Target is facing backlash after a children’s Halloween costume sold on its website drew comparisons to racist blackface and minstrel imagery.

The retailer listed the $25 costume as the “Kids’ Glows under Blacklight Circus Clown Halloween Costume Bodysuit” from its Hyde and EEK! Boutique brand. Images promoting the costume showed a child wearing a black bodysuit with the face and hands appearing completely dark, contrasted by an exaggerated, wide mouth.
Consumers quickly took notice.

The costume received one-star reviews on Target’s website, while images circulated across social media as users questioned how the design made it through the development, approval and marketing process.

Critics argued that regardless of its intended “blacklight circus” concept, the finished imagery too closely resembled the racist caricatures historically associated with blackface and minstrel performances.

The controversy also sparked a larger conversation about cultural awareness and corporate accountability. For many critics, the question isn’t simply whether Target intended the costume to be offensive.

It is how a product capable of evoking such a painful and recognizable piece of American racial history could move through multiple levels of a major corporation without raising concerns.
Reports published Aug. 22 said the costume was subsequently removed from Target’s website following the backlash.