As many of you will know Topman has recently got itself in a bit of trouble with some new T-shirt designs featuring some rather questionable slogans. But given that the emotional responses these novelty slogan T-shirts usually conjure up range from boredom and disdain to offense and resentment, the topman T-shirt debacle isn't really a fall from grace for the world of 'edgy' slogan shirts. Rather, it is just another example to add to the collection of why provocative slogan shirt design is one of the less needed contributors to the area of T-shirt design as a whole. Join me here in my list of the most overrated, unfunny and all-round unwelcome designs.
'Sex, drugs and sausage rolls'
There was a period of time when this tshirt seemed to spread through the country like some kind of hideously out of control virus. Even if the shirt simply said 'sex and drugs and rock 'n' roll' it would be incredibly contrived and sterile. But this shirt design is somehow worse than this. By bringing in 'sausage rolls' to replace 'rock 'n' roll' it probably hopes to give a cheeky and laddish vibe. But it doesn't. It's not funny and it's most certainly not clever. The kind of person who would think this shirt is witty is the kind of person who would think that the WKD TV ads are actually funny.
Generic being drunk is cool shirt
We all remember those first few pints down at the pub when drinking seemed like so much more than just drinking. Its the buzz you get when any rite of passage into adulthood is entered. For most of us, though, a series of horrific hangovers and depleted bank accounts quickly took the honeymoon excitement out of drinking and turned it into a more mundane run-of-the-mill affair. For those that never made it out of the first of these stages, however, there are an abundance of suitable tshirt slogans including the infamous 'if found, please return to the pub'
Generic stud shirt
This could well be the worst of the bunch. When you look at these particular slogan shirts hanging on a hanger or in a drawer they look far more excusable than they actually are compared to when someone wears one. This is probably because without a person wearing them, the slogans are far easier to take-in as being quite tongue-in-cheek and not taking themselves seriously. As soon as the type of individual who would wear one of these shirts puts one on, however, the picture seems to rapidly change. Suddenly the shirt's message doesn't seem so 'jokey', but rather has now become more of an accurate representation of how the person wearing it sees themselves. It's the kind of balance whereby if you asked the wearer in question if they thought they were God's gift to the opposite sex they would probably laugh and say 'of course not', but deep down they definitely, definitely think that they are.
Stud meets alcoholic hybrid
What kind of demon would harness the evil of the above two shameful slogan categories and combine them together to create such a potently bad design. All the immature hooligan-ness of the nightclub binge-drinker combined with the arrogant swagger of the self believing ladies man.
...If you think Ive missed out one of the main culprits then please leave your suggestion as a comment in the box below.
