Walibi theme park temporarily takes down Halloween ad after femicide criticism
Walibi Holland has temporarily pulled an online commercial for its annual Halloween Fright Nights after outrage erupted over scenes showing a terrified woman auctioned as “object 666” and then murdered.
The video, released Wednesday, sparked hundreds of reactions on social media, with critics accusing the theme park of trivializing femicide and human trafficking. The controversy deepened as the ad appeared the same day a 17-year-old girl, Lisa, was found killed in Abcoude.
Walibi described on X, previously Twitter, that the now-deleted video showed a woman locked inside a glass cage, trembling as auctioneer Eddie the Clown—the event’s long-standing mascot—sold her to “freaks” in the crowd. After the highest bid was accepted, she dropped through the floor while blood splattered the cage walls. The auctioneer and audience laughed.
Walibi emphasized that the scene was inspired by Banksy’s self-shredding artwork and the film Kingsman: The Golden Circle, saying fear is a “key element” of the Halloween experience.
The imagery drew sharp backlash. According to RTL, one post reportedly read: “Reducing a terrified, abused woman to an object, ‘auctioning’ her, and then killing her. In what sick manosphere trap have you landed? Disgusting and unacceptable.” Women_inc wrote, “Femicide is a national emergency, not a marketing stunt.”
The activist group De Dolle Mina allegedly emailed Walibi on behalf of women who reported feeling unsafe due to the campaign, asking the park to remove all promotions, issue an apology, and commit to “more sensitive” communication.
Walibi wrote on X: “We have noticed that our newest commercial for Halloween Fright Nights provokes many reactions. That is always nice, except when it takes a completely unintended direction. Taking into account the recent events and out of respect, we have decided to withdraw this video from all our communication channels until next Sunday.”
The park insisted that, “it is impossible that we would tolerate, approve, or promote femicide or any violence. Walibi Holland is a company where inclusivity is a core value.”
