As Americans begin this year’s $3.29 billion Halloween spending spree, Associated Press reports that retailers “sense a heightened comfort level with scarier costumes and decorations, a full return to the dark side after many revelers toned down their outfits following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and subsequent anthrax threats in 2001.”
Apparently, doling out Fun Size Snickers to some kid in a faux bloody Freddy Krueger getup means we're content enough to laugh away the darker realities of today’s headlines.
Quote trend-spotter Marian Salzman: "Gore we can manage is very much on fad right now, as we feel the increasing need to become familiar with bad things -- bad things that don't get the best of us."
