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Two of America's biggest commercial brands - discount retailer Target and fast-food chain McDonald's - have taken steps to tamp down hysteria stemming from a recent spate of creepy clown sightings in the run-up to Halloween at the end of this month. Target (TGT.N) decided last week to winnow down its assortment of clown masks and costumes available for sale in U.S. stores and online "given the current environment," company spokesman Joshua Thomas said on Monday. Although Target received some isolated consumer comments about scary clown accessories, the decision to pull some masks from inventories stemmed from "a conversation internally about how we can respond to the situation at hand," Thomas told Reuters. The clown-mask culling, limited to one in-store product item and about 10 different selections online, affected a "very tiny" portion of Target's overall Halloween merchandise, Thomas added. Target declined to specify exactly which products were pulled but said those kept in stock reflected a more traditional, less threatening image of happy, cheerful clowns. Similarly, McDonald's (MCD.N) and its franchise owners have cut back in the number of public appearances being made by performers dressed up as the chain's trademark hamburger-happy clown Ronald McDonald during the past two weeks, according to the company. | 
