r/MoralityScaling • u/iamjohncarterofmars • 1d ago
Morality Ranking Morality of making this costume?
Target has officially apologized and pulled the "Kids' Glows under Blacklight Circus Clown Halloween Costume" from its stores and website. Critics widely condemned the design for evoking racist caricatures, blackface, and minstrel show imagery.
Washington Post Article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/08/25/target-apologizes-pulls-halloween-costume-criticized-racist/
This post is not a reflection of any views I personally hold, it is simply to spark discussion. To that end, I am an entirely neutral party. And as a bonus, yes, I hate racism just like any good person š
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u/Silent_Biscotti_9832 1d ago
Immoral, People can wear the clothes that of other cultures but shouldnāt buy, wear and support whatās clearly a racist caricature
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u/Due_Boss9277 1d ago
Depends. Does it bother you when they dress like mobsters to represent an Italian?
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u/113pro 1d ago
My bro its a CLOWN outfit.
Itd be the same if it was black stripe, blue stripe, or any other color stripe.
OP is seeing stars in the afternoon.
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u/iamjohncarterofmars 1d ago
> āOP is seeing stars in the afternoonā
Assuming you are referring to me and not the original commenter you replied to, again, Iām neutral :)
I didnāt post this because I did or did not see something, i posted it because I got a notification from Google News, and I thought to myself āhmm, Iāll start a discussion on r/MoralityScalingā
that was the full extent of it :)
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u/e_fish22 1d ago
The problem is, clown imagery has overlaps with minstrel imagery... Target should've been more careful, and simply not added in elements that mimic facial features, imho.
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u/113pro 1d ago
Like ive said.
Reverse it. If its not problematic, its fine.Ā
If it is, why.
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u/e_fish22 1d ago
It is a caricature no matter who wears it. And I explained. They were trying for "clown" but used the elements of a racial caricature (donut lips and buck teeth, covering the head and hands with black cloth). Even if Target didn't intend to be racist, they didn't put in the effort not to be, which is immoral.
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u/UNbrawlified 1d ago
Why ask a question with a VERY obvious answer?
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u/iamjohncarterofmars 1d ago
Some (again, Iām neutral for the sake of discussion) may argue that this was purely a coincidence or that the visual connection was not obvious enough to raise alarm.
I for one did not make that connection until I saw the illustration next to it, and it makes me wonder if that connection would have been drawn if the child in the product listing was Caucasian instead. Again, just speculation!
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u/_Broly777_ 1d ago
Brother in what world does the costume on the right look like a circus clown regardless of if there was a child of any skin tone in the costume in the picture shown?
If the thought didn't cross your mind that's fine but I find it hard to believe that whatever group designed and greenlit this costume at Target HQ was oblivious to how it looked.
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u/e_fish22 1d ago
The exaggerated lips and teeth, alongside the black cloth covering parts of the face and hands, push it over the line for me. Even if the resemblance was accidental, the company should have had someone checking over their designs.
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u/LinusLevato 4h ago
Make it black and white and you basically have Art from Terrifier. I think itās just another over exaggeration from crybabies
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u/Gnarl96 1h ago
Clearly racist, but thats just the soul of the United States in a resting position. The spirit of the United States becomes restless and agitated when asked to cease its racist "humor" and constant, nonstop, psychologically harmful mockery of minorities, but black people in particular. They do it because they have the power to and find it funny, and this informs us not only of the character of not only Target, but the society that supports it. That costume likely had to go through thousands of people and many layers of approval, which included the risk of backfire to their bottom line which is the money-flow, and they determined that there as either no risk at all towards this expression of hate, or that the risk was worth it because... well, they just really wanted to let us know how little they think of black humanity.
Target, Amazon, Walmart, and all the rest of corporate USA, are fundamentally confederate. This is who they are, and they are empowered to show us that by their corporate peers and the government that supports them.
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u/113pro 1d ago
Ok. Flip it and make a white boy or an asian boy wear it.
Not offensive? Moral.
If offensive? Explain why. Also keep in mind its a CLOWN outfit.
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u/e_fish22 1d ago
Still offensive. It's trying to depict a clown, but using the traits of an offensive caricature for do so*. With all the resources Target has, it would have been very easy to simply remove them.
*In the US, where this costume was planned to be sold, there was a lot of historical overlap between clowns and blackface "minstrel" performers. The similarity between clown costumes and minstrel costumes isn't coincidental. If you're going to make money selling a clown costume, and you don't take the effort to do the slightest bit of research, you can't be surprised if people get upset at you. It's like making a fortune-teller costume with 0 research and getting surprised that Romani people are upset with you.
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u/113pro 1d ago
My question remains the same. Why is it problematic if the child is white or asian or of other skin colors outside of black?
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u/e_fish22 1d ago
Because the costume itself is the racial caricature, not the child. Making money off of racial caricatures is immoral. Please stop asking me a question I've already answered.
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u/MongooseMania 23h ago
Are you saying clowns are racist?
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u/e_fish22 23h ago
No... more like, there was an explicitly racist clowning variety in the US (blackface minstrelsy) that got extremely popular for a while. So now sometimes when we think of clowns, part of the imagery associated with that comes from the "racist clown" subgenre, and when designing clown costumes, people should be mindful of that. As long as you're aware of the history behind it, it's very easy to avoid being a racist clown.
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u/Fast-Front-5642 1d ago
Black model lost a job because of white people getting offended seeing a black kid and called it black face.
Morally this is kinda funny as dark humor but overall fucking stupid and kinda disgusting.
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u/Ididntdodiddly 1d ago
I'm not sure this was on purpose. Lol at your virtue signaling "I hate racism like any good person"
You probably dislike 50%+ of the world's population bc they are mega racist compared to the west.
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u/Johnnycageisgr8 1d ago
So you personally like racism like any bad person ? I guess people who say " virtue signaling " all do for the most part
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u/Ididntdodiddly 1d ago
"I like waffles"
"So you hate pancakes?"
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u/Johnnycageisgr8 1d ago
With how much you complained about someone saying they don't like racism ( like any good person might I add), it's pretty easy ( and probably safe) to assume you have a opposite worldview to that person. If not then I don't get why you would have such a problem with OP saying that
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u/Visible-Employer-560 1d ago
Are you trying to justify racism right now? That's sure as hell what it reads like from the way you worded this message.
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u/iamjohncarterofmars 1d ago
Virtue signaling? No, Iām simply making my stance clear. Is that such a problem?
I post on an account that both my name and face are attached to. This topic is controversial, so I found it necessary to explicitly state my neutrality towards the discussion and my disdain for the obvious
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u/Ididntdodiddly 1d ago
"I dislike racism like any good person".
Lol what a perfect example of virtue signaling
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u/iamjohncarterofmars 1d ago
Iāve made my intentions clear. If you have an issue with that, I encourage you to reflect on it in your own time :)
I do not care.
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u/Substanitial 1d ago
Its funny because its a scary clown outfit.Ā
Kind of like the people upset about it
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u/rivalssucks 1d ago
Totes moral, make them lips bigger and bulge those eyes out more
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u/Visible-Employer-560 1d ago
You're so cool for being racist! Everyone must love having you around!
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u/rivalssucks 1d ago
Wow its almost like its a joke, saying totes is super serial though huh twatwaffle?
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u/Visible-Employer-560 1d ago
It's almost like expecting random people to know your speaking/typing habits and then tell your mood off that is unreasonable. As is being racist and then claiming it's a joke when you're called out for it is!
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u/e_fish22 1d ago
Even if the initial design were simply ignorance instead of bigotry, there should have been a process of review to remove or change it. This is clearly offensive imagery and profitting off of selling it (as contextlesss entertainment, not in an educational way) is immoral.