Cosmo moved from Walmart checkouts
Retail giant Walmart is removing women’s fashion magazine Cosmopolitan from checkout lines at 5,000 stores across the U.S.
In a statement, Walmart spokeswoman Meggan Kring said: “As with all products in our store, we continue to evaluate our assortment and make changes. Walmart will continue to offer Cosmopolitan to customers that wish to purchase the magazine, but it will no longer be located in the checkout aisles. While this was primarily a business decision, the concerns raised were heard.”
The U.S. National Center on Sexual Exploitation said it helped instigate the policy change.
“You can go through and buy your groceries with your family knowing you don’t have to be exposed to this graphic and often degrading and offensive material,” Center vice-president of advocacy and outreach Haley Halverson said online. “Instead, all of these magazines will be moved, in isolation, to the magazine racks.”
Requests for comment from Cosmopolitan were not returned.
Cosmopolitan began running frank content about sex under the direction of editor Helen Gurley Brown in 1965. Brown transformed the once familyoriented magazine into a publication for single women that — along with topics on relationships, beauty, fashion and health — still publishes advice and discussions on sex.
The National Center on Sexual Exploitation, which changed its name from Morality in Media in 2015, has been working to cover or remove Cosmopolitan from store shelves for years, deeming it pornography. In 2015, the group was behind a successful push to place the magazine behind blinders in stores owned by Rite Aid and Delhaize America (which owns Hannaford Stores and Food Lion).
The organization has also been a strong opponent of Playboy. Center president Patrick Trueman called Hugh Hefner “a pioneer in the sexual objectification and use of women” following his death in September, saying the Playboy founder left behind “a legacy of sexual exploitation and public health harms.”
The Walton family, heirs to Walmart founder Sam Walton, have had a conservative reputation, though the company dropped out of conservative advocacy group American Legislative Council in 2012.
Walmart’s decision comes amid the MeToo movement and a national reckoning on sexual harassment, according to Halverson.
“This is one less drop of hyper-sexualized media that is going to be bombarding people in their everyday lives, which does make a difference, especially in this MeToo culture that we’re living in, where we really want a culture that will respect women and ensure their dignity is understood,” Halverson said.
The MeToo movement, however, has focused on sexual harassment and assault rather than pornography.