Two British retailers issued apologies for selling "mental patient" and "psycho ward" Halloween costumes, fully equipped with a bloodied straightjacket and machete, the Daily Mirror reported.
Former English football player Stan Collymore, who has a history with mental illness, criticized one of the costumes on Twitter after discovering it and ignited a social media frenzy.
"Dear ASDA, nice stereotype of 'Mental patients,'" the first tweet read. "Do you actually realise how many people are hanging themselves because of the stigma?"
Asda, which is owned by Walmart, quickly responded to Collymore and said "This was an unacceptable error - the product was withdrawn immediately" and also pledged a donation to Mind, a mental health charity.
Mind employee Sue Baker harshly condemned Asda for the costume, citing mental health statistics on the impact of negative stigmas alone.
"Nine out of 10 people using mental health services in patient care report stigma and discrimination from a range of sources," Baker said.
"Stigma and discrimination is unfortunately still really damaging in England today and this kind of myth of the dangerousness posed by people, that you should be scared of anyone who has used mental health services, is really damaging.
"(Asda) certainly crossed the line here and I hear it might well have been changed with the addition of mental patient, so it was definitely being used to tap into negative stereotypes."
In 1999, Asda was purchased by Walmart and is the U.K.'s second largest chain next to Tesco, which also ran into an issue with offensive Halloween costumes.
After Tesco's "psycho ward" costume equally enraged mental health advocates, they also contributed a donation to Mind after removing the outfit from sales.
"We're really sorry for any offence this has caused and we are removing this product from sale," a Tesco spokesperson said.
Alastair Campbell, former director of communications and strategy for Tony Blair, has openly discussed his experience with mental illness and called the costumes "unacceptable."
"We are trying to change attitudes towards mental illness so people do not stigmatise it and something like this comes along and it just reminds you we are basically still in the Dark Ages," Campbell said.