Actors Banned From Dressing Up As Barbie, Wednesday Addams, and Marvel Characters for Halloween: Here’s Why

It’s Spooky Season, and with the season comes the chance to dress up as anyone or anything you want. Unless, of course, you are a member of SAG-AFTRA. The striking entertainment union has issued a series of strict guidelines for striking workers when it comes to Halloween costumes. According to the guild, easily recognizable characters like Barbie, Wednesday Addams, and Batman are out of the question. They did suggest some acceptable costume ideas, though. After all, striking workers deserve to have some Halloween fun, too. 

SAG-AFTRA is asking its members to avoid pop culture Halloween costumes 

On Oct. 18, SAG-AFTRA asked its members to avoid Halloween costumes that depict characters owned by struck employers. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the guild took to its official website to ask members to avoid such costumes, explaining that wearing a costume depicting a character owned by a struck employer promotes their content without a fair contract. The guild also asked that members not post photos showing such costumes on their social media, even if they are not wearing them. So, if a SAG-AFTRA member has a child dressed as Spider-Man or Barbie, they are asked to avoid social media posts highlighting it.

While celebrities are being deterred from dressing as iconic TV and movie characters, costume sales are unlikely to really lag. According to NPR, big pop culture hits are generally the year’s best-selling costumes. Both Barbie and Wednesday were massive hits, and we will surely see characters from both pop up as popular Halloween ensembles, even if SAG-AFTRA members won’t be dressing as the characters. 

So, what can SAG-AFTRA members dress up as for Halloween? 

SAG-AFTRA has strongly suggested its members avoid popular characters this Halloween. The union ban also extends to most TV and movie characters. Instead of pulling inspiration from popular TV and movies, the guild is suggesting its members find inspiration elsewhere. The union suggests members keep things generic this time around. They’ve suggested union members dress up as animals, ghosts, and zombies instead. 

According to several publications, characters from non-strike-related content would be OK, too. The guild even suggested dressing as an animated character. Still, there are rules even when animation is concerned. For example, a member could dress up as George Jetson of The Jetsons fame or Patti Mayonaise from Doug because those shows are older and are largely recognized as animated-only characters. Union members should avoid Marvel characters, though. Even though they are rooted in comic books, SAG-AFTRA argues that because Disney owns the rights and has made many live-action movies involving the characters, it would be impossible to distinguish between the character’s comic book roots and their live-action popularity.