‘Naughty Leopard’ Toddler Costume Pulled From Walmart

Walmart pulled its “naughty leopard” toddler costume from shelves amidst criticism of the suggestive name.

The costume was first reported by local ABC affiliate KATU Tuesday after customers spotted it in a Portland-area store. A news reporter tried to buy the costume at a Eugene, Oregon, store the next day, but it rang up as “item not for sale.”

The black and purple leopard print costume features lace and studded rubies and a cat ears headpiece.

“We are in the process of pulling the product off our shelves and we apologize to any customers that may have been offended by the name,” spokeswoman Danit Marquardt toldGood Morning America.

The costume has also been removed from the company’s website, where it was listed as “leopard child Halloween costume.”

Feministing notes that the costume is pretty tame, but that it was “deliberate marketing and less some necessity of design that’s leading to this completely inappropriate sexualization of young girls.” In other words, without the “naughty” label, the costume would have gone unnoticed.

This isn’t the first time a Halloween costume has created a stir. In 2011, the “Anna Rexia” costume, which featured a black bodysuit with a silk-screened skeleton and measuring tape ribbon belt, raised a few eyebrows. The manufacturer, Dreamgirl, had actually discontinued the product years earlier. Director of marketing Alicia Brockwell said that not ever would find the “dark humor funny,” or understand that the costume was “sensitive to the topic it addresses.”

Brockwell added, “We don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings and would never want to cause harm to anyone. Dreamgirl is a company run by women for women.”

In 2009, a costume that consisted of an orange jumpsuit with the words “illegal alien,” a green card and an alien head sparked outrage. The costume was removed by several retailers after it was criticized as racist.