither Mizanin nor her assistant responded to the Post’s request for comment.

“I don’t know if it’s complete narcissism or if it’s a little bit of not being aware of what it is I do or how hard I work, but it is really frustrating,” Pianga, a mom of three, said, adding she spends around $3,000 a month on balloons and helium. “Every penny I make [goes] back into my business.”

When asked by The Post for names of other influencers hoping for free balloon art, Pianga said, “I get so annoyed getting these requests for free work that I delete them as soon as I get them. I don’t even remember who has sent requests at this point because there are so many.”

But she does remember one particular beauty influencer who boasts more than 40 million TikTok followers.

In the fall of 2020, Pianga’s friend and fellow balloon artist Nicci Dewez asked if she wanted in on a project installing a display — for free — so complex it required multiple people. It was for a dinner party organized for the TikTok influencer by the event-planning service Partyology, which had contacted Dewez, the Orange County-based founder of Sunny Bunny Balloons.

In an email seen by The Post, the planner told Dewez, “This is a great opportunity for both our company and yours. Between the brand exposure, media attention, and press we expect to get, this is a unique opportunity.”

But Pianga declined to participate with Dewez, citing her principle against offering time-consuming and expensive creations free of charge. And she’s extra glad she did after Dewez didn’t get the social-media mention or tag that she anticipated — meaning no one who saw posts from the dinner even knew who did the balloon design.

“None of us, the balloon artists who participated, ever got a repost or shoutout from [the influencer], which I think we all expected. An Instagram Story, something! I will definitely never say yes again,” Dewez added.

Partyology was unreachable for comment.

Still, Dewez said, “I wanted the opportunity. It was a beautiful party and I made some fabulous industry friends out of it.”

Pianga doesn’t delete all of the requests for free installations, though. “I will happily donate my work to local churches and public schools because, to me, those are the people and institutions that deserve free art,” Pianga added.

“Any time the Make-A-Wish Foundation calls and asks for a display, I happily make them one. They also always offer to pay me, but I never accept. If I donate my time and product to people, it’s to those in need.”