Javier, a Consumerist reader who lives in Mexico, crossed the border to do some shopping at Walmart. He noticed this costume in the Halloween section. He finds it offensive. “I was wondering if we might also find a costume like this,” he writes, enclosing an old photo of a white performer in blackface.
What do you think? Is this costume racist, or intended to be more like the lederhosen and ninja costumes sold alongside it?
(Note: the moustache and pistols are not included with the costume.)
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I just realized that Laura is kinda breaking the whole “don’t blame the OP” rule with her title. See Consumerist, sometimes the OP is wrong.
The headline is sarastic
*sarcastic*
This isn’t the first headline with “For Some Reason” in it.
If this is offensive to Mexicans then they should pull whore costumes too for being offensive and stereotyping all the hard working prostitutes out there.
I suppose dressing up like an old west cowboy is offensive too. Or maybe the Chef costume I saw is offensive.
There is an old saying that goes “You can’t give offense; you can only take it.” Some people go out of their way to take it. If you take offense at a costume like this, then your panties are obviously a little too tight and you need to get over it.
*sigh* It is a bit racist. Stereotyping an entire culture into one singular costume is racist, no matter what culture it is; Mexican, German, Indian, etc.
http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2009/10/29/racist-halloween-costumes/
Also, what’s the intent behind the costume and dressing up as a cultural stereotype? Do you find it funny? If so, isn’t that a bit offensive?
http://www.racialicious.com/2007/10/30/reasons-i-hate-halloween/
http://www.racialicious.com/2008/11/14/on-cultural-appropriation-halloween-and-beyond/
Also, what’s the intent behind the costume and dressing up as a cultural stereotype? Its Halloween. Its a costume. Dressing up as someone from another country is no different than stereotyped costumes of professions like nurses and maids. Is that actually how they dress? Of course not, and I’m pretty sure nobody thinks it is.
Do you find it funny? Yes.
If so, isn’t that a bit offensive? No.
Racist, but funny. I think someone needs to lighten up and stop the ultra PC craziness.
No. Go away.
Sounds like Javier just needs something to complain about.
To play devil’s advocate for a moment, aren’t many Halloween costumes offensive to one group or another?
Yes, they are, which is a problem. Maybe people need to get creative and stop co-opting another group’s culture or perpetuating stereotypes just because they are too lazy to come up with a good costume idea.
Would it be offensive if I told him to mow a lawn and get over it?
It’s an outdated, stereotypical interpretation of a Mexican. It goes hand in hand with the idea of Mexicans as “banditos,” i.e. lawless thugs. In the American West, the old image of the “sleeping bandito” leaning against a tree or wall, is still common, (such as on businesses / motel signs) projecting the frequent racist stereotype of Mexicans as lazy.
It is most certainly racist.
White people dressing up like this serve to reinforce outmoded ideas of people from other cultures, essentially putting people of other ethnicities “in their place,” whether intended that way or not. Just like costurmes of Native Americans and all-too-common “pimp n ho” parties, this one should be retired along with the stereotypes it conjures.
If “white people” (I’m deeply offended by the term, prefer European American) were wearing this to the office or out for a date, then yeah…it would be somewhat mocking. It’s a COSTUME, designed for COSTUME parties in which people wear outlandish outfits for FUN. Lighten up!
There are ways to be outlandish and fun without appropriating someone else’s culture. Halloween doesn’t give anyone a pass to be offensive and perpetuate stereotypes.
People can find offense in most anything if they dig deep enough. Should we have costume police who determine what’s offensive or not, or should we all follow your standard, whatever that may be?
We live in a free society, which means we’re free to offend and be offended. We’re also free to laugh and realize that perpetuating stereotypes, making fun, and Halloween costumes are all part of everyday society.
Like I said…lighten up!
Wait, you think perpetuating stereotypes is a GOOD thing?
Yes, that’s exactly what I wrote. Or I wrote “all part of everyday society”.
Point is, I can find offense in anything, so can you, so can anyone. Stop whining about imaginary offenses.
You seem to say two different things, first that people are free to be offended and then that they should lighten up. Sorry, no, if I feel offended by a stereotype against women I’m not going to just ignore it or laugh. As a woman in a male-dominated field the perpetuation of stereotypes about women is harmful to my career.
In a free society you take the good with the bad. That means you’re gonna see things that offend you. I see things that I would consider offensive every day. That doesn’t mean I let it bother me or effect me, because at the end of the day it’s only an issue for me if I let it become an issue. I have better things to do than whine.
As for the OP…it’s a Halloween costume, nobody is suggesting it’s appropriate attire in a business meeting….though if someone did, I’d laugh my ass off.
There are plenty of white people in Mexico (and I mean actual white Mexicans).
It’s a constume, grow up and get over it. Don’t we have more important things to worry about??
Being offended is the natural consequence of leaving one’s home. BTW, I’m offended that Javier is offended!
Everybody wants to be offended.
shouldn’t the costume include a burlap backpack with 50lbs of weed?
Lets see –
Sombrero? So you’re saying people south of the border don’t wear Sombreros? Okay, that’s factual. How about that serape? Hell, I bought one not too dissimilar when I was in TJ many moons ago – so that’s fact too.
So it’s pretty much the cap guns that someone is complaining about? Yeah, sounds like this fellow needs to grow a thick skin.
Not offensive, just historically inaccurate.
Mexican Banditos never rolled the cuffs of their cargo pants.
I find it rather refreshing that the fellow who is offended is actually Mexican. Usually the people who complain about costumes being OMG OFFENSIVE!! tend to be getting offended on the behalf of whatever group they have decided are being oppressed.
Here in Massachusetts we have witches that get offended by anything Halloween
It’d be cheaper to just buy this stuff at a market in Mexico. I saw tons of this kind of stuff (better made) while I was in Mexico in stores catering to tourists. Seriously. If this is racist, it’s a racism that’s being sold to Americans by Mexicans.
Clearly, it depends on who’s wearing it….
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/UjFRChcqrgdUvr7rwqsbDg
As we all know, once you cross over the Border into Mexico the light sprectrum turns a orange/sepia color as depicted in most movies, 95% of the country is covered by ranches and small rural towns where Cantinas are the most important buldings and donkeys, chickens and other farm animals roam around freely in the makeshift dirt roads that serve as streets. It is in these towns that you will find hordes of men dressing exactly like this fellow… sitting on the floor hugging their legs while covering them with the shown zarape and wearing this sombrero, most of them napping or drunk of course.
/Sarcasm
In all seriousness though, this is not a racist or bad taste costume… It is a poor depiction of a the way a very small portion of impoverished indigenous people still dress in Mexico. It is an image that has been widely used mostly because of old “Revolucion” Era pictures. There is no merit for the OP to be offended.
BTW, I am Mexican-American… (Raised in Mexico until I was 18 and currently living in the US)
I find all costumes for Engineers offensive. No engineer that I know carries a slide rule, wears a pocket protector or ties their glasses together with white tape.
Now, an engineer with his glasses held together with duct tape and a paper clip are fine…because I know several people (incliding myself) who have done emergency repairs on their glasses with duct tape and a paperclip.
ROFL…as a fellow nerd who now wears contacts, I appreciated that
That’s a 1970′s (or earlier) engineer. My dad use to walk around with a pocket protector, tape on his glasses but kept his slide rule at work.
On behalf of all the ghosts in the world, I take offense at anyone wearing a sheet on Halloween.
Get a Life! Get a sense of humor! Get Over It!
Bill
add one other person to the OMG IT’S RACIST POOL over stupid crap.
Rather than looking for reasons to get pissed off at whitey (’cause he’s done SO much to make your life miserable and incomplete!) why don’t you go out and grab your FINITE life by its balls and squeeze as much life essence outta it while you still can? My GOD some people live their lives just TRYING to make themselves miserable – if you look around you’ll find PLENTY to make one depressed – so DON’T FOCUS ON THE SHIT THAT BUGS YA, DUDE!
Some people just like to dress up and have fun on halloween, and some people in America find old stereotypes FUNNY, rather than offensive.
Ya needs to takes a chillax pill, amigo.
Hey, just a little btw, I can’t COUNT how many hispanics patients have come into my office and gotten angry that I don’t speak Spanish. I’ve BEEN TO MEXICO CITY, and if I try to talk to someone there in English they ALWAYS GET REALLY PISSED OFF AND ASK WHY DON’T I SPEAK SPANISH.
Good for goose, good for gander. STFU over this shite already, and we should NOT be paying US tax dollars to teach mexican kids in OUR SCHOOLS in Spanish imho.
eofm
When I was in high school a guy that I really despised…. with the initials of M-A-R-T-I-N T-O-R-R-O-S-I-A-N…. came to our class in jeans, a wife beater, a bandana, holding a bag of oranges and yelling, “naranjas”… that was offensive. It was probably one of the only times in my life that I haven’t found a joke like that funny. But, wearing a zarape, silly hat, and pretending to be a pistolero makes me giggle a bit.
I’m pretty sure the public knows that not everyone in Mexico is a bandito, not everyone in Japan is a ninja/geisha just like the rest of the world knows that not everyone in America is a cowboy.
I’m Mexican and I agree it’s raciest but funny as all heck.
*sings*
Everyone’s a little bit racist
Sometimes.
Doesn’t mean we go
Around committing hate crimes.
Look around and you will find
No one’s really color blind.
Maybe it’s a fact
We all should face
Everyone makes judgments
Based on race.
It looks like Borat in a poncho and sombrero.
I hate people. It’s RACIST you idiots. Being a costume or intended to be funny doesn’t forgive RACISM.
Evolve you pond scum.
And a Mexican citizen is what race exactly?
You are so unbelievably stupid. Go look up racism and find out what it really means instead of sitting around and trying to dilute the concept because it makes you feel superior. Hint: racism has nothing to do with ethnicity, which is the actual issue here.
That aside, I won’t argue that the costume isn’t problematic because it is. It relies on really old and stupid ethnic stereotypes for a cheap laugh. However, you’re just as bad as the OP with this apples to oranges comparison of one thing to another.
its as racist as a cowboy costume.
If it were called “The Immigrant” or something, that’d be different
The costume itself isn’t racist. Its what the person does while wearing it that might be racist.
If he’s a “Bandito” then it’d be no more racist than someone dressing up as a cowboy.
thats just a caricature
Now this, is offensive on so many different levels, that it approaches quite awesome.
http://www.buy.com/prod/chinese-takeout-adult-costume/q/sellerid/23256283/loc/64935/217009030.html
Yet I’ve never seen a nurse complain about the nurse costumes being un-PC…
In regards to this comment in the article, “What do you think? Is this costume racist, or intended to be more like the lederhosen and ninja costumes sold alongside it?” Um, those costumes are offensive too. Appropriating someone’s culture or history to play dress-up is offensive.
Common sense is dead. Time to call for an end to Political Correctness once and for all.
I don’t find this racist at all. It’s always been a bit odd to have other cultures as Halloween costumes though. Vampire, Zombie…Japanese person! You have to justify things saying no I’m a geisha or samurai. I had a white friend who was straight up a Vietnamese man for Halloween and one who just wore a burqa. I find both to be very funny. It’s Halloween! Lighten up!
That’s the joke.jpg
I would be less bothered by a version of this that _did_ include the mustache and pistols. As pictured, the costume is a silly caricature of “the Bandito” that’s been around forever. A little stereotypical, but not any more than the cowboys and kung-fu costumes you see around. It’s referencing an old-timey cliche more than it is a race or a people.
But without the mustache and guns, it’s not cartoony enough for caricature. So what is it exactly? Is it sold as a “Mexican Guy” costume? That’s just one step shy of saying “This is what Mexicans look like.” It wouldn’t surprise if the costume makers ditched the idea of being PC altogether and called it something like “Immigrant” or “Run For The Border”
All that said, that costume itself isn’t that bad. But if the guy in the photo came up to me at a party saying “Whasssup Esse!! Have a cerveza, Mehn. Burritos! Tequila! Ai yai-yai!!!” I would want to punch the racist douchebag in the face.
Disclaimer: I am ethnically Mexican (3rd generation immigrant), but culturally as whitewashed as the ‘average American’. Take from that what you will.
No, it’s not racist.
Tactless, perhaps. But not racist. It’s a Mexican bandit or revolutionary, from the 19th or very early 20th century. IT’s also horridly cheap in appearance, but for a “wear it once or twice, then chuck it” cheap halloween costume, eh, so what?
It doesn’t claim ALL Mexicans are like that. One could dress up in a period military uniform from the same era, and it would be JUST as accurate.
YEESH … some people need to get over themselves, and stop being so hypersensitive!!!
Many commenters find this costume funny, not really racist and maybe the depiction of the mexican stereotype should be taken lightheartedly because non-mexicans are….non-mexicans.
In spirit of lightning up and not sucha big dealness…then why this happened?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8410111/
2 years ago, my Hispanic best friend designed my costume for me and it looked almost identical to this one. He laughed at this guy’s “complaint”.
I like last years pick for offensive better. the illegal alien.
Where’s the ‘this costume is problematic because it relies on stupid and tired stereotypes, but isn’t even close to being comparable to something as racist as blackface’ option? I mean, I get where the OP is coming from, but Holy Lack of Perspective, Batman.
One of my good friends is a Mexican citizen and legal permanent resident of the US. A few years ago when he dressed up for halloween for the first time in his life, it was in almost exactly this costume. A friend and I gave him $20 and had him stop at Taco Bell then when he arrived he handed out tacos like the Mexican Santa Claus.
Mexico – PC capitol of the world.
Just another slam against Walmart…
PC taken far too serious, would you be as outraged if this coustume was sold @ CVS or Target??
Just please don’t let them take back my Mexican Coke, OK…
Funny, my Mexican step-father finds this kind of stereotype to be hilarious, if only because a guy in a poncho and sombrero (admittedly it’s usually sans mustache and pistols) is more common than he’d really like to admit. I say it’s sexist- who says Mexican bandits are all dudes?!
Also, Clint Eastwood would like to have a word with you: http://cdn-images.hollywood.com/site/eastwood_good_ugly.jpg
There’s a fine line when it comes to Halloween costumes. Most are offensive if you really think about it – do you think female cops are thrilled to see hoards of sexy police women stumbling around on Halloween night? I’m guessing they find that offensive, too.
I would say that unless it came with some horrendous name like “boarder jumper” or some accessory like a tiny lawn mower it’s probably not really that offensive in the grand scheme of things. It’s not uncommon for kids or adults to dress as some stereotype or another & I don’t personally have an issue with it.
I love when the Dallas Cowboys play the Washington Redskins on Thanksgiving. That’s pretty good shit.