ALT-3 Top five Controversial Halloween Costumes of 2011
Can controversy and creativity combine their collective forces? Certainly. The 2011 Halloween season has already begun. Many costumes are spectacular, spooky, cute and cuddly. They are intriguing and inviting. But some manufacturers and customers have not even tried to avoid the sticky subject of controversial costumes.
This year willingly attacks trendy topics and ethnic groups. Including medical disorders such as anorexia. Ugly stereotypes involving characters supposedly representing Arab, Asian and Latin people are featured. Even extraterrestrials are not beyond the grasp of greedy merchants peddling political powder kegs. Frightcatalog.com supplies descriptions and pictures that spell out the unpleasant racism and insensitivity involved with these callous creations. The best of the worst are featured below.
One of the most controversial costumes has to be the one entitled Anna Rexia. According to the Baltimore Sun’s online site, this offensive costume has been lurking about since 2007. It features a buxom model with a skintight skeleton dress. She is holding a measuring tape around her midsection while smiling sexily at the camera. Apparently, the measuring tape is supposed to be a chic belt. The end of the online article poses this question and remark. “A clever joke or a serious costume faux pas? Tell us what you think.” This Halloween garb is offensive because it mocks a serious medical condition that has affected, is affecting and will continue to affect many girls, teens and women. Boys and men are not immune to this killer disorder either.
Halloweenmakeupcostumesprops.com currently features illegal aliens sporting orange prison jumpsuits. These controversial costumes were pulled from several major stores including Target and Meijer back in October of 2009. Bad taste disappears only to reappear at a later date.
Two other controversial costumes that fall beneath this abysmal category are the Hispanic hoodlum mask and the Asian mask that insinuates that Oriental men are on the stupid side. These are much more than sickening. They spread the vile notion that a large percentage of these ethnic groups are undesirable for one or more reasons. I’m not including the “product names” for these items because they would be highly offensive to many people.
On the frightcatalog.com site, a cheerful child is wearing pseudo Arabic garb. He is also sporting a reddish-orange aquatic safety vest that has been decorated to resemble an explosive device with a handheld detonator. Linking children with pretend violence has been around for countless years. Think of cowboys and their indigenous counterparts. Little kids love military garb and military toys. The events of 2001 are now ten years old. But people have not forgotten the horrendous acts of terrorism that felled gigantic buildings, the horrific attack on the Pentagon or the tragedy that unfolded in Pennsylvania. Innocent citizens from all over the world were slaughtered by that barbarism. Naturally, a sweet-faced child posing as a young terrorist would evoke many painful and poisonous memories.
Unfortunately, I must include a Dishonorable Mention list. Inventorspot.com sends sporadic chills down our spines with a large picture of the Barack Obama Zombie Mask. This mask pokes fun at our president with its distorted face drooling or dripping blood. It may be trendy but it’s terribly tacky. Two other very scary masks can also be found on this same site. The graphic Gory Cannibalistic Halloween Mask is unusually bizarre. Cannibalism in itself is a very controversial practice. The other mask features a spider victim with a humongous spider still attached to its face. Again, we have another mask that cruelly pokes fun at a medical condition. All over the world, people routinely suffer agonizing pain due to spider bites. Some unfortunate individuals actually die as a result of attacks from venomous spiders every year. I must add two famous people to the list of controversial costume ideas. Charlie Sheen and Casey Anthony. No need for any further elaboration.
Controversial costumes will always exist. People love pushing political, social and religious buttons. As long as there are extroverts and extremists, there will always be a demand for such senseless seasonal attire.
