Power To The People!

[Captain-Jack]

I went to Fred Meyer two days ago and the new issue of Crapmopolitan was out - all of them were uncovered. The "blinders" are built onto the Cosmo racks. They just haven't been using them! All you have to do is flip the blinder forward, insert the magazines, and flip the blinder back. I went down every row and put the blinders in place when I saw one of the lovely headlines, "Why You Should Be a Jealous _____". They suck. I'll be writing more letters tomorrow, visiting the manager at Fred Meyer, and stopping by Whole Foods and some other organic market in town who I'm told do not display disgusting magazines. If that's true, they'll be getting a big thank you from me and more of my business.

Found this scripture last night, and how true it rang to me, it's exactly how I feel to those people I know personally who think they have plenty of time to repent later. It also applies to those who have no regard for what is sacred and holy.

Helaman 13

29 O ye wicked and ye perverse generation; ye hardened and ye stiffnecked people, how long will ye suppose that the Lord will suffer you? Yea, how long will ye suffer yourselves to be led by foolish and blind guides? Yea, how long will ye choose darkness rather than light?

[MorningStar]

Found this scripture last night, and how true it rang to me, it's exactly how I feel to those people I know personally who think they have plenty of time to repent later. It also applies to those who have no regard for what is sacred and holy.

Helaman 13

29 O ye wicked and ye perverse generation; ye hardened and ye stiffnecked people, how long will ye suppose that the Lord will suffer you? Yea, how long will ye suffer yourselves to be led by foolish and blind guides? Yea, how long will ye choose darkness rather than light?

Yes, that scripture applies to us in many ways. :)

[Captain-Jack]

Yes, that scripture applies to us in many ways. :)

I was in K-Mart in Orem yesterday and was delighted at the fact that there wasn't one bit of garbage near the registers.

[MorningStar]

I was in K-Mart in Orem yesterday and was delighted at the fact that there wasn't one bit of garbage near the registers.

Sweet. Utah has a decency display law. We need one dangit.

[Guest HEthePrimate]

MorningStar,

I had no idea they had a separate Family Friendly line. That alone seems just bizarre to me--why should you have to go through a special line to avoid that kind of stuff?

Thanks!

DH

[MorningStar]

MorningStar,

I had no idea they had a separate Family Friendly line. That alone seems just bizarre to me--why should you have to go through a special line to avoid that kind of stuff?

Thanks!

DH

I don't know if all the locations do, but ours does. Yeah, I think they should have all family friendly lines and one smut line.

[MorningStar]

Sent this to Party City:

Dear Party City:

I realize you want to sell your merchandise, but please stop mailing out flyers with women dressed in sexually provocative costumes. I have three little boys and I feel like I can't take them with me to get the mail. I find it especially offensive that you display these images in the same ads with pictures of children, even pre-teen girls in midriff baring costumes. Last year when we received your flyer, my son wanted the Zorro costume, but when I saw your line of Playboy costumes and the pre-teen girl in a midriff baring devil costume, I told him we would be boycotting your store until you showed some common decency. No one should receive this kind of material in their mailbox unless they requested it and no one should display minors in poses and attire that is intended to arouse. Consider the predators out there and what they must think of those pictures. I am disappointed that anyone would think for a moment that this kind of marketing is appropriate, but I'm hopeful that you will discontinue it.

Sincerely,

MorningStar

[MorningStar]

I think we have made some progress at Fred Meyer!!!!!

Every time I go there, I put Cosmo behind the blinders or cover it with other magazines. I got so mad when I saw the latest issue that said in large caps "Dirty Sexy Sex", I took stacks of them upstairs to the book/magazine section, shoved them behind the magazines towards the top, and I took kid magazines downstairs (Kids' National Geographic and that sort of thing) and put them where Cosmo used to be. Then I noticed often other people were covering them with other magazines.

For a few days at least, all of the Cosmo racks had Newsweek on them and now all of the spots contain "Cosmo Girl". I'm sure the content in the magazine is probably not that wonderful, but there is nothing offensive on the cover! I think Fred Meyer finally got the hint!!!! Woooooooooooo hooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!

I have learned that it pays to be annoying. Someone got sick of rearranging the magazines and decided it wasn't worth it anymore. Tee hee! Also, this happened shortly after I wrote another letter to the corporate office. Please keep writing letters and thank you to everyone who is doing something to fight this!

[MorningStar]

I meant to mention, my Target boycott is still going strong. I haven't shopped there in probably over 6 months now. I don't miss it. There is a great store in my town that doesn't put anything objectionable at eye level with children. I've been giving as much of my business to them as I can. They have the best produce too that is often on sale!

[WillowTheWhisp]

Sorry if this is a bit of a thread wander but it's still about standing up for standards.

Every summer my kids and I go camping during the school holidays. As they have grown older they need a little bit more excitement than just a field with a few cows and sheep so instead of camping on a farm a couple of years ago we went onto an organised site which has a pool and a little cafe, a shop and a club which has a bar and a family friendly room which sells hot dogs and soft drinks and puts on entertainment in the evenings a couple of times a week. This entertainment is supposed to be family friendly and usually consists of semi-professional singers who encourage the children to join in, a few party games for the children to play and some dancing for children and adults.

One evening they had a singer who turned out to be a comedian too - but definitely not a family friendly one. His first joke was a bit 'off' but I thought maybe I should just ignore that and it will get better. He sang another song and the singing was good and people were enjoying it, including my children. But then he told another joke which was worse than the first and I decided we should leave. My teenage daughters agreed with me.

As I walked out through the foyer it occurred to me that simply leaving was not enough so I asked to speak to the manager to tell her why I was leaving and what I thought of this 'family entertainment'. She was surprised that I'd been offended as this comedian had come from an agency recommended for this kind of venue - so although I cringed at having to do so I repeated to her his first joke. She looked a little shocked so I said, "If you think that was bad the second one was worse."

By this time I noticed another family were leaving and then gradually more and more people were walking out. Maybe it just needed a couple of us to start the ball rolling and give others the courage to do the same.

The result is that the club will not only not be booking that comedian/singer again but they have complained to the agency who provided him and they are looking elsewhere for entertainers now.

We do need to stand up and be counted and let people know how we feel about these things.

[skalenfehl]

I live in Perry, Utah, just south of Brigham City, I'll scope out the magazine section next time. Funny thing about Utah, at least where I live, you can buy many church books and commentaries, that are abundantly on display near the books and magazine racks and also near the check out registers. The local Fred Meyer went out of business years ago. Maybe they had too many objectionable magazines on sale? Oh, and I'm a fan of Laura Ingrahm. She cracks me up. I enjoy listening to ol' Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity too.

Now for the silly question. What is QFC?

[Iggy]

Now for the silly question. What is QFC?

It is a grocery store. Quality Food Centers QUALITY FOOD CENTERS- it is part of Kroeger/Fry's Food/Fred Meyers, etc.

[MorningStar]

It is a grocery store. Quality Food Centers QUALITY FOOD CENTERS- it is part of Kroeger/Fry's Food/Fred Meyers, etc.

I wonder which parts of the country have QFC?

[MorningStar]

Sorry if this is a bit of a thread wander but it's still about standing up for standards.

Every summer my kids and I go camping during the school holidays. As they have grown older they need a little bit more excitement than just a field with a few cows and sheep so instead of camping on a farm a couple of years ago we went onto an organised site which has a pool and a little cafe, a shop and a club which has a bar and a family friendly room which sells hot dogs and soft drinks and puts on entertainment in the evenings a couple of times a week. This entertainment is supposed to be family friendly and usually consists of semi-professional singers who encourage the children to join in, a few party games for the children to play and some dancing for children and adults.

One evening they had a singer who turned out to be a comedian too - but definitely not a family friendly one. His first joke was a bit 'off' but I thought maybe I should just ignore that and it will get better. He sang another song and the singing was good and people were enjoying it, including my children. But then he told another joke which was worse than the first and I decided we should leave. My teenage daughters agreed with me.

As I walked out through the foyer it occurred to me that simply leaving was not enough so I asked to speak to the manager to tell her why I was leaving and what I thought of this 'family entertainment'. She was surprised that I'd been offended as this comedian had come from an agency recommended for this kind of venue - so although I cringed at having to do so I repeated to her his first joke. She looked a little shocked so I said, "If you think that was bad the second one was worse."

By this time I noticed another family were leaving and then gradually more and more people were walking out. Maybe it just needed a couple of us to start the ball rolling and give others the courage to do the same.

The result is that the club will not only not be booking that comedian/singer again but they have complained to the agency who provided him and they are looking elsewhere for entertainers now.

We do need to stand up and be counted and let people know how we feel about these things.

I think that's perfectly on topic. Good for you! It's weird how out of touch people are with what is OK for kids.

[Still_Small_Voice]

I recently read this message I received from American Family Association:

"Under the new leadership of Chairman Edward Lampert, Sears is now offering hard-core pornographic DVDs and music. Not just a few x-rated products, but scores of them! American Family Association ordered one of the DVDs to see if it really came from Sears. It did! It was mailed to us in a Sears envelope, with a Sears shipping label, from a Sears distribution center. Not only does Sears' website allow children to view its pornographic offerings online, it will sell them to children. During our online check-out process, we were never asked to verify our age."

After reading this I visited the Sears website after reading this message and was disturbed by what I saw. In my opinion there is no reason to have a naked woman in lingerie modeling your merchandise. This is the letter I sent Sears:

Hello,

I am highly disappointed at the pornographic material your website contains. There is no reason to have pictures of naked or nearly naked women to sell your products. Know that I will likely not purchase merchandise from Sears for quite some time if changes are not made to the way you present your products. Please remove the offensive pictures from your websites.

Thank you

Sears sent me back this letter:

Dear Keith XXXXXX,

We sincerely apologize to any customers who were offended. Our agreements with our vendors prohibit content that is pornographic or sexually explicit in nature. We are removing these items that do not meet our guidelines.

We regularly review our processes to ensure compliance by our vendors, and we encourage our customers and community to help us flag any items that they believe might violate our guidelines

We sincerely appreciate your feedback and want you to know that you have been heard.

Sincerely,

Miguel G.

Retail Customer Care

Sears Holdings Corporation

I presently do not have the will to go back and browse their website again anytime soon but I hope this person will follow through on what they said they will do. Hopefully this is one small victory.

[Wingnut]

In my opinion there is no reason to have a naked woman in lingerie modeling your merchandise.

Not to be snarky, but how else would you expect lingerie to be modeled? Or is it lingerie-clad women "modeling" other products?

[Dravin]

Not to be snarky, but how else would you expect lingerie to be modeled? Or is it lingerie-clad women "modeling" other products?

If you wanted to be snarky you'd point out that being naked and modeling lingerie kinda conflict as adjectives of a woman's clothed state. The thing is there is a reason, to model the product. Heck, they model (or at least used to, I haven't gone over the Sunday paper in a while)) women's underwear in the Sunday paper. It's a fairly common advertising tactic (though not universal), and you rarely hear people arguing about how there is no 'reason' to model slacks or sweaters.

Edit: I imagine part of the outrage is the venue. Sears is a "family" store, where as if Victoria Secret models product they don't expect some 'innocent' 12 year old to burn out their retinas while searching for an XBox 360. However, that's a different argument than there being no reason to model product.

Edited May 6, 2011 by Dravin

[Still_Small_Voice]

Sears advertises it is family friendly. I do not think it is family friendly to show a woman's bare breasts not even covered by see through cloth and her wearing nothing to cover her lower half. Believe what you want but it is pornography in my judgment. A naked woman does not have to model lingerie. It can be put on a mannequin.

[Dravin]

Sears advertises it is family friendly. I do not think it is family friendly to show a woman's bare breasts not even covered by see through cloth and her wearing nothing to cover her lower half. Believe what you want but it is pornography in my judgment. A naked woman does not have to model lingerie. It can be put on a mannequin.

Which still doesn't boil down to their being no reason to do so. You just feel there are better reasons not to do so.

[Still_Small_Voice]

If your son were browsing through the Sears website would you want him to see a picture of a naked woman only covered by completely transparent clothing?

[Dravin]

If your son were browsing through the Sears website would you want him to see a picture of a naked woman only covered by completely transparent clothing?

Irrelevant. I think you are falling into the trap that if someone objects to something you may have stated that they must be diametrically opposed to everything you might be thinking or espousing. If I want my son to see something or not has nothing to do with if there is a reason to model clothing.

Nice attempt at a "Think of the Children!" red herring though.

Edited May 6, 2011 by Dravin

[MorningStar]

Does Sears have large pictures of men wearing jockstraps? I don't think I have ever seen such a thing at any store, yet they put up large displays of women in their underwear. SSV, thank you for being active in this!

I stopped shopping at one store for about a year after they told me multiple times that they were going to move the Cosmos. It didn't happen permanently and when I saw them there and I told the manager, "I was about to shop and now I'm not. I'm going somewhere else." At least a few of my friends made a stink about it and I was thrilled to see that there are no Cosmos anywhere near the checkout now. Woo hoo!!!! We need to remember to write thank you letters to companies that make improvements. I was so pleasantly surprised to see them completely removed from the area rather than just covered.

[Dravin]

For the record:

There is nothing wrong with letting a store know how you feel about certain policies and if said policies will affect if you continue to patron their establishment. There is nothing wrong with wanting a shopping experience free of modeled lingerie, or if modeled at least done so on mannequins.

This does not mean the standard advertising practice of having humans model merchandise is done without reason. It's to demonstrate the merchandise in a (usually) aesthetically appealing manner and thus make the merchandise itself seem more appealing. This applies equally to slacks and cardigans as it does lingerie, even if particularly racy lingerie. Even if Mars decided to start a graphically pornographic ad campaign for one of their candy bars it would be with a reason, to increase the appeal and sales of their product.

Don't confuse a reason with an absolute necessity.

[Still_Small_Voice]

This is just turning into a disagreement about who is right and wrong. I will peacefully agree to disagree with you Dravin and just leave it at that.

[Dravin]

This is just turning into a disagreement about who is right and wrong.

As opposed to other disagreements about how both people are right or both are wrong?