Posted on 10/29/2009 9:44:55 AM PDT by DogByte6RER
'Mexican Man' costume offends Latino shoppers, community groups
By Sean Maher
EMERYVILLE — A costume dubbed "Mexican Man" has offended Latino shoppers and community groups after being discovered at a Halloween chain store.
The photo on the costume packaging shows a man with a thick mustache wearing a poncho and a sombrero. Oakland resident Monica Plazola said she discovered the costume last week at the Spirit Halloween store in Emeryville, which she was visiting with her two children, ages 7 and 9.
"We were there at the store, with all kinds of costumes, and that was the only one identified racially," she said. "I was really surprised that kind of costume existed in this day and age. I was kind of stumped on it."
Her husband, Carlos, said he could not remember the last time he'd seen something so blatantly stereotypical.
"It's incredibly offensive," he said. "I can't imagine them reducing any other culture to a costume like that and calling it by that ethnic name. Reducing a culture to such a stereotype is harmful and insulting. I can't imagine a Chinese man or black man being put out there and it being OK."
Mara Chavez, deputy director at Centro Legal De La Raza in Oakland, said her organization discovered the costume when the Plazolas sent them the photos. The group is asking Spirit Halloween to pull the costumes from the shelves.
"These costumes need to be taken out and not sold," she said. "As Latinos, we are a big percentage of consumers here in the state of California, so it is to their best interest to not depict such insulting costumes. It affects them in terms of their profits as well."
The manager of Spirit Halloween in Emeryville confirmed the availability of the costume but declined to comment...
(Excerpt) Read more at insidebayarea.com ...
“I just don’t care who gets offended. When I was a kid my dad was a member of the Sons of Italy. They protested that Liggett and Meyers cigarettes sponsored Elliot Ness. Dad said if they didn’t like that they should do something about Italian involvement in organized crime. I am sick and tired of outrage from anyone, including my own. Lets just grow up.”
Well said.
I’m goin’ as Dr. Bogus Pachysandra; Muslim Cleric/Proctologist!
I thought Juan Valdez was Colombian.
“Italian involvemnet in organized crime”. You mean that ficticious Italian fraternal organization that has been negatively protrayed in the media? I suppose you think the bakery in my neighborhood burned down because they forgot to take the Football Cards out of the oven? Sonny Mecurio was a legitimate business man! Stata Zeit!
Really? the Mexicans at the restaurant I work at think this kind of thing is hilarious. They think some dress habits of white and black people are funny too. They actually call fat guys Gordo, and skinny guys Flaco. They aren’t offended by anything. In fact, if they give you a nickname, it means they like you. It’s not the Mexicans, it’s the stupid Marxist Chicanos. Mexicans do not like Chicanos.
Give me a break. Mexicans have got to be the most easily offended people in the world.
What if they made Switzerland Man and dressed him in lederhosen and stockings. Would anyone be offended?
Amish Man with suspenders, a hat and a beard.
Ethnic costumes are now “offensive”?
If they were actually Americans (culturally) instead of hyphenated immigrants, anchor babies or illegals they would not be insulted.
It’s not a poncho, it’s a cape, add a mask and call him Zorro.
he moved to Mexico and took up the drug trade - he was perfectly positioned
,/p>
Guess it depends whether he's French, German or Italian.
Who’s next? The Worlds Most Interesting Man, drinking his Dos Equis?
LOL.
Q: What do you get when you cross a Mexican and a German?
A: A Beaner-Schnitzel
Hmmm... How long will it be before some lefty journalist writes, “We’re all Mexicans now”?
Allow me to refresh his memory:
good lord...tacky my ass...give him a pistol and call him Pancho Villa.
btw...I have that shirt bought it from the son of Elvis’s tailor Bernard lansky at the Peabody last year...cool.
Somebody needs to remind this offended woman that Mexican is not a race.
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