It's almost Halloween, which means it's time for retailers to roll out their blatantly sexist and racist Halloween costumes. This year, Walmart's "Little Amigo," noticed by Complex, is kicking things off. It's everything you'd expect. The costume includes a serape shirt, sombrero, and mustache that you can put on your probably-not-Hispanic kindergartner.
The costume was taken off Walmart's website on Thursday afternoon. When reached out for comment, a PR representative for Walmart told us, "The item you mentioned was sold by a third-party marketplace seller, and it obviously had no business at all being on our site based on our Prohibited Products Policy (which includes Offensive costumes). We’ve removed the costume fast and will work with that seller to see how this made it onto our site. We never intend to offend anyone."
While "don't base your costume on race, ethnicity or culture" seems like it should be commonly understood at this point, these costumes seem like an annual tradition. Back in 2011, Ohio University's Students Teaching Against Racism created a campaign against racist Halloween attire. Their posters feature students of color holding photos of Halloween costumes that depict a racist caricature of their ethnicity. The posters were titled, "We're a culture, not a costume" and further explained, "This is not who I am, and this is not okay."
The posters make their way across the Web every October, along with a new barrage of offensive costumes.
Now, here's hoping we'll make it through the year without a white-celebrity-in-blackface incident.