Walmart Pulls “Naughty Leopard” Costume From Shelves, Will Research What Leopards Look Like

adorable_naughty_leopardSince we posted a picture of a little girl’s costume that was labeled “Naughty Leopard,” the story has spread worldwide, irking feminists and horrifying parents everywhere. Now we’ve learned that Walmart plans to pull the costumes from shelves.

We first got the news from the Huffington Post. KATU in Oregon reports that when they found a costume on the shelves and tried to buy it, the item rang up as “not for sale.” The costume has also been pulled from the website.

“It was never our intention to offend anyone and we apologize to any customers who may have been offended by the name of the costume,” a Walmart spokesperson told KATU. The costume itself wasn’t really ever the problem. You could make an argument that it’s a training-bra version of an adult woman’s sexy leopard costume, but we didn’t.

not_purple_leopard

When we first posted the item, we were actually more troubled that Walmart was calling the costume a “leopard” when it really doesn’t look anything like a leopard at all. The “naughty” part was bad, too, but that word has a history of actually being used to refer to small, mischievous children. As Jezebel points out, it’s only recently and mostly thanks to the hideous Halloween costume industry that “naughty” has come to mean “revealing costume version of actual thing” at all. Or, as reader Shannon wrote to us at the very beginning of this controversy:

Does naughty not still really mean what it used to when I was a kid? Because it is [2013] and the world has become so sexualized, I feel most people now hear naughty and equate it automatically with sexy or tawdry. When I see this costume, I picture an adorable toddler running around the house terrorizing her little brother and being mischievous.

Also, maybe Walmart got their labels mixed up. On a Consumerist research trip to buy cookies look for more inappropriate costumes, we found this costume, which happens to look more grown woman’s “naughty” costume, but also takes the wacky step of actually looking like a leopard.

photo-(4)

PREVIOUSLY:
Walmart Now Offers “Naughty” Costumes For Toddler Girls

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.