Anger over Amazon ‘OCD chopping board’

Online retail giant Amazon has been slammed for selling a chopping board “grotesquely” mocking mental illness.

The website is selling an obsessive compulsive disorder chopping board which pokes fun at the condition.

The OCD Chef board is advertised using the slogans “you may become obsessed” and “it’s OK to go a little overboard…if you want to wash it 20 times after you use it, we won’t tell”.

Its design includes horizontal and vertical grid lines and a printed protractor so users can use the chopping board to cut perfectly straight.

About 740,000 people in the UK are estimated to suffer from OCD, which is characterised by compulsive behaviour such as repeated washing.

Mental health campaigners have demanded Amazon withdraw the product from sale.

Ashley Fulwood, chief executive of OCD-UK, accused the company of “making light-hearted use of OCD for commercial gain”.

The OCD Chef chopping board is made by US company Fred & Friends and is available from the Amazon.com site for £13.

Hundreds of people including many living with the condition have now signed an online petition calling for the product to be removed.

Durham University student Billy Errington started the petition.

Billy, 18, said: “It is morally abhorrent. It grotesquely mocks people with this condition and is completely irresponsible to advertise these boards the way they have and to profit out of a mental illness like this.”

Billy contacted Amazon by email numerous times but has only received a “generic reply” stating his complaint has been forwarded to the relevant department.

The chopping boards have previously been removed from sale by department store Selfridges following a public outcry in 2011.

Although the chopping boards are still for sale and advertised worldwide on Twitter, a spokeswoman for Amazon said they were not available through its UK site.