There is unrest amongst customers of TK Maxx after a shopper in Bristol noticed a black t-shirt on sale he deemed offensive.
The black t-shirt was printed with the slogan ‘Je suis over it‘, which could be seen as a reference to the ‘Je suis Charlie‘ mark of solidarity and defiance that was coined after the Paris terror attack on journalists at satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
The t-shirt was seen in the Cribbs Causeway TK Maxx branch by Tom Young, 23, told The Mirror: “It‘s appalling that a global brand has allowed a T-shirt like this to be produced and sold in store. Even if the message did not intend to cause upset in relation to the tragic event, I am adamant it should be taken down from stores immediately.”
The t-shirt was manufactured in May 2014, prior to the Charlie Hebdo massacre, but in response to any concerns, the discount fashion retailer has withdrawn the t-shirt from its 280 stores and apologised to customers.
US-based Reason Clothing, who produced the t-shirt, has said it is working with retailers to remove the item from stock and have all destroyed. “No connection with the Charlie Hebdo attacks was intended or implied,” added a spokesperson.
In addition, the t-shirt is no longer for sale on online fashion giant Asos, for which a salesperson said “It is never our intention to knowingly offend or cause upset to anyone, least of all those affected by the terrible tragedy in Paris in January 2015 this year.
Therefore we have withdrawn the item in question from sale with immediate effect and fully support the brand‘s pledge to destroy all remaining stock.”
A spokesperson for TK Maxx told the Mirror: “We take product matters very seriously and appreciate that this T-shirt has been brought to our attention.
As soon as we became aware of the offensive T-shirt message, we initiated the process to remove this item from our stores and are internally reviewing how we inadvertently purchased the item. We would like to apologise to our customers for any concern this may have caused.”
Last month a shopper in Cambridge complained about Kellogg‘s Krave cereal boxes that were on sale, advertising Alton Towers‘ smiler ride over six weeks since it had crashed and seriously injured a number of people.
