Amazon suicide shirt sales prompts Calgary teen to take action

A young Calgary activist isn't happy with Amazon for selling T-shirts which try to use humour totrade on suicide and depression.

Maggie Harder, 14,wants to raise awareness about the stigma associated with mental illness.

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She believes that selling shirts emblazoned with phraseslike "Got suicide?","Stressed, depressed but well dressed" and "Suicide makes our lives so much easier"aren't funny.

"Not only are they disrespectful but they poke fun at mental illness," said Harder.

She wants people to join her in writing letters to Amazon, calling on the internet company to stop selling such material.

"If we all got together, we're a power. We're a movement and (if) we're able to get the attention of Amazon, that would be huge."

Harder has already sent a letter to Amazon but she hasn't received a response.

An associate professor of social work at Mount Royal University agrees it's not appropriate for Amazon to havethe novelty shirts in its humour section.

"Would you laugh at somebody walking along the street with a disability and using a cane? Would you laugh at somebody with multiple sclerosis?" said Peter Choate.

He considers the shirts dealing with suicide to be particularly offensive.

"Why would you laugh at somebody who is so depressed that suicide has become an option?" said Choate.

He said it is possible to use humour as an ice-breaker to start a conversation about such a serious topic, but Choate feels any possible upside of themessages on the shirts is undermined by Amazon selling them from its humour section.

"It's not about being politically correct. It's about being sensitive and understanding," he said.

Amazon has not responded to CBC's request for comment.