People are outraged that an Australian online retailer is continuing to sell a children's costume which resembles the clothing of Anne Frank, news.com.au reports.
The outfit had brazenly been named "WWII Anne Frank Girl’s Costume", before 2017, when the costume was removed from the listed items on most retailers after receiving backlash.
However, the Australian version of UK-based Smiffy's is still selling the costume for $31.95, having renamed it "World War II Evacuee Girl Costume".
And yet, typing "Anne Frank" into the site's search function still delivers the "Evacuee Girl" outfit as a search result.
The image accompanying the product title and description shows a young girl wearing a 1940s navy blue dress, brown bag, and green beret. She also has an ID tag pinned to her dress's lapel, which looks similar to an outfit worn by the posthumous author.
The description for the item reads:
“Over 3.7 million people where (sic) relocated and evacuated throughout the time of World War II and a lot of them were women and children. This vintage girls costume comes with navy blue dress, felt brown saddlebag, and a dark green, elastic hat. You can easily team this up with one of Smiffy’s petticoats.”
Jack Latimore, an Australian editor, and producer has recently taken to Twitter to post an image of the costume to his followers, writing: “Australian stores have stocked this Halloween costume and I clearly must have missed something at some point because just wtf?”
One person tweeted in response: "I'm certain I've seen news about this exact outfit before, like a year, if not years, ago... can't believe anyone would still be stocking it."
“I wonder how the women who are still alive and were evacuated feel about this. I don’t think I would want to relive that trauma,” wrote another.
In a statement to HuffPost Australia, Smiffy’s said the costume has “been a staple of our worldwide range for many years”.
“With Smiffy’s being a UK-based company, representing this time in history is very important,” the statement reads. “If you look at our website, this costume is listed under our 1940s range and has never been marketed by Smiffy’s as a Halloween costume and never will (be).”
In the US, a similar outfit, with the description, “Is your child studying World War II or the Holocaust? Now you can help her transport back in time to the 1940s,” was taken down by Target earlier this month.
“We apologize to any guests who were offended by this costume. We have removed it from Target.com and are sharing this feedback with the vendor,” a spokesman told Fox News. “In addition, we are taking this opportunity to review the process we have in place before a costume is available for purchase on Target.com.”
