Kmart has pulled a Halloween costume after being accused of promoting forced child marriage.
Shannon B. organized a petition on Change.org after seeing the costume in a store, which was being advertised as a “Bride Costume” showing a little girl wearing a white dress and headband veil. According to the packaging, the costume was designed to be worn by little girls between the ages of four and six.
Shannon called the costume “beyond inappropriate” because it normalized forced child marriage, which is a big problem around the world.
“Tell Kmart this is beyond inappropriate and offensive and that they have a social responsibility to pull this item off their shelves immediately. Please help me get this message to Kmart by signing this petition,” Shannon wrote on the petition page.
She also added in some statistics, writing that “Each year, 12 million children (girls as young as 6 years old – the same size as this ‘costume’) are sold or married off by their family without their consent.”
Within five days, Shannon’s petition gained over 500 signatures, and by Thursday afternoon, she announced on the page that Kmart officially removed the costume from their shelves two days earlier.