Too much? (Picture: MERCURY)

Rotting zombie heads, skeletons and pumpkins – anyone would think Tesco is just getting into the spirit of Halloween.

But for some parents it’s all too much. They claim the products and displays are so aggressively festive it’s scaring the life out of their kids.

Susie Bulman, 39, claims her two children were left so scared by Halloween items including a rotting zombie head with dead rats hanging out of its mouth that they refuse to go back into the store in Colchester, Essex.

The mum-of-two said the gruesome heads were positioned around the self check-outs so that it was ‘impossible’ to pay without seeing them.


The displays have since been removed (Picture: MERCURY COPY)

Susie said: ‘These items are particularly gruesome and graphic – so much so that one member of staff even admitted she thought they were disgusting herself.



‘Lilliana, who is four, was really scared by it and kept asking why it had a rat in its mouth and if we ate rats.

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‘But my son Lincoln is only two and it really upset him. He keeps asking why we have to go back to the scary shop and I have battled him on a couple of occasions to try and get him to go but I shouldn’t be having to do that.’

Mum-of-three Janine Wilde, 33, claims her two-year-old daughter was left so upset by a member of staff dressed as a zombie last Halloween she had to ditch her shopping and quickly get Florence out of the store.

Susie Bulman, 39, with her son Lincoln (Picture: MERCURY)

She said: ‘These displays clearly have a very traumatic effect on young children and the way they are being positioned in Tesco means they have no choice to see them. These things they see do not leave them and they do not understand them as ‘not real’ like an adult or older child would.

‘It’s not fair for them to be bombarded by images that they shouldn’t see when they are in place that is supposed to be safe like a supermarket.’

A Tesco spokesperson said: ‘For many of our customers Halloween is an exciting time of year and we stock a wide range of products to help them enjoy the event.

‘Whilst this product is popular with customers, we want our stores to be welcoming for everyone, so we’ve removed it from the tills at our Colchester Extra store. We would like to thank Mrs Bulman for getting in touch and our customer service team will be sending her children a gesture of goodwill.’