Target
Yanks Halloween Costume After Racial Backlash
Published
Target has pulled a Halloween costume from being sold after the product sparked racial backlash online, with critics saying the design and imagery resembled racially offensive imagery.
The costume, called “Kids’ Glows Under Blacklight Circus Clown Halloween Costume Bodysuit – Hide and EEK!”, featured a young Black child model and quickly drew criticism — with many people comparing the look to racist caricatures of Black people and questioning how the product made it through Target’s review process.
Target has now removed the costume from its assortment and issued an apology, acknowledging it should never have been sold … saying, “We removed an offensive Halloween costume that should never have been part of our assortment.”
Target confirmed the product is no longer for sale, adding “As a company, we got this wrong, and we are deeply sorry.”
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Target specifically acknowledged the impact the controversy could have on Black customers and employees — saying, “We know this is especially hurtful for our Black guests, team members and partners.”
Target emphasizes the importance of removing the costume being the first step, and adds they are reviewing how the costume made it into their assortment and what changes are needed to prevent something like this from happening again.
The controversy comes more than a year after the company came under fire for scaling back its DEI initiatives.