Shirts Off

Sears, Roebuck and Co. (Hoffman Estates, Ill.) has stopped selling a line of t-shirts after an outcry from mental health advocates who said the slogans on them make fun of the mentally ill.

The shirts bore the inscription: “You should hear the NAMES the VOICES in my head are calling you.”

The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) charged that the shirts “mock mental illness.

“The T-shirt perpetuates prejudice and discrimination against people with mental illnesses through the intimation of threats flowing from auditory hallucinations,” said Ron Honberg, NAMI national legal director. “They reinforce an unfair perception of violence.”

NAMI also called on Wal-Mart Stores, Kmart Inc., Kohl's Corp. and Target Corp. to stop selling the t-shirts and similar merchandise or risk facing potential legal liability under federal or state anti-discrimination laws.