I want someone to give me..............

Logos and laughter at cancer, for example, are still different from logos and laughter at mental health concerns because of the stigma still widely associated with the latter. The two are simply not comparable. Perhaps a more even handed comparison would be a tee shirt with a jolly logo and HIV Positive printed on it as there is still a massive stigma associated there too. Friends with mental health issues and friends who are HIV positive are very careful about who they tell and when they talk about their conditions.

Well said Bags

vampirequeen I understand...((hugs))

It was meant in as a 'light blue touch paper and stand back' statement. Not to highlight a distressing condition.

This thread shows very clearly how just one logo can impact in many different ways, yet in stepping back one can see that the central thread running through all of this has been the heightened awareness of bipolar disorder. That has to be for the good, surely.

vq You have my very best wishes.

She did, actually, Ceesnan. But she obviously meant the design, not the illness.

Ceesnan I think the intention of the t-shirt manufacturer, like that of any other manufacturer, or indeed any business, is to make money.

janeainsworth I would be interested to hear what you think was the intention of the t-shirt manufacturer? To mock? To insult? I think some people should calm down and stop over reacting, it's a t-shirt logo for Heaven's sake, and jingle never said she thought it was funny.

And, to reiterate, making fun of an illness is not the same as making fun of the people who suffer from it.

And besides, even making fun of something so that people get angry and talk more about it has a place in awareness-raising.

But raising awareness about chronic and long-term and incurable illnesses should help reduce stupid ideas about them. At least, that's what I think. And, as has been said, the logo in question need not be interpreted as making fun of bipolar disorder. That is up to individuals and depends on their outlook, as this thread shows.

When it ceases being a source of humour then it will be on an even level with physical illnesses.

Mumps and flu make you poorly for a while then go away. MH problems might go into remission or be controlled but they never go away. No one sees kidney failure and regular dialysis as a source of comedy but MH can still be used and laughed at.

We need to stop regarding mental illnesses as special cases needing different responses from the public than, say, mumps or flu.

Intention isn't the same as interpretation. It's perfectly easy to interpret the biploar logo without finding it offensive or amusing, but merely consciousness-raising – just as Stephen Fry talking about it is consciousness-raising.

Quite so Greatnan.
I don't have anything against t-shirts which raise awareness of a condition or are part of a fundraising campaign, but I don't think that was the intention of this one.
Just look at who was selling it - badidea t shirts.

No, I don't think so. Is the bipolar one meant to be amusing? I think it works without amusingness being involved.

Was the cancer logo meant to be amusing?

Yes there are. I used to work for the Cancer Research Campaign. They had a logo which I think was meant to represent cancer cells. Nobody found it offensive. Why should they? Some people (many people even) might not have liked the logo, but that's a different issue.

Jo has in the past posted on this forum that she takes anti-depressants of some kind.

janeain My view is that logos raise awareness. Whether specific logos are liked or not, worn on t-shirts or not, is a personal issue, but I feel it would be a sorry world if awareness of illnesses was stifled rather than promoted. There are many logos representing and expressing many types of Cancer.

I don't want to talk about Jingle behind her back (but I will .....sorry Jings) but she has once or twice got quite hyper, and at other times distinctly well down, and stops posting at intervals, so she may have more acquaintance with bipolarity than she lets us know, and maybe she says she wants this T-shirt out of solidarity.

She did not put it very tactfully, though.

If you are reading this, Jingle, don't b****r off in a huff, but come back and talk to us peacefully.

I don't think the design is particularly clever - I can imagine that any GCSE art student could have produced it. But then I'm not a graphic designer.
I think the t-shirt trivialises what is a terrible condition for both the sufferers and their families.
What would we think if a graphic designer produced a slightly clever logo with the word 'Cancer' underneath it?
Zen just ignore it. There are other sensible threads which manage to absorb differing points of view without resorting to unpleasantness, and other funny ones which are quite civilised too.

Just an exchange of views, Zen,no need to run away!

Oh dear! This is exactly why I had given up on visiting GN a while back. I thought I would give it another go..........................my mistake

Yes he is Bags. He has talked extensively about his illness.