QAnon Halloween costumes are still available on Amazon – Business Insider
- Amazon continues to host products from third-party sellers that are related to the QAnon conspiracy theory — including Halloween costumes for kids.
- One of the QAnon costumes, which were first reported by The New York Post, is a black cloak with an image of Trump’s face surrounded by a “Q.”
- Tech companies, including YouTube, Facebook, Pinterest, Etsy, and Spotify, have recently been racing to crack down on the conspiracy theory movement.
- An Amazon spokesperson declined to comment.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Several QAnon-themed Halloween costumes for kids are still available on Amazon from third-party sellers despite other tech companies banning the conspiracy theory in recent weeks.
QAnon is a baseless far-right conspiracy theory that claims President Donald Trump is fighting a deep-state cabal of human traffickers. The movement has been linked to several criminal allegations, including murders and attempted kidnappings, and the FBI has classified it as a potential domestic terrorism threat.
And yet these costumes, most of which are wizards’ cloaks, are marketed towards children — or, much more likely, their parents.
A search for “QAnon costumes kids” yields 178 results, with most of the items being QAnon masks or non-QAnon-related costumes. Insider found at least 10 costumes for kids related to QAnon on Amazon as of Tuesday afternoon.
One of the QAnon costumes, which were first reported by The New York Post, is a black cloak with an image of Trump’s face surrounded by a “Q” designed with the American flag, a symbol that is often used as a logo among QAnon conspiracy theorists. The cloak also features the acronym “WWG1WGA,” which means, “Where we go one, we go all.”
Screenshot/YouTube
The costume, which became available on October 11, is being sold for $14.68 by a company called Yangguan, which sells a variety of face masks and Halloween costumes emblazoned with both pro- and anti-Trump messages, as well as several nonpolitical options.
All of the costumes marketed by Yangguan are actually just designs superimposed over the same image of a young boy wearing a black cape and black witch’s hat.
Another cloak, sold by a company called Old Street, includes a “Q” surrounded by fire, with the line “Are you paying attention?” at the bottom.
In addition to the Halloween costumes, there is a massive amount of QAnon paraphernalia and apparel on Amazon, Insider found.
An Amazon spokesperson said it had no comment regarding QAnon items being offered by third-party sellers on the platform.
Third-party sellers using Amazon aren’t the first people to try to money off of the conspiracy theory
An Insider report found six trademark applications related to QAnon were filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office between 2018 and 2020.
The lawyer for one man who unsuccessfully sought the trademark for “QAnon” told Insider that his client was not interested in the movement himself, but “identified a need in the market and is moving on the opportunity.”
Etsy, a retail platform for third-party sellers that has been popular for QAnon apparel in the past, recently told Insider that it banned QAnon products from the platform.
“Etsy is firmly committed to the safety of our marketplace and fostering an inclusive environment. Our seller policies prohibit items that promote hate, incite violence, or promote or endorse harmful misinformation. In accordance with these policies, we are removing items related to ‘QAnon’ from our marketplace,” an Etsy spokesperson said in an email.
Other companies, including Facebook, YouTube, and Pinterest, have made policy changes in an effort to keep QAnon off their platforms.
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