This may come as a surprise, and I’m sorry if you’re not ready to hear this, but some of-the-moment Halloween costumes that make headlines exist mostly to attract media attention for their marketers. It’s true: last year, apparently no Sexy Ebola Containment Suit costumes were sold, and the same might apply to this year’s Sexy Pizza Rat costume.

Pizza Rat, Consumerist’s unofficial staff mascot of 2015, appeared in a viral video dragging a slice of pizza as long as its body down the stairs of a subway station in New York, and we all identified with the rat on some level. The rat became a topical “sexy” Halloween costume when the lingerie retailer Yandy.com took an existing mouse costume and slapped a few fabric pizza slice-shaped pockets on it.

Another costume that’s apparently meant to attract attention and controversy but not actual sales is one portraying Olympic champion and reality TV background character Caitlyn Jenner. The costume is loosely based on the Vanity Fair cover where Jenner re-introduced herself to the American public as a woman, but adds a sash that says “I AM CAIT” in case anyone mistakes the wearer for someone randomly wearing a blonde wig and white bustier.

Yet while the costume is on display in one seasonal store in Manhattan and attracts attention, store employees told Bloomberg News that no one was actually buying it. The display was just there to attract attention. Adults love to wear costumes involving figures in the news or in politics, but a viral video from September might not even be memorable by the end of October.

The People Behind Sexy Pizza Rat Know You Won’t Buy Their Costume [Bloomberg News]

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