Bunnings has pulled a controversial Halloween costume from sale after mental health advocates slammed major Australian retailers for selling outfits they say mock people with mental illnesses
SANE Australia, a not-for-profit mental health organisation, renewed its calls for retailers including Bunnings, Kmart and Spotlight to remove Rubie’s Insane Asylum straitjacket costume from sale, two years after first raising concerns about similar products
Big W removed the outfit from its online marketplace, Big W Market, soon after the discount department chain was notified about the complaint in 2024
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However, SANE CEO Rachel Green singled out Spotlight, saying the retailer removed similar costumes in 2024 following criticism, but had since listed them again
She said it was unacceptable for businesses to publicly support mental health causes while continuing to profit from products that reinforce stigma
“Straitjackets are archaic, offensive and stigmatising. This can deepen discrimination and make it harder for people to seek the support they need,” she said.
She told 7NEWS.com.au that mental illness was not a costume
“No one would expect to see for sale a cancer patient costume for Halloween. Why is the mental illness patient costume acceptable?” she said.
Green said she was disappointed the issue had resurfaced and wanted retailers to take greater responsibility for the products they approved for sale
“I don’t want to be here again next year making the same post,” she said.
For Sandy Jeffs, who lives with schizophrenia, the costumes are far from harmless Halloween fun
Jeffs told 7NEWS.com.au she was deeply offended by the portrayal of people with mental illness as frightening figures who needed to be restrained
“It’s what I call mad shaming,” she said
“It’s shaming people who have a mental illness to depict them as objects of ridicule and discrimination.”
Jeffs said straitjackets were relics of the past and the costumes drew on outdated stereotypes about the treatment of people with mental illness
“And so to make us an object of ridicule on the basis of an historical thing is quite wrong and misrepresentative,” she said.
She warned the costumes could reinforce the misconception that people living with schizophrenia were dangerous
“It’s a very lazy trope,” she said
Jeffs said people living with schizophrenia deserved to be recognised as individuals rather than reduced to frightening stereotypes
“I’m not a monster. I’m not a caricature of a person,” she said
“Most of us are very ordinary people. Most of us are not mass murderers or mad geniuses. Just very ordinary people living with a very extraordinary illness.”
She urged retailers to consider the message they were sending by selling the costumes, particularly if they also supported mental health initiatives
“Madness is not a joke. My mad comrades are not jokes,” she said
Bunnings confirmed it had removed the costume from its online marketplace after concerns were raised
“We understand the concerns raised, and once the listing was brought to our attention, it was removed from Bunnings Marketplace,” a spokesperson told 7NEWS.com.au on Friday
The costume remains listed on other online retailers, including Spotlight, Kmart and Amazon
7NEWS.com.au has also contacted Kmart and Spotlight for comment
Green said people seeking mental health support could access free services through SANE’s website
