Online retailer Amazon was forced to pull a range of ‘sexy’ halloween costumes for children as young as FIVE yesterday after a backlash from child safety campaigners.
The bizarre costumes, which include a French Maid’s outfit for children aged 4-5, and a ‘sexy schoolgirl’ outfit, were being sold by Silvia’s Wand, which used Amazon.co.uk as a marketplace.
But the kids range of 10 outfits, including a ‘sexy leopard’ to a French maid and even a ‘sexy Japan kimono sparked a storm of protest from children’s charities.
Child protection charity, Kidscape CEO, Claude Knight said: “Every year there are a growing number of manufacturers of Halloween costumes who believe, for inexplicable reasons, that outfits should become increasingly sexualised.
“Costumes are produced for wide age bands starting at age two or four and are marketed under a ‘sexy’ label.
“This does raise grave concerns, as young girls have no comprehension of the messages that they are sending out when they wear age inappropriate clothing.
“Parents do of course have freedom of choice, but it would be helpful if more thought were given to the wider issues surrounding the sexualisation of childhood.
“Childhood is a precious time and misguided commercialisation and distortion should not be allowed to hijack it in this way.”
The costumes, which are modelled by a young girl, feature skirts which are just 30cm long, and were on sale for just over £20. They had been for sale since October 2014.
Amazon refuse to comment on individual cases however the full ‘girls’ range from the raunchy lingerie outfitter were taken off the site following the reaction being flagged to them.
When asked for an explanation, a spokesperson for Amazon said: “All sellers on Amazon Marketplace must adhere to our selling guidelines.”
But Mumsnet CEO, Justine Roberts also criticised the range. She said: “It’s baffling that retailers will happily market a child’s costume as ‘sexy’, and perhaps even more baffling that people will buy it.
“Thankfully most parents will stick to dressing their children up as superheroes and giving them a bucket full of sweets.”
And Barnardo’s Chief Executive, Javed Khan said: “At a time when surveys show girls are under tremendous pressure to look good, it is irresponsible and immoral for any retailer to advertise clothing that sexualises young girls.
“Children should be seen as children and not as sexual commodities. This ‘adult’ clothing fashion retailer should not be making money by depicting them as mini sexualised adults.
“We would urge all retailers to monitor and remove inappropriate goods aimed at making children look ‘sexy’ as soon as possible.”
Silvia’s Wand is a lingerie brand created by Hong Kong fashion firm Lady Silvia and have no online shop beyond Amazon.
The brand may no longer have their children’s clothing on Amazon but customers can still choose between nearly 500 racy garments.
Offering sexy on a budget, Silvia’s Wand continue to sell everything from a ‘sleepless dress g-string’ for £1.99 to their top of the range ‘Sexy bat soldier batman halloween cosplay costume’ at £35.99.