Don’t make race-based costumes part of your Halloween
The stores that sell them are only interested in the bottom line, so we can send retailers a message by not buying in
Halloween seems to creep up earlier and earlier in stores these days. You’ve probably already passed by colourfully costumed human billboards as they wave you into the local costume supply stores that permeate our cities. It’s a consumer world out there and there is certainly no shortage of choice in sight.
I recently visited a Party City to pick up some supplies for a local theatre school and was confronted with some unsettling costume choices: the racist, settler Colonial kind. ‘Dream Catcher Cutie’, ‘Rising Sun Princess’, and ‘Native Princess’ were among the offerings on display.
I don’t think I need to go into detail as to why these costumes are problematic. In recent years there have been many public calls for similar costume supply stores to curb the sale of these dehumanizing costumes in communities.
These costumes perpetuate racist stereotypes and generalizations about cultures, and dehumanize, misrepresent, and often sexualize groups of people (Indigenous women in particular). These products are racist, inappropriate, and problematic and they send a very bad message to the families and citizens of any city, including our own.
After speaking with a manager in the store about why I found these costumes problematic, I was told that all Party City stock is purchased by the central distribution hub out of New Jersey and he would relay my comments to the head office. He told me he didn’t really have a problem with the costumes, but did listen to my concerns.
While I appreciate his attention, I’m left feeling that little will come of this I had already attempted to contact Party City about the problems with culture-based costumes this summer, but the company only has a generic contact form online (not even a number to call). I thus sent an email through this form. Very shortly after sending this note about their choice to stock racist costumes, I received the following reply:
‘Hi Nick, Party City has costumes for all types of customers, and nothing we carry is meant to be offensive. Party City, with more than 60 million customers per year, appreciates and values all feedback provided by its many consumers. As the leader in Halloween, Party City supplies a broad assortment of costumes to satisfy all styles, tastes, and budgets and is always evaluating how to make shopping in our stores and online a fun, welcoming experience. We apologize you are not happy with some of the costumes offered. Regards, Party City’
Prior to receiving this response, I didn’t think a profit argument would be used so unapologetically to justify racism, or believe there was a market for racist products. Given this reply, however, it seems many communities, including our own, are demonstrating that there is a market demand for culture-based costumes. Do we accept this as a society? Is it really tolerable in our community for companies to market and profit from racism? Would we accept a blackface minstrel performance in front of city hall during the Sound of Music festival? How about white children dressing up as ‘Natives’ to play cowboys and ‘Indians’ on the streets? Culture is not a costume.
I have since visited six other costume stores to see if this continues to be a systemic issue. Five of the six stores I visited had problematic costumes on display: ‘Indian Princess’, ‘Indian Warrior’, ‘Arabian Beauty’, ‘Tribal Royalty’, ‘Reservation Royalty’, ‘Noble Warrior’, ‘Spanish Sweetie’, ‘Wild Spirit’, ‘Native American Princess’, ‘Wolf Dancer’, ‘Lil’ Warrior’, and ‘Native American’ were on display in Spirit Halloween Stores in Burlington and Hamilton. Value Village stores had a ‘Rasta Dreads Wig’ and Party Max stores carried the ‘Buffalo Soldier Wig’ and ‘Dream Catcher Fantasy’ costume.
As inhabitants of a settler Colonial country, we have a responsibility to meaningfully consider and address the legacies of structural discrimination and injustice initiated and sustained by Colonial practices. On a smaller scale, as people who share the land protected by the “... Dish with One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant, an agreement between the Iroquois Confederacy, the Ojibway and other allied Nations to peaceably share and care for the resources around the Great Lakes ...”, we also share a responsibility to respect one another — and that includes cultural representation.
This Halloween, speak with your wallet and join me in disrupting the market for the selling and promotion of culture or race-based costumes.
If they won’t listen to our words or protests maybe they will listen to our collective purchasing power. These products have no place in our society.
Nick Marquis lives in Burlington and is the Learning Technologies Consultant in the Faculty of Social Sciences at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. McMaster University is located on the traditional territories of the Mississauga and Haudenosaunee nations, and within the lands protected by the “Dish With One Spoon” wampum agreement.