Let me start this with saying that I love Wal-Mart because it’s cheap and it has everything, which is a dream come true for college students everywhere. I appreciate the kindness that the employees have to offer even when they hate their jobs because, let’s be real, retail sucks.”
What I don’t appreciate is the way that Wal-Mart appeared to have monopolized on the lowest point of a person with a mental illness’ life and made it the butt of their latest joke. “
Here we have a costume released for Halloween of 2016 that, by some stretch of the most active imagination, was supposed to be humorous.
For a whopping $3.99, you too can appear to have had a serious mental breakdown, reached a point so low in your life that you feel your presence is no longer worth it, or escape the emotional and psychological pain you’re feeling by taking a blade to your skin.
Outrage sparked within minutes of the costume going live on Wal-Mart’s website, resulting in a petition from change.org to remove the costume from the shelves (which has been successfully done). Many took to Twitter to discuss their feelings on this costume.
CEO Marc Beige, creator of the Rubie’s Costume Company, the world’s largest designer, manufacturer and distributor of Halloween costumes and accessories, and creator of this costume, has yet to release a statement about the distasteful idea of a costume. However, he has not taken it off the shelves due to the popularity and publicity of the costume.
Wal-Mart released a statement on the product saying, “The costume is appalling and it was unacceptable for a third-party seller to list it on our marketplace. It clearly violated our prohibited items policy and we removed it yesterday morning when it was brought to our attention.”
I interviewed a friend very close to me, Tori Sowell, who is a survivor of self harm, a Mental Health Ambassador at Appalachian State University, and an all around vibrant, intelligent woman.
She is incredibly passionate about the fight against mental health stigmas and the education of mental health as a whole. I asked her how this made her feel, whether it triggered her or not and she said, “Teachers and parents have always said it was offensive to dress up as a Native American woman or as a Geisha because it makes fun of people’s culture, and while I always understood why they were offended, personally, I never was. Now I understand how it feels because, in my eyes, it seems as though they want children to WANT to cut themselves. This costume makes a joke of the scars I will carry on my body for the rest of my life. It makes a joke of the battle that I go through mentally each and every day […] everyday that I walked into school with cuts on my arms, I was terrified of someone seeing them […] it’s disgusting and offensive beyond anything I could have ever imagined.”
If you’ve ever read an article of mine, you know that I am a firm advocate of mental health and have experienced the trials myself. People who are very close to me have experienced the very same to degrees that I never imagined were possible.
Monopoly on the lowest point of someone’s life is not, and never will be, acceptable in any form. Mental illness, self harm, suicidal thoughts and actions, what have you, are not a sign of weakeness or the punch line of a money hungry, insensitive, corporate American trashbag. It is strength.
If this article triggered you, I sincerely apologize and want you to know there are resources available to help you such as counseling centers, suicide hotlines, and psychologists.
From the bottom of my heart, I want you to know that you are loved and always will be.
Image Sources:
http://www.snopes.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/suicide.jpg