Topman ‘so sorry’ over T-shirts making light of domestic violence

A UK clothing retailer has been forced to withdraw clothing products that have caused an uproar for promoting domestic violence and sexism.

Topman has bowed to consumer pressure over a T-shirt that appears to make light of violence against women with a design that says: “I’m so sorry, but”, before listing ‘excuses’ for an unnamed act, such as “You provoked me”, “I was drunk”, “I couldn’t help it” and “I hate you”. Another design compares women to dogs, sporting the joke: “Nice girlfriend. What breed is she?”  

After complaints and online campaigns against the products, Topman agreed to withdraw the items.

The company, whose sister company Topshop had to pull an advertisement featuring an ‘anorexic’ model a few weeks earlier, said in a statement: “We have received some negative feedback regarding two of our printed T-shirts.

“While we would like to stress that these T-shirts were meant to be light-hearted and carried no serious meaning, we have made the decision to remove these from stores and online as soon as possible.

“We would like to apologise to those who may have been offended by these designs.”