Supermarket chain Asda has apologised and withdrawn a Halloween outfit it was selling online as a mental patient fancy dress costume , after criticism. The item included clothing, fake blood, a mask and a fake meat cleaver.
In a statement,
Asda, which is owned by US retail giant Walmart, said the sale had been a completely unacceptable error . The store will make a very sizeable donation to mental health charity Mind
Katie Dalton, of Welsh mental health charity Gofal,
wrote on Twitter:
Dear @asda, how on earth did you come to the conclusion that this is an appropriate fancy dress costume? Disgraceful.
And former Downing Street director of communications, Alastair
Campbell tweeted:
Look what Asda's selling... what possesses these people?
The charity Rethink Mental Illness also took to Twitter to say it was stunned by the costume's description, but
later thanked Asda for responding to the concerns .