A mother was searching for the perfect Halloween costume for her 3-year-old daughter, but she was extremely disappointed when she saw the selection for little girls on the Party City website.
So she wrote an open letter to the company on Facebook, and now her post is going viral.
In Lin Kramer’s letter, she writes about the fact that Party City offers 16 career-themed costumes for boys but only three for girls. And Kramer writes there is a distinct difference between the boys’ and girls’ outfits for the same occupation.
“When you look around at the police officers in your city or neighborhood, the uniforms they wear are probably substantially similar to the costumes you have elected to offer for boys. However, the same cannot be said of the costume you market to girls. Generally speaking, real life uniformed female police officers do not wear short skirts and low cut shirts, but instead wear exactly the same slacks and shirts as their male counterparts.”
Kramer also writes:
“Toddler girls are not imagining and hoping that they will grow up to become a ‘sexy cop’ — which is clearly what your girl costume suggests; rather, young girls, just as young boys, see and admire their family members and neighbors offering service to their communities and delight in the idea of doing the same.”
Party City responded to Kramer’s Facebook post:
“Hi Lin, thank you for reaching out to us. We appreciate the insight and will consider your feedback for the future. Thank you.”
Kramer says Party City later deleted her letter from their Facebook page as well as any other comments about the letter.
Since Kramer re-posted the open letter to her own Facebook page, it has gotten 318 shares.