For most, Halloween presents an opportunity for fun, light-hearted dressing up (and maybe soliciting candy from strangers.) But for some, it is an excuse for bald-faced offensiveness.
Offensive Halloween costumes run the gamut from uninformed to malicious, but often involve taking a popular news story or personality and reducing it to a simplistic representation or stereotype.
Like when this sports fan dressed up as the zika virus.
Or when this guy made light of Bill Cosby’s history of sexual assault.
Or when this company inexplicably produced a tampon costume for men.
But bad Halloween costumes don’t have to be the norm. Halloween costumes can bring attention to important issues, inform others, and still be funny. (Like when Ted dresses up as a “Hanging Chad” in How I Met Your Mother).
In honor of this time-honored tradition, we came up with 15 Halloween costumes for Global Citizens.
1. Bee
Dress up as this insect that's hardworking and good for the planet. Without the 20,000 different bee breeds that inhabit the planet, we wouldn't have most of the fruits and vegetables that we eat every day.
2. Malala
Malala is a beacon of light in what can, at times, feel like a gloomy world. Help spread her message of the importance of educating girls everywhere by honoring her in costume. Even better, dress as a future Malala who's been elected the prime minister of Pakistan.
3. Poop Emoji
Currently 2.4 billion people — that’s 35% of the global population — go without proper sanitation; 1 billion still defecate in the open; and 663 million lack an adequate drinking water source. Access to basic sanitation is a serious issue with dire consequences. Use Halloween as an excuse to dress up as your favorite emoji and share some facts with your friends about the state of clean water around the world.
4. Climate Change
Dress as a melting ice cap, or a homeless polar bear, or a crab living out of a bottle cap.
5. Equal Work, Equal Pay
This is a good costume for a couple. Dress as the same profession, and carry paychecks where she earns 72 cents to his dollar.
6. Captain Planet
This is an “Inception”-style costume: You can go as Leonardo DiCaprio, dressed as Captain Planet, making a documentary on climate change awareness.
7. White Helmet
Show support for and create awareness of the heroic “White Helmets” — the Syrian first aid responders. They're literally saving lives in on the most dangerous spots in the world right now. They even almost won the Nobel Peace Prize this past month.
8. Shade-Grown Coffee Bean
Dressing as a bean is funny to begin with. Now, imagine a bean with a tree above it. And then, imagine how many light fixtures you would bump into. It will be worth it to extol the benefits of this eco-friendly coffee.
9. Food waste
Collect trash and leftovers the week before, and you won’t need any special effects for this costume. But you might want some perfume or cologne.
10. Early Voter
Mess up your hair, throw on some slippers and a morning robe, and carry a cup of coffee with an “I voted” sticker on it. It's the perfect excuse to be politically active and physically lazy.
11. Kung-Fu Nun
Remember when these nuns biked across Southeast Asia to raise awareness about gender bias? Well, it was badass.
12. Bill Nye
Not a day goes by that Bill Nye doesn’t bring his immense worldly wisdom to bear on Global Citizens issues.
13. Ben & Jerry’s Endangered Flavors
No more Cherry Garcia? No more S’mores? No more Chunky Monkey?!? Climate change is threatening these favorite flavors and more, so dress up as one to bring awareness.
14. Ugly Food
Related to food waste, ugly food is super trendy this year. This is your time to shine as an ugly fruit or veggie. Maybe you’ll even get picked up from the grocery store ;)
15. Ethical Beer
This is a good conversation starter for the company Halloween party. All you need to do is a buy a standard beer bottle costume (there are lots of options), and replace the label with a responsible brew like this.