A New South Wales shopping centre is being slammed for its spooky display for this year’s Halloween, with some shoppers describing the decoration as “grim”.
It’s that time of the year again when there are two types of Aussies who are walking around. Ones that absolutely froth over Halloween and ones who yell, “Piss off! We’re not American.”
But regardless, many places still celebrate the spooky season. Some restaurants put out Halloween-themed treats, scary costumes are on sale, clubs are throwing Halloween parties, and some shopping centres are putting up spooky displays.
Sydney’s Broadway shopping centre, located in the city’s inner west, has been forced to change its ghoulish display after shoppers slammed the design.
In the display — which seems to be wiped off of Facebook, but you can find pics here — skeletons and skulls were strategically placed on hay bales with fake cobwebs, dried-up branches and black flowers.
“What happened to funny displays of carved pumpkins … and bats,” one Facebook user asked, as per 7News.
“It’s way too grim,” another shopper added.
Other folks described the display as offensive due to the current circumstances of the world.
“Considering the true horror of war in the Middle East and Ukraine, better to stick to pumpkins, witches and spiders?” the person who made the scathing post wrote.
One Facebook user who claimed they saw the display with their elderly mother described the scene as “confronting,” as per 7News.
“My mum, who lived through WWII, found the concentration of skeletons shocking as well,” they wrote.
Speaking to the publication, a spokesperson for Sydney Broadway claimed the installation was “planned several months ago” but will change the decorations due to the backlash.
“The Halloween installation at Broadway Sydney was planned several months ago,” the spokesperson said.
“Following customer feedback, the decision has been made to update the decorations, which will be completed overnight.”
As someone who completely loves Halloween and everything scary, I can also understand why this display can make people uneasy.
I reckon they should chuck in gigantic spiders and make people crawl through cobwebs to get into shops.
That would both be spooky and cah-ute, depending if ya love creepy crawlies or not.
Image source: Facebook / Sydney Broadway.
