Racist Halloween Costumes...For Pets

With Halloween right around the corner, a lot has been said already about the latest crop of costumes--from the good to the bad to the offensive. An Illegal Alien costume, which was pulled from the shelves of Target and Walgreens this week after complaints from immigrant rights groups, seems to be this year's undisputed winner in the last category.

But didja know that offensive Halloween costumes even extend to pets? Here are some of the worst:

1) "The Geisha Dog Costume"

Description: Your cutie will look vibrant and colorful in this Chinese themed dog dress! Features an adorable Asian floral print on magenta with faux thread Chinese toggles on the back and white satin trim.

Okay, who's going to break it the costume makers that geishas aren't Chinese?

2) "Little Spanish Bandito Dog Costume"


When you want to say "Mexican" but don't want to sound racist, substitute the word "Spanish" instead.

3) "Pup Shalom Dog Costume"

Description: This adorable Pup Shalom Dog Costume celebrates your pup becoming a dog and is perfect for Halloween, Weddings, Bar Mitzvahs, Hanukah or any occasion!

In light of the two South Carolina GOP officials writing in a newspaper op-ed this week that "Jews who are wealthy got that way not by watching dollars, but instead by taking care of the pennies and the dollars taking care of themselves," the worst thing about this costume? It's on sale, reduced by 500 pennies!

4) "Indian Dog Costume"


This costume would still be all kinds of wrong even if you called it a "Native American Dog Costume."

5) "Big Daddy Pimp Dog Costume"

Description: The Big Daddy Pimp Dog Costume will have your dog pimpin' it this Halloween. Watch your dog pile up the treats this Halloween when wearing this hysterical Big Daddy Pimp Dog Costume. Complete with purple hat and cape, this pet costume is stylin'.

Is it only a coincidence that this dog's black?!

I know, I know. All of that fluffy furry goodness kinda mitigates the inappropriateness of these costumes, but try to remember that if you saw a human wearing any one of these get-ups on Halloween, you'd probably die a little death. So are they really any better on a dog? My gut says "no."

[The Awl: Your Halloween Costume: A Bigot]
[AP: Alien Halloween costume spooks immigrants]

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Comments

[christocc]

I also wonder if it's a coincidence that the Shalom Pup costumes are shown on dogs that originated in Germany...

[WuzYoungOnceToo]

I never cease to be amazed at the extraordinary lengths some people will go to in order to find offense in...well...just about anything. Even the "Ilegal Alien" costume is a simple (and yes, somewhat humorous) play on a common, everyday term...and not even remotely a racial slur.

I wish my life were so free of care that I had the time and energy to invent excuses to be upset about the most trivial matters.

[dogsofwar]

First of all, I'd cringe with embarassment and revulsion if anyone I knew showed up with their pets in my presence wearing any of these costumes. They are anything but "toothless", rendered harmless by the "innocent simplicity in the dogs' expressions."

If someone is at all reluctant to wear similar costumes themselves, then how can they logically argue that it's ok for their dogs to don them? If I taught my parrot racist slurs to say in the presence of my friends who are people of color, then that'd be OK?

That pimping isn't "necessarily" a black-only occupation is a cop-out argument. What about dressing as a slave for Halloween, but it's "OK," because there have been slaves throughout history of all colors? It would be pretty tough to see it as a "protest of the dehumanization" of slavery. I call BS on that: everyone knows what you're really dressing as. "Cultural meme" is just another word for stereotype.

I underscore that I'm not attacking any of the posters, just trying to have them see it from a different perspective.

[mikeryz]

I'd say that the "Pup Shalom" dog costume could be considered offensive by some, and that the Indian one is lame, cheesy, and (worst of all) Disney-esque. The pimp costume is probably my favorite, though, because it is undeniably awesome looking, and I don't necessarily consider pimping to be a black-only occupation. The reason it is a black dog probably has less to do with racism then a combination of "purple velvet looks good with black" and the enduring cultural meme of black pimps in similar attire from 70's films.

The fundamental issue with all of these is intent and perception: the illegal alien can represent anything from a protest of the dehumanization of illegal economic and political migrants to the demonization of the same people. The description on the geisha costume is more ignorant than bigoted, to my mind, and it is hard to condemn a cute little dog in a chinese themed floral dress (until it barks too much or pees on you, of course). I'd avoid the Shalom Pup on general principle, but I can also think of some Jews I know who would probably dress their dogs up in it...

Bottom Line: if you want to be offended by any of these costumes, have fun, otherwise, just enjoy Halloween!

[willshetterly]

Why do so many people concerned with racism think "Native American" is the preferred term? It's actually "American Indian." See Russell Means' "I Am An American Indian, Not A Native American!" or Christina Berry's All Things Cherokee: Article - What's in a Name? Indians and Political Correctness.

[Chuck Smith]

Even through the lens of my bleeding-heart Seattle liberalness, I see nothing offensive here.

[BassettHound]

Well, now that I have caught my breath from laughing so hard.....
Yes, many of the costumes WOULD be appalling on humans, but then a lot of things dogs do are unbecoming, if not downright shocking (not to mention impolite) if we humans behave the same way. You know what I mean....
Sure, some of the costumes may be inherently offensive..the illiegal alien, for example (even with the space-creature mask), and certainly the "black" pimp, and the braids on the "indian" costume....
...but some of them are not... The prayer shawls on the two sober-faced canines are not, in themselves, racist....just humorous, on the dogs, on whom they don't even seem particularly blaspemous. Some costumes are offensive in description only, like the "geisha", but otherwise it's merely colorful.
I would of course object if the costumed dogs were used as a socially acceptable way of expressing hateful views.... But somehow the costumes' absurdity, and the innnocent simplicity in the dogs' expressions, render the get-ups toothless, as it were.
As a member of a demographic (I'm gay) who is accustomed to being misrepresented and stereotyped, (and I can think of lots of "gay" dog costumes...) I've learned that I have to pick my battles, and sometimes just find humor in some situations....