Have these Asda Halloween costumes gone too far?
The bloody cheerleader and American footballer outfits are available for 9 year olds
Supermarket chain Asda has come under fire from parents for selling blood-stained American high school-themed Halloween costumes. The Halloween Cheerleader costume and Halloween American Footballer costumes are available from ages 9 to 16.
The gory footballer costume is described as having "blood and bone detailing" on the Asda website.
A petition to have the costumes removed from sale was started by mum Sheila Pinney from Bristol who was "left speechless" when she saw the costumes on sale when looking for fancy dress for her 4-year-old son, according to the Gloucestershire Echo.
"He asked me what the costumes were, as he is familiar with ghosts, skeletons and the usual Halloween imagery, and I actually couldn't form the words to explain what they were, as how can you tell a 4-year old that he is looking at costumes depicting 'shot teenagers'?" Sheila wrote on the petition page.
The plea to withdraw the "offensive and inappropriate" costumes, hosted at change.org, states they are of "incredibly bad-taste, even for Halloween".
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So is Sheila right? How gruesome should Halloween costumes be when they're aimed at pre-teen and teenage children?
A statement from Asda said the retailer does "appreciate that it isn’t for everyone but the majority of our customers love dressing up at Halloween".
The costumes are currently still available in stores and online.
We wanted to know what you think. Too much or OK? Let us know...
We've picked our selection of costumes for this year's Halloween. What do you think?
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