THE GREAT WAL

3 Racy Men's Magazines Banned by Wal-Mart (DAVID CARR and CONSTANCE L. HAYS, May 6, 2003, NY Times)

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the nation's largest retailer, said yesterday that it had halted sales of Maxim, Stuff and FHM, men's magazines that feature a mix of scantily clad starlets and bawdy humor but go to some lengths to avoid being labeled as pornography.

The decision came after "listening to our customers and associates," Melissa Berryhill, a spokeswoman for Wal-Mart, said. "I know we've heard on at least one of those magazines, they weren't pleased with the offering."

Maxim has been sold in Wal-Mart for the last three years, while FHM was added recently. The standards and general content of the magazines have not changed, but Wal-Mart, which is based in Bentonville, Ark., has been under pressure from Christian groups in the past over its distribution of various magazines.

The decision to stop selling the so-called lads' magazines is the latest in a series of moves by the company to limit distribution of entertainment products it judges too racy for its shoppers. The company has refused to sell CD's that carry warning labels about explicit lyrics; instead, Wal-Mart Stores sell sanitized versions of albums, with some songs omitted or covers redrawn to pass muster with the chain's buyers. The stores also ask for age identification from purchasers of video games with mature-audience ratings.

The chain's role as a purveyor of pop culture--a role that increases every time a new Wal-Mart opens, with 200,000-square-feet worth of products ranging from groceries to garden tools--seems to be in an evolutionary stage, something not quite defined either by Wal-Mart or its customers. With sales of $244.5 billion last year, Wal-Mart towers over its discount competitors and has recently begun to challenge supermarket chains and drugstore empires for customers as well.

It sells more DVD's than any other chain, and has made a point of trying to attract younger shoppers through its entertainment software, including movies, games and CD's. It has a dominant position in the magazine publishing industry--selling 15 percent of all single copies, according to industry executives--and has already been able to force changes in the distribution system for magazines.

This offers a model of how societal standards of decency could be effective. If the difference between selling 200,000 and 100,000 DVDs or CDs were whether it was sold in Wal-Mart and the difference between whether it was sold there or not was dependent on a gratuitous nude scene or excessive profanity, you'd certainly begin to see changes in the content of such products, which would be all to the good of the culture. Posted by Orrin Judd at May 6, 2003 8:08 PM