After campaigning so successfully in the past I really thought the mental health community had seen the last of this awful sort of abusive marketing in UK. Asda & Tesco both seem to have learned their lesson, judging by the range of costumes on offer on their respective shelves, but others have not.

The impact of social stigma on people with mental health problems is bad enough without this crap making it worse.

I just Emailed this to customer.services@joke.co.uk
I’d be really grateful if others would do the same.

“Dear Sir,

I sincerely hope I’m not the only person writing to you to express my disappointment at your choice of Halloween costumes for sale this year. The impact of social stigma on people with mental health problems is immensely detrimental. Your stereotypical and grossly misleading Halloween costumes can only exacerbate an already serious problem of social discrimination.

In recent years similairly stigmatizing and abusive Halloween costumes were presented for sale by other UK retail outlets including Asda & Tesco. Public outrage (& a subsequent drop in their retail sales) caused them to see the error of their ways. They do not appear to be making the same mistake again this year.

I would be very keen to discuss this issue further with you, should you be interested in learning more about the serious harm this sort of stigmatization creates.

Yours sincerely,

Stuart Sorensen
(Mental health nurse, trainer, writer & speaker)”

If you agree that this sort of stigmatisation is unacceptable why not Email: customer.services@joke.co.uk
to tell them so?

Or write to:
Jokers’ Masquerade
Abscissa.Com Limited
Union House
Kennet Side
Newbury
Berkshire
RG14 5PX
UNITED KINGDOM

You can telephone them on: 0845 1300 818.

They’re on Twitter too: @Joke_co_uk

This abusive company’s ridiculing, stigmatising approach to people with mental health problems is neither appropriate nor acceptable in a civilised society. Please join me in letting them know.