In a response to possible legal problems regarding their jerseys with the prescription drug names Adderall, Xanax and Vicodin, designer Brian Lichtenberg issues a statement of the tees which are sold at Kitson: I have created a collection of t-shirts that are a parody of pop culture. This particular collection of prescription tee’s is simply a commentary on what I see happening in our society. Call it what you may, but art in all forms is created off of pop culture and the social situations which surround it. A large percentage of Americans are prescribed these drugs everyday for legitimate reasons. These are not illegal substances. These tees are not meant to encourage prescription drug abuse. But if they open the door to a much needed dialogue, as they seem to be doing now, then mission accomplished.
Dialogue? How’s this about some dialogue. In a world where prescription drug abuse is horrifyingly real among adults and teens(see statistics from the National Institute on Drug Abuse HERE), maybe we should focus more on positively changing the culture of our pop society instead of making excuses for these tees. Having worked around drug addicts for years, we know many, many young people who would love to wear these tees as a symbol of their risk taking lives.
Maybe make a follow-up tee that states OVERDOSE. Too harsh…so are these tees. While we love Kitson and their designs, we believe these tees are in extremely bad taste. Instead of endorsing or making artistic commentary on the sadness in our society, we as writers, artists and designers should use our positivity to encourage change among our youth.
Oh…and nowhere on the site do we see tee shirts encompassing the largest group of prescription drugs in our culture…vaccines, antibiotics and non-habit forming antidepressants, as stated by The Huffington Post.
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