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Halloween is Saturday, and your feed is about to blow up with those Halloween costume reveals.
but I want to remind you… culture isn’t a costume.
Let me explain… Every October, the same thing happens. Someone posts a photo they thought was fun, and a whole community sees a piece of their identity turned into a party outfit. This can be offensive to members of the community you have worked so hard to build and can do irreparable damage and limit future opportunities
The problem isn’t Halloween. It’s treating a living culture like a prop. When you wear it for a night, you get the look without the history, the meaning, or the weight that comes with carrying it every day. And if you’re a creator or business owner, your audience will remember what you posted.
Common examples:
🚫 Native American headdresses and “Indian” costumes. Feathered headdresses are earned and sacred in many nations.
🚫 “Mexican” costumes: sombrero, fake mustache, poncho
🚫 Sugar skull face paint worn as a “look,” when Día de los Muertos is a sacred tradition honoring the dead
🚫 Geisha and “Asian” costumes built on stereotypes
🚫 Turbans, hijabs, or “sheikh” outfits worn as a joke
🚫 Blackface, brownface, or any skin tone change (hard no, always)
🚫 “Gypsy” costumes, which borrow from and mock the Romani people
🚫 Religious garments, like a nun, a priest, or a “voodoo priestess,” worn for laughs
A good test: is it a character, or is it a people? A pirate is a character. A “Native chief” is a people.
Culture isn't a costume. Your audience remembers what you wore, and so do the people whose culture you borrowed. Where we come from, tradition is planted by hands that earned it. You can honor a harvest without stealing the seeds.
Most of us don't set out to cause harm. We're tired, the party is in two days, and the costume looked fun.
I want to help you protect your brand so that's why I built you something to slow the moment down.
It's a quick, interactive checklist. You tell it what you're thinking of wearing, then answer a few short questions, one at a time. It takes about two minutes.
It walks you through five checks:
Ask yourself first: Is this a character, or a real people?
Check the object: Is anything sacred, earned, or a mass-produced "costume version" of someone's real clothing?
Check the source: Where is it from, and do you know what it means?
Check your brand: Would you be comfortable if this photo were screenshotted next to your bio?
The final gut check: Are you honoring something, or chasing attention?
At the end you get a verdict:
🟢 Green: You're good to go.
🟡 Yellow: A few things need to change, and it tells you exactly what.
🔴 Red: Pick a different costume, with kind, specific reasons why.
Every result also comes with safe ideas that still turn heads, like characters, creatures, professions, or your own heritage worn with pride.
The Rule of Thumb
Appreciation is learning, crediting, buying from the source, and being invited in.
Appropriation is taking the look, skipping the story, and keeping the credit.
If the checklist keeps raising flags, don't argue with it. Change the costume.
Why this is a brand lesson
If you're a creator, a business owner, or a community leader, your post travels with your name. The people who trust you are watching, and your brand is the land you own. Run the check before you buy, before you post, and before you caption.
Community is the real algorithm.
Save this, and share it with a creator who needs it.
How was this weeks newsletter?
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