Kmart strips child bride costume from shelves after mum launches petition

Just hours after Kmart pulled a children’s bride costume from its shelves following an online campaign by a Melbourne mum who called the outfit “beyond inappropriate” — things have taken an unexpected turn.

The $6 costume, which included a white wedding grown and headband with veil for children between the ages of 4 and 6, was stripped from sale on Tuesday afternoon just two days after someone named “Shannon B” launched the petition on Change.org, calling the fancy dress outfit “offensive”.

But despite having nearly 200 signatures, it seems many of them are from confused and bemused Australians.

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Under the “Reasons for signing” section of the petition, many wrote they were only adding their signatures because they wanted Shannon B to hear their views on the “stupid” petition.

“Shannon, this kind of crap is what makes people hate others,” one person wrote. “It’s just a costume for goodness sake.

“My daughter has asked multiple times for a ‘dress like mummy had’. It is a dress up nothing more … you’re ruining it for everyone. Get over yourself.”

“Dude seriously, get a life. It’s a costume,” another raged.

“Let kids be kids,” another simply said.

On Facebook there was a similar response, with one person calling the decision to ban the bride outfit “ridiculous”.

“This is so stupid,” another agreed.

However, others did agree that the kids costume was “disgusting”, adding Kmart’s decision to pull it from shelves was the right move.

“Totally agree. this is absurd and role defining! Wrong age group too,” another added.

Despite the backlash on the initial backlash, Kmart Australia told news.com.au they stand by their decision to remove the offending item.

“Kmart Australia regrets the decision to range the bride costume,” a spokesperson told news.com.au.

“It was not intended to cause offence and we sincerely apologise. We have made the decision to withdraw this product.”

The petition, which currently has 198 signatures, had labelled the costume “offensive” and asked supporters to remind Kmart it had a “social responsibility” to uphold.

“Each year, 12 million children (girls as young as 6 years old — the same size as this ‘costume’) are sold or married off by their family without their consent. That’s one million child marriages per month!” Shannon wrote.

“That equates to 23 children every minute or 1 child every 2 minutes. If this continues, 150 million more children will be married by the year 2030.

“Child marriage means child abuse and torture in its worst forms — paedophilia, child rape, child slavery, child sex trafficking.

“Tell Kmart this is beyond inappropriate and offensive and that they have a social responsibility to pull this item off their shelves immediately.”

Following the decision, World Vision Australia confirmed the statistics were correct.

“Anything that trivialises child marriage is disturbing”child rights campaigner Mercy Chipo Jumo added.

The decision comes just a week before Halloween, where children’s costumes will fly off department store racks.

Do you agree that the costume is ‘inappropriate’ or do you think it’s just a harmless dress up costume? Let us know in the comments below.

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