Petition to remove or Rename Psycho Donuts

2:23 am PDT, Aug 16, Pissy Oldskank, California
I have no life, so I feel compelled to drag down Psycho Donuts

It doesn't matter, NAMI is my dark god and I kill in it's evil name!

11:57 am PDT, Aug 8, Fredick Hilter, California
Free Speech makes my head hurt, so please take free speech away from these donut guys

Since no details are out I feel that I should condemn them out of ignorance. If feels good to do that.

7:12 pm PDT, Jul 26, Name not displayed, California
This is very insensitive and so are the owners. I know one of them. He has worked in an irresponsible way in more than one business deal. In a newscast it was said Psycho Donuts donates to mental illness organizations. One newspaper article states NARSAD returned their $50 donation. Who are they fooling? The owners are playing games with the public to get away with this. The owners need to change the name.

7:34 am PDT, Jul 16, Greg Plant, California

6:50 am PDT, Jul 16, Lorraine Zeller, California
HATE SPEECH has “a powerful emotional impact on those to whom it (is) presented,” and thus “obstructs the manifold adjustments required for free” life in a democracy. Hate Speech, like segregation, sends a message to its targets, especially children. -- from an article by Liam Martin

5:21 pm PDT, Jul 15, Rochelle Honey, Iowa

4:29 am PDT, Jul 10, Name not displayed, California
As has already been expressed by other signers of this petition, "Psycho Donuts" is a poorly conceived and executed marketing strategy. This isn't a few people being hyper-sensitive, politically correct downers; this is a great number of people who recognize the difference between creativity and lazy and immature "edginess". Your approach perpetuates dangerous myths about mental illness - above all that people with serious conditions (e.g. bipolar disorder, massive head traumas, etc) should be outcast and ridiculed. You CAN find another way to catch our attention and inspire us to try your donuts. Please try harder.

3:54 pm PDT, Jul 9, Name not displayed, California
This makes me sad to see someone either so insensitive or so bad to choose to profit on the suffering of others. Ignorance is fun when we are children but as adults we should be more compassionate and teach our children compassion so they grow up to be more understanding humans.

What does this teach others about the humanity of Americans and the insensitivity we have stooped to to make a buck. I am a proud American and my ancestors have fought and given their lives to protect the weak and defenseless all over the world. Let us stop making fun of the weak and turn on the strong in government and banking that are surely making fun of all of us. Let's stop patronizing Psycho Donuts, there are too many other donut shops around. Teach our children about how the banking industry has infected our government and ask what can we do about it to restore America. Unity and compassion is essential for any society to succeed. Woe to those who call evil good. AMERICA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeYscnFpEyA

9:35 am PDT, Jul 9, Stacy Messenger, California
This is a horrible approach for a donut shop - and very insensitive to the isssue of mental illness. I work with clients who suffer from bipolar and traumatic brain injury from abuse, and it is no laughing matter. This affects people's lives every day, as well as entire families and it also affects the community when such lack of consideration is shown. Those with mental illness need our support, not mockery. This makes a joke out of something very serious and is completely inappropriate.

Please change the name and theme of this donut shop. Maybe have an animals theme? Zoo Donuts, and have the donuts with animal faces. That's unique, orinigal, and will not offend anyone. Thank you for your consideration.

9:01 am PDT, Jul 9, Alma Sanchez, California
I agree, they must change the name!!!!

4:21 pm PDT, Jul 8, Jeannine Petrilak Something, New York
I would never go to a place that sells these, nor would I ever trust anyone who eats this sort of thing... I have read on the internet these are harvested from doughnut-brained aliens, and if its on the internet, I know it must be true.

Cheezzzzzzzzzz

11:30 am PDT, Jul 8, Name not displayed, California

9:40 am PDT, Jul 8, Tina Iniguez, California
I am a professional as well as a mother and I will NOT contribute to an establishment such as this. It is offensive that they can mock medical conditions that effect millions of Americans. These conditions severly alter the persons lives as well as families.Please stop this and refrain from marketing these donuts this way.

It needs to stop immediately.

2:32 pm PDT, Jul 7, Jacquelynn Evans, California

11:22 pm PDT, Jul 6, Kimberly Lennan, California
I have two young children in the Campbell area and after learning of this ridiculous outfit, I will do everything in my power to prevent them from any involvement with an establishment such as this. We must stand up and make a point of the offensive nature of organizations who can, with such marketing tactics, very negatively impact our children.

Please remove this name, your advertising and refrain from further marketing of this nature.

7:11 am PDT, Jul 6, Elizabeth Bacony, California

11:13 pm PDT, Jul 5, Jeff Wagner, Nevada
Please change the name.

Find a new approach to marketing that is less offensive.

9:00 pm PDT, Jul 5, Marjorie Clark, California
Your name, theme and marketing strategy is extremely offensive and inappropriate. I would never buy anything from you and I will advise all of my friends to boycott your business. Making fun of people with serious illness is not funny.

2:41 pm PDT, Jul 5, Nick Huard, California
Dear Entrepreneur, I am writing to you with restraint and I am trying to be understanding. I hope you'll grant me the same respect. I can appreciate that you want to have a unique and creative business, and in many ways your shop is a breath of fresh air in a world of big impersonal chain stores. A few years ago I may have gotten a kick out of your theme, but that was before I had any experience with mental illness and what it does to individuals and families. I no longer think your theme is even remotely funny. My sister died last year of complications related to schizo-affective disorder. While I'm sure you don't mean it, please realize that your creation is as a slap in the face to everyone who suffers with mental illness or is close to someone who does. My sister was a wonderful and compassionate person, as well as one of the most intelligent people I've ever known. She never displayed a single violent instinct, in fact if anything she was terrified of the world. She was in no way "a pyscho", was the farthest thing from a "serial killer" you could imagine. She did require hospitalization on several occasions due to intense auditory hallucinations, but she never required restraint. What you have created is caricature of mental illness which does nothing to foster compassion or understanding for a group of illnesses which are little understood and tear apart the lives of real people. I salute your innovation for not being another krispy kreme or starbucks clone store, but you've inadvertantly crossed a line. Please reconsider your image/branding/theme. I don't personally object to your business name because the word "psycho" has a long colloquial association with outrageous or daring behavior - as in extreme sports for example. you may be just a few tweaks away from something that's still totally unique but does not rub salt into the wounds of misfortunate people.

2:25 pm PDT, Jul 5, Name not displayed, New Mexico
this is only funny until you have to deal with a family member who has mental illness. you have not only dishonored those family members supporting a mentally ill child, but thousands of elderly who suffer from alzheimers. Be careful what you make fun of, y ou could be next!

this is a flash in the pan. after the novelty wears off, they'll be filing chapter 7.

8:06 am PDT, Jul 5, Sheila Whiteman, California
I am apalled that anyone would consider this a humorous theme. The owners have extremely bad judgement and no one should be supporting this business in any way!

1:14 pm PDT, Jul 4, Kathy Dorsa, California
I am mortified that the City of Campbell issued a business license for Psycho Donuts. Some heads should roll at the City of Campbell! Where is respect for the disabled? What's next - making fun of cancer patients? How about chemo donuts or radiation donuts? Maybe the chemo donut can have no frosting! Shame on the owners of Psycho Donuts and the customers that support them!

12:03 pm PDT, Jul 4, Name not displayed, California
As a mental health professional I am appalled by this and see it similar to a hate crime. Linda Ikeda, MFT

10:39 am PDT, Jul 4, Michael Rogan, California
This hateful enterprise needs to be eliminated entirely.

This hateful enterprise needs to be eliminated entirely.

8:41 am PDT, Jul 4, Anne Baumgarten, California
Mental illness is a biologically based disorder. No one would think Breast Cancer Donuts or Lupus Donuts would be amusing. We no longer accept racial or ethnic slurs as amusing. We can no longer accept jokes made about the mentally ill. We can no longer allow our children to think mental illness is funny. We need them to know that they can get help when they need it.

7:58 am PDT, Jul 4, Peggy Larvey, California
I can see where someone originally thought their "crazy" theme was funny and harmless fun. But now that they have been informed that it is anything but amusing to the thousands of people who suffer from mental illness and their loved ones and caretakers who know how destructive of lives these diseases are, I would expect a quick apology and a change of theme for the donut shop. Would you have a "theme" about people with IED brain injuries? Or a theme about children, who have been diagnosed with autism, another devastating brain disorder? Please recognize the harm you are doing by perpetuating the stereotypes about people with brain disorders and consider changing the theme for your donut shop. How about a "survivor" theme? I'm sure you could create some funny and clever designs such as an island with a coconut tree, yuk, yuk, emphasis on the "nut" as in donut.

It is completely inappropriate, displaying stunningly poor taste and downright ignorance. When I see that shop I feel that I have been dropped into a timewarp, say the 1950's, where nothing was really understood about brain illnesses. But in this day and age, it's inexcusable to be so callous and indifferent to the suffering of others.

9:36 am PDT, May 22, Gary Walters, Illinois
It's just silly and demeaning.

8:17 am PDT, May 22, Name not displayed, Virginia
Yes this makes me quite upset . It was not well thought out about the mixed messages it sends to our youth . That Parents are willingly subjecting thier children to this all in good fun is rather frightening. Anyone with any knowledge at all about mental illness could not have followed through with such an idea and sleep well at night.

I belive this will increase the notion that making fun of those with mental disabilites is okay in the minds of Children . Bullying begins at an early age and goes undetected and is one of the major causes of eating disorders , substance abuse ,self injury, and suicide.

6:19 am PDT, May 22, Kathryn Goetzke, Michigan
The store should be closed immediately. Depression is a disease of the brain, caused by traumatic life events, genetic factors, and biological imbalances in the brain. There is no way any other disease state would get away with a similar approach.

The company should not just change its name, it should close it's store. Less than 25% of people with mental illness are receiving treatment, and the reason for that is the stigma associated with the disease (and lack of funding because of that stigma). That means SHAME of the disease. This store does nothing but make fun of a disease and increase the likelihood that people will not seek treatment. There are 2x more deaths from depression than breast disease, and we are killing ourselves more than others because people are afraid to get treatment. Breast Cancer was once a highly stigmatized disease, and the revolution that changed it were not stores like this profiting from it but instead people standing up against it. Depression is the leading disability in the world yet the most underfunded disease state. I would like to see this store closed and give all their funding to a nonnprofit that is helping to save lives. If it were a disease that were accepted in the community and people were getting treatment, I would not be opposed to this store. However, that is not the case. All this store is doing is making light of a very serious disease that is not understood, thus perpetuating the problem and leading to more lives lost unecessarily due to fear of ridicule.

5:23 pm PDT, May 20, Tamara Beezley, Oregon
Okay...I understand that the intentions may have been good, yet there are two sides to every coin!! I am a person that suffers with moderate to severe mental illness. I have been hospitalized before for my disorders. I am NOT psycho!! I have casually joked with my friends before about being crazy, you know "Oh...ha ha, she's just nuts" type of thing, but if they take it a bit to far, I let them know that it hurts my feelings and ask them to scale their comments back. All this being said, If you decided to sell only chocolate doughnuts, or plain donuts with chocolate frosting on them , decorated your shop like it was a slave camp and called your store N*gger Donuts, this would not be acceptable for the obvious reasons. If you sold flamboyantly designed donuts shaped like male genitalia, decorated your store flamboyantly and called your store Flaming Fagg*t Donuts, this would not be acceptable either. If you chose to isolate the developementaly delayed population and make your shop look like a nursing home and served donuts that looked like a face of someone with down syndrome with drool running down their chin and called your store Ret*rd Donuts, society would most likely see you shut down!! So, why then is it okay to isolate and target another group of people, the mentally ill, just because society hasn't yet gotten over the fear and stigma of mental illness and further assist in the oppression and discrimination of the mentally ill. I understand casual joking around, bantar, and even some comic relief, but this just isn't funny or appropriate. I think that the store should be re-named, and if the Owners don't want to do it then they should close the store. Thank you for hearing me!!

In poor taste. VERY POOR TASTE!!

9:36 am PDT, May 20, Name not displayed, Florida
They should be ashamed and mortified by their actions.

8:46 am PDT, May 20, Name not displayed, Arkansas
I am upset about this. As someone that lives with and struggles with bipolar disorder and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder I don't see any humor in this. I was not insulted until I read about the padded cell corner where you can get your picture taken in a straight jacket and the "group therapy" area. This makes a mockery out those of us that have been through the hard work in therapy to over come our illness and makes a joke out of us that have been in mental hospitals and may have felt the presence of a real straight jacket. You wouldn't make a cancer themed doughnut shop why is it okay to open up a shop that mocks mental illness? One that reinforces stereotypes and stigmas? One that teaches people to look at mental illness as a joke? I can understand what the orginal intent was, to have some place fresh and new and unique, something that hadn't been done before. The owner just took this way to far and it became in poor taste and harmful for those of us that have to struggle to make society understand that mental illness is a real thing and just as serious as any kind of physical illness. There is making light of a subject and then there is making light of a subject and floating out to sea with it.

7:28 am PDT, May 20, Name not displayed, Georgia
How sad that anyone would use this, or any other illness, to make a buck. It's not funny...it is an insult to people who struggle on a daily basis to have an active and fulfilling life. Pointing and jeering at sick people went out long ago...you act of reviving it is sickening.

6:18 am PDT, May 20, Name not displayed, Texas
I have seen people over and over have to hide the mental illness and hospitalizations from their friends, their work, their family. It is stereotypical thinking being propogated by this establishment. I cannot imagine being irresponsible enough as a parent to allow my children anywhere near that store.

8:39 pm PDT, May 18, Ashley George, California
I was deeply saddened to learn about the concept behind this shop. As a huge supporter of local and family-owned businesses, I would love to champion a new store trying to find its footing, but am hurt and deeply offended instead. Using mental health as a "theme" for a donut shop is no different than a creating a bagel store decorated as a children's oncology unit. I hope the owners think better of their original idea and can reenter the coalition of family businesses with something that fosters community instead of exclusion. That is, after all, what people respect about local businesses.

11:49 pm PDT, May 17, Annaleigh Watts, California
I am currently in remission from bipolar disorder, and I do not find the premise of Psycho Donuts funny. Yes, I said remission. Funny how the correct language of recovering from a severe mental illness is very similar to the language used to describe recovery from cancer. I'd like to see the owners of Psycho Donuts try starting a donut shop with a cancer theme, mocking the pain of cancer. They would be shunned in polite society, and rightfully so. This is equally shameful. I don't want them to lose money in this difficult economy due to their insenstive blunder, but it would make me feel a hell of a lot more good will toward them if they would change their name.

6:04 pm PDT, May 17, Name not displayed, California
It is time for change. I can think of 100 derogatory remarks that would be illegal or incite a riot that could also be used, however, you have chosen on the fence. It is not the job of the mental health services act to supplant your funding of a business designed in poor taste. Choose to redesign your business or close.

5:34 pm PDT, May 17, Name not displayed, California
Please change the name

5:33 pm PDT, May 17, Name not displayed, California
Keep up the fight and change the name.

5:37 pm PDT, May 16, Jennifer Mathis, Maryland
This is so intensely hurtful to so many people. I can't understand how the owners continue to perpetuate stigma and hate now that they have learned what they apparently (and incomprehensibly) didn't understand before - that their business brings pain to so many. Anyone who thinks restraint and seclusion, head trauma, and the experience of psychiatric hospitalization are "light and fun" has a lot to learn. Sounds like they have never experienced a psychiatric disability themselves or through a close friend or family member. To anyone who has, this is unthinkable.

5:07 pm PDT, May 16, Linda S. Kramer, California

1:43 pm PDT, May 16, Name not displayed, California
Clearly the innovators of Psycho Donuts have never been on a psychiatric ward. There is nothing funny about a 72 hour mandatory hold (a.k.a., 5150). To mock the mentally ill is an outrage. It makes me sick. There might be bigger injustices in the world, as the owners claim, but why does a simple breakfast pastry need to be named after a disease that is listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manuel, 4th Edition) DSM-IV

3:05 am PDT, May 16, Tom Bowman, Illinois
This is disrespectful and denigrating. The owner of this store obviously feels entitled to make fun of serious health problems and to defame those who suffer from them. The owner clearly has never had mental health touch his life or the lives of any of his loved ones or else this would never have happened. Shame on you, Psycho Donuts.