Halloween costumes sent out wrong message about Mental Health

Supermarkets Tesco and Asda remove their ‘Mental Health Patients’ Halloween outfits from sale.

Asda's outfit titled, "mental patient fancy dress costume" and Tesco’s "psycho ward" outfit are no longer available.

Following criticism, both stores apologised and an Asda spokeswoman confirmed £25,000 would be donated to Mind.

The Asda outfit included ragged clothing, fake blood, a mask and a fake meat cleaver while Tesco's orange boiler suit came with a plastic jaw restraint and offered to "complete the look" with a machete.

In a statement, Asda said the sale had been a "completely unacceptable error and [the costume] should never have been sold, it was withdrawn as soon as it was brought to our attention."

A Tesco spokesperson said: "We're really sorry for any offence this has caused and we are removing this product from sale."

Sue Baker, campaigner for mental health charity Mind, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: “Nine out of ten people using mental health services in patient care report stigma and discrimination from a range of sources”.

She added, “Stigma and discrimination is unfortunately still really damaging in England today and this kind of myth of the dangerousness posed by people, that you should be scared of anyone who has used mental health services, is really damaging”.

Written by Victoria Silsbury