The curmudgeonly answer, or what my dad probably would have to say about Sexy Cecil the Lion, is that this is evidence the Internet has rotted our social skills. We’ve completely forgotten how to relate to one another at a normal, sane, level. There’s no creativity here. Instead we grab “sexy” costumes patterned after at lousy internet memes or political figures and use them as a conversation starter at the parties we will wear them to, because we don’t know how to talk to people in real life.

While my dad’s take on this probably has a fair bit of truth to it, there’s something else at play here with these obnoxious costumes. As it turns out, not very many people actually buy the ridiculously viral ones. They are mostly a marketing scheme cooked up by costume manufacturers so they go viral.

In other words, they’re not making Sexy Pizza Rat outfits in hopes that sorority girls across America will be dressed as a mouse with cheese for pockets. They’re suckering us all into clicking on Sexy Pizza Rat so we end up buying a Sexy Minnie Mouse or a sexy police officer outfit – or other more traditional costumes within the slutty genre.