As Halloween nears its sort of amazing that the day of costumes, trick or treating, and mild mischief hasn’t yet descended into house toilet papering mobile games, Skype based costume contests, and bitcoin prizes. For the people in Waukesha, Wisconsin — same as everywhere else — parents are happily embracing the retained old school charm of the night, fetching their kids costumes and then fetching the one that they really want and then the other one that they need lest they be excommunicated from their clique.
It’s the basic good stuff of life, but in Waukesha, there is surely a cloud over this looming night of youthful innocence thanks to the stabbing of a young girl last May allegedly by two 12-year-old classmates who reportedly carried out the attack in fealty to an internet meme known as The Slender Man. The last thing that the people of Waukesha need is a vivid reminder of the attack, but as they go through the racks at local costume stores like Party City and Spirit Halloween, that is exactly what they’re finding in the form of $40 Slender Man costumes, according to USA Today.
Thankfully, the area also has shops that aren’t carrying the costumes:
“We don’t mind scary, but we try not to be sick,” Halloween Express owner Jon Majdoch told WISN-TV. “I have two daughters and I try to run my business so that they would be proud. So we try and carry a selection of stuff that is appropriate for families and having fun,” he said.
Unsurprisingly as people have taken notice of this and surely complained, Party City has reacted and issued a statement.
“Our thoughts and condolences go out to family and friends of the victim and the entire local community,” the statement said. “The local area stores have pulled the costume in question. Party City sells merchandise and costumes for all types of Halloween customers, and nothing we carry is meant to be offensive.”
As of now there is no word on what Spirit Halloween will do in response to the outcry, but it wouldn’t be surprising if they also removed the costumes from area shops.
On one hand, you want to think that larger companies would be more careful to avoid the ire of a community and an embarrassment like this, but one imagines that this really is just an honest mistake and someone not realizing the gravity of the situation. It’s a bit surprising, though, that Party City’s statement says that “local area stores have pulled the costume.” This could lead one to believe that the Slender Man costume will still be on the shelf at other locations and that seems a bit odd in light of this reaction and also the general tastelessness of a costume based on a character that has reportedly inspired real crimes. With that said, though, Halloween isn’t just for kids and if we banded together to push for the removal of all costumes that might strike some as tasteless (and obviously this costume’s appearance at this location was beyond tasteless), we’d all be wearing demure cat costumes and Zorro masks for Halloween and where’s the fun in that?
Source: USA Today