Bunnings shelves Halloween straightjacket costume after criticism

Mental health organisation SANE Australia has urged Bunnings to remove a Halloween costume it says is offensive to people with mental illness.

The costume features a straitjacket with the words "approach with caution" on the back.

A Bunnings spokesperson says the company understands the concerns raised and has removed the item from its online marketplace.

Bunnings has removed a straitjacket costume from its online marketplace as mental health advocates urge retailers to stop selling Halloween outfits that portray people with mental illness as "insane".

The costume, listed on Bunnings Marketplace, was a straitjacket with arm ties and the words "Property of the county mental institution — approach with caution!" printed on the back.

SANE Australia, a non-profit organisation for people with complex mental health issues, said it was unacceptable for corporations to publicly support mental health causes while profiting from products that reinforce stigma.

"The time has well and truly come for us to stop turning a blind eye to these kinds of tropes in the community," CEO Rachel Green told ABC Victoria Statewide Drive.

Sandy Jeffs, a SANE ambassador and author who lives with schizophrenia and was a patient at Melbourne's former Larundel Psychiatric Hospital, said costumes were insulting and "downright mad-shaming".

"Halloween, it's fun for people, but I suppose it's when it goes to negative tropes like introducing straitjackets as a costume — It goes into a dark place," she said.

"They're there to laugh at, to make fun of, to really demonise a whole cohort of people who don't deserve to be demonised or to be laughed at and shamed.

When contacted by the ABC, a spokesperson for Bunnings said the item had since been removed from sale.

"We understand the concerns raised, and once the listing was brought to our attention, it was removed from Bunnings Marketplace," a spokesperson said.

The same costume is available for sale at Kmart, which, like Bunnings, is owned by Wesfarmers, as well as at Dick Smith, Amazon and a number of smaller costume stores.

The ABC has contacted Wesfarmers for comment.

It's not the first time SANE has called out retailers for selling costumes it considers stigmatising.

SANE said a social media campaign in 2024 prompted Big W to remove Halloween costumes from sale.

Ms Green said Spotlight was among the retailers that quickly pulled the costume at the time, but had since made it available for sale again.

She said the costumes mattered for families dealing with serious mental illness.

"It does matter for the family who've got a 25-year-old who's got early signs of psychosis and is really struggling and needs to have that support wrapped around them," Ms Green said.

"How are they going to feel with people walking around on Saturday dressed in a costume that's a caricature of a bygone era."

The ABC has contacted Spotlight for comment.