Considering the Barbiemania that took over the world in 2023, many of us expected costumes from the hit film to dominate this Halloween. But, it seems that famous faces have been banned from wearing a Barbie (or Ken) costume this year – and it’s all to do with the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike.

ICYMI, members of the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists have been on strike for several months with demands including increased pay, a share of streaming revenues and protection against actors’ images and voices being replicated by artificial intelligence. As part of the strike, union members are not permitted to carry out work for any major US studios, which includes promotion.

With that in mind, this week SAG-AFTRA advised its members to reconsider their Halloween costumes this year. “Choose costumes inspired by generalised characters and figures (ghost, zombie, spider etc),” the union told its members in a statement, also offering “characters from non-struck content, like an animated TV show” as an alternative.

Effectively, these guidelines relate to struck work, such as this year’s biggest releases, Barbie and Oppenheimer. But that’s not all, as other major TV and movie moments are also included, this means you likely won’t see your favourite celebrity dressing up as Wednesday Addams either. Other shows considered to be struck work include The Last Of Us and The Bear.

Concluding its statement, the union wrote: “Let’s use our collective power to send a loud and clear message to our struck employers that we will not promote their content without a fair contract!”

How long the strike is expected to continue is currently unknown, with recent talks breaking down. However, a similar strike by scriptwriters was resolved last month after 148 days.