In this time and day, so many people are “woke” and realize the discrimination in America. That should mean retail costume stores, who cashed in enough money for a multitude of costumes, should broaden their horizons in model choices. We strongly believe that diversity needs to be present in costume stores.

There are not enough people of color in Halloween stores. Anyone should walk into their local Party City and see a diverse selection of people on advertisements scattered around the store. The amount of people of color is sparse, as if different ethnicities don’t exist.

Last Halloween, I went into Party City, hoping to find a bald mask that would complete my costume. I looked everywhere for a bald mask in my color. Finally, I decided to ask the worker if they had any darker color other than white. The darkest color they had were beige. Sorry Party City, but here’s a newsflash: there are darker skin colors other than beige.

Having diverse ads in stores help children of all ethnicities have the representation they need. Children want to find costumes that look like them. Without characters to look up to, it affects the way children look at themselves. Anything could imprint themselves on kids. Self-destructive thoughts and attempts to change who you are to fit a standard society wants starts at a young age.

Some may think that it’s just clothing, or that it doesn’t affect anyone, but it’s definitely more than that. Whitewashing has been present in movies from “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” to “Doctor Strange.” Pretending as if America doesn’t erase the culture behind the “costumes” citizens don on Halloween is adding to the discrimination people face everyday. They take parts of their identity and turn it into a joke.

Halloween is a time for everyone to enjoy, not just a certain group of people, and it goes deeper than just participating in Halloween. The trend of using complex cultures as thoughtless costumes needs to stop before 2017 is over. Costume stores need to start including more people of color in their ads and positively influence people during a loved holiday.