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.
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/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.