Halloween Gone Amok

Make no mistake about it, we Dixons aren’t really Halloween people.

What I mean is that our Halloween enthusiasm level could be called tepid at best. If you’d like to read my wife Amy’s musings on Halloween, you can do so here, but every year we sort of relucantly mark the occasion. Tonight you’ll find us at a friend’s house doing some limited trick or treating on their block, then early to bed.

Of course, in this regard, we Dixons are counter-cultural. Because Halloween is big business, nationally a 6.9 billion dollar business in fact. Locally, I know this because of the overnight proliferation of Halloween shops in the normally vacant storefronts near my house. I also know this because, come October, the elementary school “what costume are you wearing?” chatter increases exponentially every day we get closer to the 31st.

And, for the record, this year in the Dixon house, we’ll have kids dressed up as Leo Messi, a cookie monster, Belle before she became Princess Belle, and then Princess Belle herself.

Collective cost of all the Dixon family Halloween costume paraphernalia? Like $25. Again, we’re not Halloween people.

And after reading this article, you won’t be either.

Evidently, two years ago, some knucklehead produced a Halloween costume called “Anna Rexia.” Yep, you read that right. “Anna Rexia.” The tagline? “You can never be too rich or too thin.”

Because making fun of the estimated 12 million women and girls who suffer from anorexia is a sure-fired Halloween hoot.

Two years ago, a change.org petition helped remove the offensive costume from its online retailer, but this year it came back, peddled by a  company called HalloweenParty13.com. Here’s a screen shot:

That’s right folks, plunk down your $39.99 and let the mocking of millions of struggling women and girls begin!

According to one report, “3 in every 100 American women suffers from an eating disorder which is the leading cause of death for girls ages 15-24.”

Shame on a company that glamorizes an illness such as this. Let’s hope that “out of stock” becomes a forever condition for this Halloween travesty.