Top five Controversial Halloween Costumes of 2011
Wrap a scarf around your child's head, fit him with a vest made of fake dynamite and put a detonator in his hands. What do you have? A child terrorist.
Controversial costumes appeal because they raise questions and illicit a reaction. Ideas might start and end at home while brainstorming the craziest ideas, but some do make it out into the world. Leading controversies of the day include illegal aliens, Barack Obama (whatever he does or doesn't do), anything seen as pro-terrorist and debt.
So what is a creative costume generator to do?
A poster on anFFTodayForum suggested that he and his friend cut out holes in two tall boxes and go as the Twin Towers. They could smoke all night, throw paper airplanes at each other and toss green army men from the top. He added that his wife wasn't wild about this idea.
Buy.comoffers an "Illegal Alien" costume with an alien in an orange jump suit holding a green card.Halloween Storedisplays the alien costume and a version with Barack Obama's body instead of the alien. Get it? (Was Barack REALLY born in the U.S.A?) The costumes have been around for awhile. The manufacturers were criticized by legal immigrants in an article byCNN.
Anna-Rexia has popped up in numerous news outlets (CNNandabc) andblogs. A silk screen of a skeleton decorates the front of a slinky black dress and a measuring tape belt completes the ensemble. Anorexia and a costume poking fun at it are no laughing matter to people afflicted with an eating disorder.
Racially awful costumes include stereotyped masks or a "Hey Amigo" costume that involves a sombrero, mustache, colorful poncho and donkey. Because that's what all Mexicans look like. This controversial costume can be found atamazon.com.
A child's costume that parents might want to replicate only if they love a good controversy, and a bit of child exploitation, is Julia Roberts' "Pretty Woman" prostitute outfit.Newsandmagazinescovered the "Toddlers and Tots" TLC show where a little girl wore the outrageously sexy outfit onstage and strutted her stuff. Her mother protested that it didn't show any more than a leotard would, and the outfit the child wore later should redeem it (a dress replicating the brown polka dot number Roberts wore on Rodeo Drive).
Controversial costumes are made popular because people create them, and then other people don't like them and advocate for their removal from the world. Often the creators weren't even aware of the outcry they would cause.
