You might argue that it takes little to annoy people on the internet but this is pretty worthy of its backlash.
It goes without saying that many of us grew up with Anne Frank and learned a lot from her diaries – hers is one of the best-known accounts of navigating teenage life during a horrific period in history.
That said, we don’t think dressing up as her is the best idea.
Just in time for Halloween, an ‘Anne Frank’ costume for little girls has popped up online.
Seriously.
The set, sold on sites including Escapade, FunCostumes, HalloweenCostumes and Amazon, includes a 1940s-style beret, bag and dress with a ‘felt destination tag’.
Needless to say, a lot of people found the costume pretty tasteless.
The popular website Halloween Costumes is selling an Anne Frank costume for kids. WTF? pic.twitter.com/cqKQ9UlIge
— 🦕Daniel Arenson🦖 (@DanielArenson) October 15, 2017
Totally speechless. Just been shown this ad for an Anne Frank costume for Halloween. @AnneFrankCenter you might want to have a word pic.twitter.com/mu0t4lvY62
— Jude Habib (@JudeHabib) October 15, 2017
https://twitter.com/MrAlfredGarnett/status/920190223316897792
A authority on Holocaust history also criticised the costume.
“Why would anyone want to ‘dress up’ as Anne Frank, a young girl murdered by the Nazis, for Halloween?” Karen Pollock, chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust in the UK, told The Jewish Chronicle.
“It is utterly inappropriate, offensive and quite simply beggars belief. The Holocaust is not a joke – this company needs to have a serious rethink.”
Since the uproar around the costume began yesterday, it’s been removed from a number of sites.
A representative for FunCostumes, one of the sites where it was sold, tweeted to apologise for any offence caused and said the company creates ‘historically accurate costumes’ for several purposes.
https://twitter.com/RossWalkerSmith/status/919720227696496642?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fmetro.co.uk%2F2017%2F10%2F17%2Fretailers-are-removing-an-anne-frank-costume-from-their-stores-after-massive-backlash-7005200%2F
Meanwhile, other commentators online took issue with the backlash against the costume.
They pointed out, fairly, that other offensive Halloween costumes haven’t caused quite as much furore.
https://twitter.com/maritzah_k/status/920155549752324096
https://twitter.com/sothesoul/status/920164511792975873
THEY SWIPED THAT ANNE FRANK COSTUME UP REAL QUICK BUT CONTINUE TO SELL HOMOPHOBIC TRANSPHOBIC AND RACIST COSTUMES IM SICK
— Gem! (@janitormovie) October 17, 2017
Dressing up is one of the most fun parts of Halloween, but if this story highlights anything, it’s the need to be considerate and respectful when choosing a costume for ourselves and our kids.
