Kenneth Cole's latest 'mission-driven' ad about guns has some people enraged

Kenneth Cole, an American fashion designer known for shoes and accessories, recently posted a billboard on gun control and mental illness that rubbed the American Psychiatric Association the wrong way.

The billboard reads "Over 40M Americans suffer from mental illness. Some can access care… All can access guns." It's signed by Kenneth Cole and features the hashtags #gunreform and #areyouputtinguson. It is prominently displayed over Manhattan's West Side Highway.

It's not clear why Cole decided to weigh in on gun violence now, though the billboard did come shortly after two TV journalists were gunned down on air. Regardless of what prompted Cole's billboard, the APA is upset at his apparent suggestion that the mentally ill are to blame for gun violence in America. 

Dr. Renee Binder, president of the APA, says in a statement that linking the mentally ill to gun violence "is a disappointing misrepresentation of the facts and only serves to further stigmatize those suffering from mental illness."

"The vast majority of mentally ill people are not violent. Most violent acts are committed by people who are not mentally ill," she added. "In fact, people with mental illness are more than twice as likely to be the victims of violence as the general public. The numbers simply do not bear out what Mr. Cole is implying on his billboard."

There is some research that backs up Binder's assertion that mental illness isn't behind most violent acts.

Jeffrey Swanson, a medical sociologist and Duke University professor, analyzed 10,000 people (both mentally ill and not) and surveyed them on violent acts they encountered over a year, as Maria Konnikova explains in The New Yorker. Violence could have included minor incidents like shoving or more serious ones like armed robbery.

His study found mental illness could explain only 4% of the incidents of violence, and that violence was more closely associated with being male, low-income, or an abuser of alcohol or drugs than it was with being mentally ill. Cole's apparent attempt to link mental illness and violence has spurred a lot of tweets opposing the billboard, like this one: 

@mr_kennethcole: Take down the billboard. And keep raising awareness re lack of care for #mentalhealth #givestigmatheboot

- Steve Daviss MD (@HITshrink) September 4, 2015

Still, Konnikova did acknowledge in her New Yorker article that mentally ill people do pose a violent risk to themselves. Perhaps for this reason, the Global Mental Health Program (GMHP) at Columbia University actually praised Cole's billboard and his "mission-driven advertising."

"His company, which is known for featuring advertisements centered on a poignant or memorable quote, has a new advertisement that takes aim at the fact that Americans today have greater accessibility to guns than to vital, often life-saving, mental health services," GMHP noted. 

More from the GMHP: 

In the absence of universal access to these services, there is increased concern that some of the individuals suffering from the most serious forms of psychopathology, whom may be at greater risk of harming themselves or others, may go undiagnosed and untreated.  At the same time, these same individuals face relatively few obstacles when it comes to obtaining a firearm.  

In rare cases, these compounding factors have contributed to the spate of high-profile shootings that have claimed numerous lives at schools, movie theaters, and other public spaces across the country. What is far more common - but far less likely to make headline news - is when an individual struggling with an illness such as Depression or Post-traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD) uses a firearm to take their own life.

Cole has long supported various social causes, and it's not the first time that his message has rubbed some people the wrong way. In 2005 he launched a campaign for World AIDS Day, designing T-shirts that said "We All Have AIDS" and "I Have AIDS," likening them to the Stars of David Jews had to wear in WWII.

"There is a legend of the Danish king, Christian X, who, during World War II, when Hitler insisted all Jews publicly wear a yellow Star of David, would wear the star himself, hence making it difficult to differentiate who was Jewish. This is kind of like that, hopefully," he said, according to The New York Times.

He also got significant backlash for a tweet about Syria, when America was debating its engagement in the Syrian civil war in 2013. His tweet read "'Boots on the ground' or not, let's not forget about sandals, pumps and loafers. #Footwear."