Retailers are removing an Anne Frank costume from their stores after massive backlash :-: Metro
METRO
We’re not sure why anyone thought it’d be a good idea to sell a Halloween costume designed to make children look like Anne Frank.
Yes, it’s important for children to be taught about the Holocaust and Anne Frank, but in a sensitive way that doesn’t make light of something truly awful.
No, dressing up as Anne Frank is not a respectful, sensitive way to learn about this moment in history.
But it happened. Multiple retailers have been selling an outfit, made up of a blue dress, a beret, and a crossbody bag, marketed as an Anne Frank costume.
While on some sites, the same costume is listed as World War Two Child Evacuee costume (still inappropriate, no?), on Escapade, FunCostumes, and Amazon, the outfit was described as an Anne Frank girl’s costume.
That is, until the backlash became overwhelming enough for retailers to pull down the costume en masse.
On HalloweenCostumes.eu, the costume’s product description appeared to sell the Anne Frank costume as educational, reading: ‘we can always learn from the struggles of history.’
People were not impressed, and took to Twitter to express their rage.
A PR representative for FunCostumes responded to the outrage by stating that the costume was not intended for Halloween, but for educational purposes such as school projects and plays.
‘We take feedback from customers very seriously,’ wrote Ross on Twitter. ‘We have passed along feedback regarding this costume, and it has been removed from the website at this time.’
@robmcd85https://t.co/IdoB15TpRZ
—
Ross Walker Smith(@RossWalkerSmith) October 16, 2017
At the time of publishing, the Anne Frank costume is no longer on the FunCostumes site. It remains listed on multiple other online costume retailers as the ‘World War Two Evacuee Girl’.
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