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Asda Mental Health Halloween

Asda pulls ‘mental patient’ Halloween costume in wake of Twitter storm

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By John Glenday, Reporter

September 26, 2013 | 1 min read

Asda has been forced to withdraw a Halloween costume which stereotyped a ‘mental patient’ after igniting a storm of controversy on Twitter.

The £20 fancy dress costume was available to purchase on the stores website and included clothing alongside a range of accessories, including blood, a mask and a meat cleaver and bore the following sales description: “Everyone will be running away from you in fear in this mental patient fancy dress costume.... it's a terrifying Halloween option."

Blaming the listing on a ’completely unacceptable error’ Asda said in a statement: “[The costume] should never have been sold and it was withdrawn as soon as it was brought to our attention.

"We're deeply sorry one of our fancy dress costumes has upset people."

The climb down followed a spate of negative comment on Twitter with Katie Dalton, of Welsh mental health charity Gofal, wrote on Twitter: "Dear @asda, how on earth did you come to the conclusion that this is an appropriate fancy dress costume? Disgraceful."

Asda Mental Health Halloween

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