It’s “in stock” and “ready for immediate shipment,” but is anybody buying?
The Ebola Containment Suit Costume at brandsonsale.com goes for $79.99, features a white suit, face shield, blue latex gloves and a breathing mask (boots not included). The site describes it thus:
"The deadly Ebola virus has landed in the United States and the crisis has reached new levels of domestic escalation. You are sure to be prepared if any outbreak happens at your Halloween party. This will literally be the most “viral” costume of the year."
In “The Worst Halloween Costume, Ebola Edition,” the Atlantic interviews the CEO of brandsonsale.com, Johnathan Weeks, who helpfully tells the magazine: “This is not to be used as a real Ebola suit.” Weeks reports that the site has sold “over a dozen” of the suits since they went on sale Oct. 8.
“You can go on any website for a zombie mask for an eight-year-old with cuts and scars all over their face,” Weeks told the Atlantic. “It’s Halloween, it’s one day, if people are that serious about it, they don’t know what Halloween is about.”
Across the water, the Guardian is also piqued about the suit.
“Offensive Halloween costumes have become a yearly tradition in themselves,” the newspaper reports. “Last year, both Asda and Tesco withdrew ‘mental patient’ Halloween costumes after thousands reacted angrily to them on social media.”
It also reports on “child-sized blue and white cheerleader and American football uniforms featuring bloodstains and extruding bones, muscle and cartilage” begin sold by Asda, owned by Walmart.
The Guardian remarks:
News-pegged costumes are rarely ever a good idea. And costumes featuring shot teenagers aimed at children and young teenagers could fall into this category.
In the 14 months after the Newtown shootings in December 2012, where 20 children and six carers were killed, there were a further 44 school shootings, resulting in 28 fatalities. Of those, 20 involved shooters under 18.
And while the Ebola outbreak continues, is it right to make light of the epidemic with a Halloween costume? Or is it all meant to be in good fun?
