Fill out this form to email this article to a friend
'Problem Solved' shirt is problematic to shopper
It promotes violence against women, the Citrus County woman says.
By ELENA LESLEY
Published March 2, 2007
CRYSTAL RIVER - The T-shirt was marked down from $18 to $9.99, but that didn't diminish its message. In the first panel, a stick figure man watches a stick figure woman with "shout" lines streaming from her mouth. "Problem," it says beneath the scene. In the second panel, the man's arm is extended and the woman has been knocked out of the panel. "Solved," it says. Renee McPheeters was shocked Sunday when she saw the shirt on sale at Belk in the Crystal River Mall. She thought the message promotes violence against women. "Women need to be on the alert," she said. "They need to protect their rights." So she took action. McPheeters bought a shirt, kept the receipts and called her lawyer. He told her Belk had the right to sell the shirt, and she had the right to object. She started to call media outlets. WESH-TV Ch. 2, the NBC affiliate in Orlando, aired a story this week. On Thursday, a Citrus Times reporter could not find the shirt in Belk. The Crystal River store manager and representatives from Belk's North Carolina headquarters were unavailable. McPheeters saw the shirt while shopping with her mother. She started a conversation with a Belk's saleswoman and they began chatting about politics. "I was telling her about how I thought women needed to get more involved," McPheeters said. "And she said there was a certain thing in the store that made her really angry." She showed McPheeters the shirt. When McPheeters confronted a store manager, she was told that all purchasing decisions were made by regional headquarters, not individual stores. McPheeters said she will meet today with Diana McIntosh, executive director of Citrus County Abuse Shelter Association, to discuss the shirt and what else can be done. According to news accounts, a shirt with the same message sparked controversy in December in Augusta, Maine, and in January in Toledo, Ohio. Times Staff Writer Barbara Behrendt contributed to this story. Elena Lesley can be reached at elesley@sptimes.com or 564-3627.
[Last modified March 1, 2007, 23:59:34]
Share your thoughts on this story
Comments on this article
|
by Rayanne
|
03/02/07 03:30 PM
|
|
Even though things may seem trivial IE:"stupid shirt", please acknowledge the power of message. People would not accept a shirt that was racist against blacks, It's called ethics. There is real abuse against women too people. This is nothing trivial
|
|
by Russell
|
03/02/07 03:03 PM
|
|
I applaud Ms. McPheeters for protesting the design on this T-Shirt. I have always believed that a man who causes bodily harm to a woman is not a man but a weak person who attempts to demonstrate otherwise. Manufactures need a wakeup call.
|
|
by Christine
|
03/02/07 02:53 PM
|
|
I really wish that I had that much spare time to waste!! If I didn't like the shirt I wouldn't buy it, end of controversy. Can't we mind our own business enough to allow folks to have their own opinions. I'm a woman and I think the shirt is funny.
|
|
by Jim
|
03/02/07 11:51 AM
|
|
Right on Michael!!!
No one would have a problem if it was the other way around
|
|
by bob
|
03/02/07 11:09 AM
|
|
That shirt is great. Is there a local store that sells them?
|
|
by TJ
|
03/02/07 11:09 AM
|
|
I wear a T-shirt that sums up my feelings on this "news" story. It says, "Obviously You've mistaken me for someone who cares!" Like Michael said, if it was the other way around we wouldn't hear about it.
|
|
by laurie
|
03/02/07 10:32 AM
|
|
I think this shirt is funny! I would buy it for my husband. He would never hit me, but the shirt says it all. Woman don't shut up, and men probly wish they could do this. Its just like all the sister shirts boys wear to rag on them. Is that okay?!
|
|
by Kim
|
03/02/07 09:30 AM
|
|
Women have enough problems trying to diminish stupid thoughts and items like the shirt. I think Belk should apologize and make sure they do not have items like that available for sale.
|
|
by Sue
|
03/02/07 09:20 AM
|
|
Hey, Michael, the 1950's called. They want their chauvinism back.
|
|
by Donna
|
03/02/07 08:46 AM
|
|
what about GOD being taken out of our schools.Thats something to fight about.Who cares about a stupid shirt
|
|
by vanessa
|
03/02/07 08:33 AM
|
|
How about complaining about something thats worth it.Like our AMERICAN soldiers fighting in Iraq,but the illegal people that are here are not doing nothing.And OUR taxes are feeding and sheltering them.Why dont we send them to Iraq and let them fight
|
|
by Michael
|
03/02/07 07:43 AM
|
|
But if it was the other way around, no one would have a friggin problem with it, You are all so pathetic, I am tired of all of this political correctness BS. Guess what if she would have listened the first time she wouldnt have two black eyes...lol
|
|
News
Fifty years ago, they were screwed-up kids sent to the Florida School for Boys to be straightened out. But now they are screwed-up men, scarred by the whippings they endured. Read the story and see a video and portrait gallery.
Print
Email story
Comment
Email editor
