Lads Mags on Top Shelf – A 5 Year Campaign – Object
Major Retailers to place Lads Mags ‘on Top Shelf’
Major Retailers including Tesco, Sainsbury, Asda, Morrisons, Co-op and BP Petrol Stations have announced that they will sell lads mags on the top shelf or cover them up.
This move follows years of campaigning by OBJECT and a recent initiative by Mumsnet.
“Finally supermarkets are following the guidelines issued to them over 5 years ago, which were put in place only because of our campaigning at that time. We are particularly thrilled that BP has taken this step, since petrol stations provide one of the most porn-filled of environments in our daily lives” Dr Sasha Rakoff, CEO OBJECT.
WHSmith however, has refused to follow suit, claiming that selling lads mags at 1.2m (the average height of a 7 year old) is adequate.
Guidelines issued by the National Federation of Newsagents (NFRN) as a result of OBJECT’s campaigning in 2006, state that lads mags ‘should be sold away from children’. They also state that ‘offensive’ newspapers should be sold ‘folded or upside down in order to avoid causing offence’.
OBJECT’s 2006 campaign was launched by our sending a copy of The Sport newspaper to every MP in the House of Commons. It culminated not only with new retail codes but Parliament voting in favour of the principle of new, independent and socially responsible regulation of the media.
Since then OBJECT has brought the issue direct to retailers with colourful protests involving placing lads’ mags in brown paper bags in WHSmith and with supporters ‘Conga-ing’ down the aisles of Tescos, dressed in pyjamas to highlight the irony of Tesco banning shoppers from wearing pyjamas yet continuing to self pornographic lads’ mags.
“We will be continuing to lobby WHSmith to step in line and we will also be asking why newspapers such as the Sport are still not being sold according to NFRN guidelines – particularly by the ethical Co-op”.
