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Wal-Mart takes another step to clean up magazine racks


NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–In response to customer pressure, Wal-Mart executives have decided to cover some women’s magazines stocked in the stores’ checkout lanes.

“U-shaped blinders” will cover the photos and language on the covers of Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Marie Claire and Redbook, the Associated Press reported.

The decision was made at the company’s annual shareholders meeting in Fayetteville, Ark., June 6, and it follows a similar decision made only weeks before to stop selling three racy men’s magazines — Maxim, Stuff and FHM.

Wal-Mart spokesman Tom Williams said the decision to use the plastic shields is “to accommodate those customers who are uncomfortable with the language on some of the magazine covers,” according to AP.

The company has been testing the blinders in some stores, Williams said, and expects them to be in every store by July.

In response to Wal-Mart’s move in early May to stop selling certain men’s magazines, Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission President Richard Land said Americans concerned about morality and decency in popular culture should applaud Wal-Mart’s move.

The “courageous” move, coupled with Wal-Mart’s policies of not carrying CDs bearing explicit lyrics warnings and requiring proof of age for purchasing mature-labeled video games, “underscores Wal-Mart’s strong reputation as a pro-decency, pro-family commercial enterprise,” Land said.

Land also predicted that Wal-Mart’s actions will have a tremendous positive impact on other retail chains.

“Wal-Mart is the largest retail corporation in the world,” he said. “When Wal-Mart catches a cold, the retail world sneezes.”
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