Amazon removes suicide shirts after Canadian online petition gains traction
Nicole Thompson, THE CANADIAN PRESS
First posted: Saturday, January 09, 2016 07:09 PM EST | Updated: Sunday, January 10, 2016 01:27 AM EST
TORONTO -- Several T-shirts making fun of suicide once sold on Amazon.ca appear to no longer be available after a Toronto man's petition gained traction online.
Mark Henick, 28, launched a petition on Change.org that garnered nearly 50,000 online "signatures" in three days.
Henick says he created the petition after reading a CBC story about Calgary teen Maggie Harder's letter-writing campaign urging Amazon to stop selling the shirts.
While some of the shirts appear to have been removed from the Canadian site, at least one of the shirts remains. And Henick said that more are still available on the website's French and U.K. counterparts.
The remaining shirt appears to encourage people to act on suicidal thoughts, which Henick said is unacceptable.
He said the shirts may seem like a joke, but they can trigger bad memories for people who've lost a family member or friend to suicide, or those who may have had suicidal thoughts in the past.
The shirts were sold by a private vendor on Amazon, and it's not immediately clear whether they were removed by that vendor or Amazon itself.
The online retailer has been quiet on the issue so far, which Henick said is disappointing.
He said that even though the company doesn't manufacture the shirts, it should be held accountable for making them available.
"It was probably an oversight," he said. "But Amazon holds the responsibility here, too. They're the ones with the massive, worldwide platform."
He said that ideally, he'd like to see Amazon donate money to a suicide prevention campaign.
Amazon did not respond to a request for comment.
(Amazon.ca screenshot)
Amazon removes suicide shirts after Canadian online petition gains traction | Ca
After months of contacting Amazon over shirts that make light of suicide, Calgary teen finally gets response
By Damien Wood, Calgary Sun
First posted: Sunday, January 10, 2016 12:15 AM EST | Updated: Sunday, January 10, 2016 01:16 AM EST
Shirts cracking jokes about suicide and depression available on a massive online retailer are disgusting, a Calgary teen says.
Disgusting to the point she felt the need to do something about it, and after many months, she’s finally been acknowledged.
Maggie Harder, 14, fired off an e-mail to Amazon, not expecting a response. They didn’t get back to her on any of the typed, printed and mailed letters she’d been sending to them since August after shirts spouting such slogans as “Suicide makes our lives so much easier” and “got depression?” appeared.
But they did reply.
An Amazon customer service rep apologized and said the matter would be investigated and the listings removed.
MORE: Amazon removes suicide shirts
“I thought of a quote, ‘If you’re wondering why somebody isn’t doing something about the situation remember that you are somebody,’ ” she said. “If not me then who? And if not now then when?”
As of Saturday, all but one had been taken down from Amazon’s North American websites. And there were just a few remaining for the U.K. and German websites.
Harder said others who joined the cause, supporting her own campaign and also signing a petition started by an ally in Toronto, were all receiving a similar response.
“It’s kind of all snowballed in the last couple of days,” she said. “I understand a retail giant wouldn’t listen to just one person ... now there’s not just one of us, there are thousands of us.”
Maggie Harder, 14, with a letter she wrote to Amazon to protest shirts being sold by the online retailer. (Mike Drew/Calgary Sun)
After months of contacting Amazon over shirts that make light of suicide, Calgar
Nicole Thompson, THE CANADIAN PRESS
First posted: Saturday, January 09, 2016 07:09 PM EST | Updated: Sunday, January 10, 2016 01:27 AM EST
TORONTO -- Several T-shirts making fun of suicide once sold on Amazon.ca appear to no longer be available after a Toronto man's petition gained traction online.
Mark Henick, 28, launched a petition on Change.org that garnered nearly 50,000 online "signatures" in three days.
Henick says he created the petition after reading a CBC story about Calgary teen Maggie Harder's letter-writing campaign urging Amazon to stop selling the shirts.
While some of the shirts appear to have been removed from the Canadian site, at least one of the shirts remains. And Henick said that more are still available on the website's French and U.K. counterparts.
The remaining shirt appears to encourage people to act on suicidal thoughts, which Henick said is unacceptable.
He said the shirts may seem like a joke, but they can trigger bad memories for people who've lost a family member or friend to suicide, or those who may have had suicidal thoughts in the past.
The shirts were sold by a private vendor on Amazon, and it's not immediately clear whether they were removed by that vendor or Amazon itself.
The online retailer has been quiet on the issue so far, which Henick said is disappointing.
He said that even though the company doesn't manufacture the shirts, it should be held accountable for making them available.
"It was probably an oversight," he said. "But Amazon holds the responsibility here, too. They're the ones with the massive, worldwide platform."
He said that ideally, he'd like to see Amazon donate money to a suicide prevention campaign.
Amazon did not respond to a request for comment.
(Amazon.ca screenshot)
Amazon removes suicide shirts after Canadian online petition gains traction | Ca
After months of contacting Amazon over shirts that make light of suicide, Calgary teen finally gets response
By Damien Wood, Calgary Sun
First posted: Sunday, January 10, 2016 12:15 AM EST | Updated: Sunday, January 10, 2016 01:16 AM EST
Shirts cracking jokes about suicide and depression available on a massive online retailer are disgusting, a Calgary teen says.
Disgusting to the point she felt the need to do something about it, and after many months, she’s finally been acknowledged.
Maggie Harder, 14, fired off an e-mail to Amazon, not expecting a response. They didn’t get back to her on any of the typed, printed and mailed letters she’d been sending to them since August after shirts spouting such slogans as “Suicide makes our lives so much easier” and “got depression?” appeared.
But they did reply.
An Amazon customer service rep apologized and said the matter would be investigated and the listings removed.
MORE: Amazon removes suicide shirts
“I thought of a quote, ‘If you’re wondering why somebody isn’t doing something about the situation remember that you are somebody,’ ” she said. “If not me then who? And if not now then when?”
As of Saturday, all but one had been taken down from Amazon’s North American websites. And there were just a few remaining for the U.K. and German websites.
Harder said others who joined the cause, supporting her own campaign and also signing a petition started by an ally in Toronto, were all receiving a similar response.
“It’s kind of all snowballed in the last couple of days,” she said. “I understand a retail giant wouldn’t listen to just one person ... now there’s not just one of us, there are thousands of us.”
Maggie Harder, 14, with a letter she wrote to Amazon to protest shirts being sold by the online retailer. (Mike Drew/Calgary Sun)
After months of contacting Amazon over shirts that make light of suicide, Calgar
