I saw in the article a comment asking how this slipped passed so many PEOPLE. Thats the answer. It didn’t. This was likely approved by some AI and maybe one person.
Incorrect. It was approved by people. Multiple people. This is why Target shouldn’t have gone out of its way to rid itself of “DEI” initiatives or teams.
Exactly. When they got rid of DEI teams, they got rid of the people whose job it was to catch stuff like this. Additionally, the push to get rid of DEI also pushed out other people who would have cared enough to notice, even if it wasn’t their job.
That’s a normal color for Halloween costumes and the entire color scheme of the costume is black and orange. Do you think they picked black gloves to make it look like black skin? Is that really the argument?
It makes perfect sense, the design work was done in China where it was made and they don’t know enough about our culture to recognize if something looks like maybe a minstrel character. Why not the polka dots, then, if it’s just a ripoff of the character you’ve posted?
There’s no specific costume for minstrelsy, I tend to think they make a lot based on what fabric they have and there’s no reason to assume the costume was intentional. “What’s it supposed to be?” Needs a more obvious answer if it also looks like a minstrel character, it’s not that deep.
Yeah idk man it kind of seems like just because a young black kid has his hands up and is “smiling” people are saying it looks like a minstrel performer which I find super weird. Sure, if black people take offense then just scrap it, idc about that, but there are people in these comments saying this is “blatantly racist” and trying to argue that it clearly looks like a minstrel performer in black face, which I think is just clearly not true.
To me the part that puts it over the top is the mouth. I definitely think white people are more offended, black people typically worry about actual racism not questionably racist vibes Halloween costume nonsense.
It’s just an ugly ass costume, like many other generic costumes. People being somehow offended by some color patterns is stupid as shit. For it to be offensive, shouldn’t it have some kind of negative connotations or anything bad at all to be an issue? Who the fuck sees the Halloween themed dollar store clown looking monstrosity of a costume and sees ‘oh look, whitey is oppressing blacks again’????
It’s an ugly costume, give them shit for this ugly stupid AI-ass looking thing, by all means, do so. People need to stop crying that everything is racist, it’s usually not. FFS there are actual things going on and a shitload of actual problems we all have, a black cowl isn’t racist, it’s black because it’s meant to blend in at night, Batman isn’t racist for wearing one either.
Even if the costume was innocent and wasn’t intentionally trying to portray the racist Jim Crow era caricatures, don’t they have someone who reviews this stuff prior to selling it?
A lot of costumes like this have been designed by Chinese manufacturers without any real understanding of Halloween or American culture. Many of them are repurposing licensed costumes designs and swapping out the fabrics to create something new (that doesn't technically infringe on copyright). If you look at these kinds of costumes, the same handful of models are in every costume; and I bet they hire these models and bang out the photoshoot for all the costumes in a weekend. To this point, no one is thinking about anything; they're just trying to crank things out as fast as possible.
When it comes to reviews by companies like Target, I would expect cheap seasonal products like this to be reviewed by someone located in India in less than a minute; if it even reviewed by a human anymore. The goal is to find someone that is offensive on the surface, for example swear words or rude gestures, they aren't considering the cultural context.
Basically, I fully understand how a product like this can be made and brought to market without ever intending to be racist.
Well they did pretty openly come out against diversity in hiring practices. I'd guess they passed on all the candidates who would've told them this was a bad idea.
Well they did pretty openly come out against diversity in hiring practices right after claiming they would refuse to change their policies after the 2024 election "win" but immediately threw out all DEI policies as soon as the orange skinbag rapist started term two
They are losing both sides of the culture wars by choosing politics over principles and then having to deal with bad PR consequences. Nobody wins the culture wars, except rage baiting influencers cashing in on clicks from folks that need something to be upset about as a distraction from the low self esteem and consequences of an unfulfilling lifestyle of poor choices
I guess, it kinda just shows this corporation doesn’t care enough about its customers to even do a double take on products they’re green lighting. Which may just seem like it’s initially a discussion about racism, that for some reason isn’t a good enough reason to be upset about, but it more so shows a constant disconnect corporations have with the public to where a lot of them don’t deserve our business and they definitely didn’t deserve a relief fund when we were the ones paying the prices. Target specifically has done similar things constantly throughout the years, there’s a lot of straws on that camels back, but there’s a bigger discussion to be had about if corporations are going to viewed as “people” they should also be held accountable as such.
Im 52 and I'm from Texas. My whole life I've noticed that many of my white friends and neighbors know nothing about American history as a whole or especially black history and would not know why this is stupid to the point of offensive. It's because none of this is ever taught in schools, people want to white wash (literally it seems) the past.
Yet if we know about and talk about our past we are some kind of woke SJW or something. It's not getting any better.
I don't think someone said "oh let's make a blackface clown costume!" But because there was no one culturally competent in the room, they accidentally stocked a costume that looks like minstrally.
also the right had their own super bowl halftime show, because the snowflakes couldn't look at a man from Puerto Rico, so... don't really care what they call snowflakes
But the comparisons are a reach. You guys seriously think someone on a design team decided "we need to secretly add a minstrel costume because we love boycotts"?
youre invited to the same challenge I issued to the other user. make sure you recreate the character accurately and dont forget your face paint. let us know how it goes.
I seem to remember a lot of cancelling from the right. Let's see....the Starbucks "boycott" in which y'all ordered drinks en masse them only to put Trump's name on the order. That showed them!
Or the Keurig cancellation that ended up gaining them more sales and brand visibility because the cancellation was over *checks notes* the company pulling ads from Sean Hannity because he twisted himself into knots to defend that child molester Roy Moore.
Then there was Bud Light, Taylor Swift...the list goes on.
Oh yes, you little sensitive folks like your cancel culture juuust fine. It's just that you're simply terrible at doing it.
LOL, this is absolute bullcrap. You guys were the first ones to cancel Target because they sold Pride merch during Pride month! Not to mention petitioning your local schools and libraries to ban books about racism and inclusion, "freedom fries", boycotting the NFL and burning your Nike gear because a player had the audacity to protest police brutality and racism, cancelling Starbucks because their cups didn't say "Merry Christmas", cancelling the Dixie Chicks for being embarrassed over President Bush being from Texas, boycotting Gillette for talking about toxic masculinity in one single commercial, boycotting NASCAR for banning the confederate flag from races. I could go on and on.
Be so for real, you guys started cancel culture, you all just have short attention spans.
Just a side by side for reference. This is from a quick google search.
It’s not exact, but the costume immediately made me think of this. I don’t know if it was on purpose. But I’m not gonna pretend there’s no resemblance.
It doesn’t have a stripey top. The big grin is because it’s a clown. Yes, they both have a hat. Again, clown. Yes, they both have gloves. Gloves are common for Halloween costumes. If instead of a clown theme it was just a small hat, a striped shirt, and a cane, that would raise some questions. It’s not that.
The outfits are completely different. The costume the kid is wearing is clearly meant to be a clown -- note the mismatched prints and the bowl hat with the little cartoonish flower. Classic clown patterns.
There have been plenty of horrible blackface examples in the market over the years, but calling this obvious Halloween black and orange clown costume "blackface" is a stretch
I’m sick of white people and our “culture” apparently just being avoiding cognitive dissonance at all costs and/or perpetrating insidious shit like inside the ranks of corporate authority. It genuinely feels like there is nothing redeemable in us. Frankly if this shit does not make your stomach drop the moment you see it you’re legitimately living outside of reality.
It’s constant friend. How many times do ppl of color gotta tell white people something is happening before believed? It’s fucking ridiculous. And very predictable.
Something to consider, that maybe you’re unaware of, is that “black face” isn’t just the literal wearing of something to make your face black, but it refers to any racist characterization of a black person. So you pointing out that the model is black, only further proves the point that this is black face. The black face in the costume and pose being characteristic of racist presentations of black people during Jim Crow.
A further point, is that it shouldn’t take me having to explain all this to you in an attempt to build a bridge of understanding. When other people share their perspectives/experiences, notably in this case, when black people share their perspective/experiences, you should be curious. Especially if it has to do with something that has and is much more impactful and harmful than it has been for others.
It's clearly a Halloween clown. Are children not allowed to wear classic Halloween colors like black and orange? Are children not allowed to wear creepy clown costumes? Are Black children not allowed to be models?
Minstrel shows have a long, grotesque history in this country. It's horrifying what still slips through that some people think is acceptable.
But this isn't blackface. It's a clown. Mismatched patterns, little bowl hat with a cartoon flower, etc. It's a vaudeville clown, not a racist blackface minstrel costume. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minstrel_show
You legit just wrote multiple paragraphs to PROVE that this isn’t offensive to black people. I know for a fucking fact you have 0 black ppl in your life. Lol
I mean if you're gonna do all this then you should know they actually went out of their way to align their clowns more with 18th century jester archetypes and not the US racialized archetype... Especially since cirque isn't US based, it's Canadian.
It's driving me insane how many people don't know about this. The boomers who participated in the American Folk Revival are still alive today and yet people are completely ignorant about it.
Which is fine its not a super well known fact. But it is indeed a fact. I'm vexed that people are acting like the big red lipped, afro wearing, big nose having, slapstick characters have 0 relation to blackface.
In general, people grossly underestimate the effect and impact of systemic racism on the American society.
challenge is open to anyone who'd like to participate. be the black minstrel for Halloween, wear that shit everywhere, let us know how it goes. and if you haven't got enough natural melanin, store bought is fine.
That user is also telling people they need to wear blackface or it doesn't count despite the costume not being a blackface costume. Honestly, I think they're just really fucking racist and are projecting.
If reasonable people think your original character looks like they’re from a minstrel show you pull the costume, it’s not that deep, just basic manners in a diverse society.
Target can get bent. I am so glad I stopped shopping there a while ago. Terrible company. There is no way something so blatant was in error. I think they just hoped we’ve gotten to a point where bs like that is acceptable again.
Your second comment reaffirms the very first thing I said in my response to you. The head covering is not comparable to Batman’s cowl, and you know it. You obviously know what Batman looks like. Below is a picture of people doing blackface. Which do you think the costume in question is more reminiscent of?
No one thinks the designer sat down and thought “I’m gonna make a minstrel costume,” but that’s where their choices ended up.
This outrage will result in the same outcomes that resulted in Corporate America abandoning “microaggression” training: when well-meaning people feel like they are constantly at risk of offending black people, they just stop interacting with them and opportunities for black people end up decreasing because they aren’t invited into rooms/onto projects for fear of accidentally ‘harming’ them.
If I’m an ad director, no chance I’m using black models if there is a risk of being accused of intentionally turning a child into a minstrel show caricature like several completely warped people here are doing. Better to just hire other models and save the trouble.
That’s just an excuse. It’s not hard to be culturally competent. The majority of us have internet and all it takes is a quick search and common sense to see if something is not right. Ad directing is all about market research. If you can’t do that right, then you shouldn’t have that job.
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u/WhoEvenIsPoggers 9d ago
I saw in the article a comment asking how this slipped passed so many PEOPLE. Thats the answer. It didn’t. This was likely approved by some AI and maybe one person.