Kate Middleton's parents are apparently causing a royal embarrassment. Michael and Carole Middleton, who manage the family business Party Pieces, have recently been the subjects of complaints from other parents. They claim that the company has been selling children's Halloween costumes with inappropriate styles and designs.
One such costume, the Roadkill Pet, is styled as a onesie and designed with fake blood and tire marks. Parents say that the gruesome depiction is not fit for a 7-year-old. Metro reports that parents also don't like costume selections like Slender Man, Jack the Ripper and Miss Teen Hot Stuff as it's either gory or sexualized for children.
"Halloween may be the second biggest event for retailers after Christmas - but it should be about having harmless fun not encouraging children to wear horrible and even highly inappropriate outfits," Siobhan Freegard, a mom who writes for ChannelMum, told the news outlet. She points out that even as stores exist to make profits, the welfare of children must always come first especially if they are the store's market.
ChannelMum also did a survey among parents about Halloween costumes and found out that 30 percent are not happy with the current crop of selections in most stores. In another survey conducted by OnePoll, 43 percent of parents said that they are disgusted with the latest Halloween costumes, Mirror reports. Some 68 percent of parents actually hope that Halloween costumes would carry age-appropriate ratings from a consumer agency, or at least have stores be more responsible in choosing what products to sell.
Party Pieces has not made any comments about this issue but it's not the first time the party planning company has been entangled in a controversy in public. In 2014, a mom complained that Party Pieces failed to supply her with her orders, Daily Mail reported. The company, however, was quick to settle the matter and address its client's concern.
