Good news, trick or treaters: while both real companies and internet hoaxers alike have created tasteless Ebola-themed Halloween costumes this year, it doesn't seem anyone actually wants to buy them.
Data shows that costume shoppers are seeking far more wholesome options this year, with characters from Disney's mega-hit Frozen the most-searched by a wide margin despite the film being almost a year old. (Parents of young kids may feel Frozen has been around since time immemorial. It was actually released on November 27th, 2013.)
E-commerce site search specialists SLI Systems tracked more than 80 million searches across 17 websites selling Halloween costumes between September 1st and October 26th of this year. They looked at holiday-specific stores (like Spirit Halloween), party purveyors (Party City, for example) and larger retail chains getting in on the annual action.
Of the top 15 most-searched costumes for 2014, seven are film-related:
1. Frozen – 1,192,000 (includes searches Elsa, Olaf & other characters)
2. Zombie – 863,000
3. Ninja – 863,000
4. Pirate – 796,000
5. Clown – 659,000
6. Witch – 588,000
7. Vampire – 565,000
8. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – 536,000
9. Book of Life – 308,000
10. Flapper – 277,000
11. Batman – 251,000
12. Despicable Me – 233,000
13. Maleficent – 227,000
14. Monster High – 206,000
15. Star Wars – 148,000
So where were all the searches for Hazmat suits and biomasks?
Tim Callan, chief marketing officer at SLI Systems, has an answer that suggests the zeitgeist-driven, often downright appalling costumes that make their way into the annals of internet infamy each year are a distinct minority.
"Certainly, Ebola has been in the news the entire time we measured," said Callan. "My intuition is that the majority of these searches were actually for costumes for kids."
