After a children’s “bride” costume hit Kmart shelves, parents felt the idea of a girls “bride” costume was “beyond inappropriate.”
The issue parents have with the costume isn’t due to lack of clothing, but that the costume reinforces “gender norms.”
A parent under the name “Shannon B” started a petition on Change.org to have the costume removed. Two days after the petition began, Kmart pulled the costume from shelves.
A Kmart spokesperson said in a statement:
“Kmart Australia regrets the decision to range the bride costume. It was not intended to cause offense and we sincerely apologize. We have made the decision to withdraw this product.”
The petition had just 124 signatures claimed the costume is “offensive” and the store has a “social responsibility” to uphold. Shannon wrote, “Each year, 12 million children (girls as young as 6 years old — the same size as this ‘costume’) are sold or married off by their family without their consent. That’s one million child marriages per month!”
A counter petition has been started to get Kmart to put the costume back on shelves. This petition has more than 3,000 signatures, Kmart has not yet responded. Once again the leftist mob rules weak companies.
One commenter on the petition wrote:
“Kids love dress ups and weddings are all about love this is a good thing. Kmart if you really want to do something to help, donate the profit sold to an organization that is helping these poor girls being forced to marry.”
CEO of World Vision Australia, Claire Rogers, told HuffPost:
“Kids love playing dress ups as all different things but as a mother, I’d love to see girls dress up as doctors and lawyers as well as brides and princesses. Wherever you sit in this debate, the Kmart dress gives us a rare opportunity to discuss the grave problem of child marriage experienced by millions of young girls every year.”
Some women on the show The View, had other concerns with the costume. As Joy Behar said: “It’s like they’re programming you to get married and have children!”
This isn’t the first time this year that a store has removed a Halloween merchandise after backlash from the leftist minority. Bed Bath and Beyond recently removed a racist pumpkin from its shelves.
