Trina Campbell contacted CBC News here in Canada on Tuesday and said she and her 13-year-old daughter saw the magazine sticking out of a backpack on display inside the American Apparel outlet at the Park Royal Shopping Centre in West Vancouver."I pulled it out and I went to open it and it flipped open to a double-page spread of two men having full-on sexual activity, not just suggestive," Campbell said.
"I don't think this is something that the average person wants to see unless they're ready or going out of the way to see it."
The quarterly magazine, BUTT, focuses on homosexuality, and it is available for sale worldwide.
Campbell said she complained to store staff, who said it was a head-office decision to put the magazine in the display.
It was reported by CBC News that repeated calls to American Apparel's U.S. head office were made, but were not returned on Tuesday.
Staff at the Park Royal mall's American Apparel outlet said they sell the magazines only to people with identification to prove they are over 18, and they keep the magazines behind the counter.
"This was right there, and whether we had to produce ID to purchase it or not, we didn't have to produce ID to look at it, and it was too easily accessed," Campbell said.
A spokesperson for the Park Royal Shopping Centre said there's little mall management can do about how a store displays its products, as long as it is acting legally.
The spokesperson added that mall officials spoke to the American Apparel store once, requesting the magazines to be put in a more discreet location.
West Vancouver, like many B.C. cities, has a bylaw regulating the display of adult publications. They must be on a shelf at least 1.2 metres up from the floor and must be behind a sheet of opaque plastic.
I'm very open-minded about issues of freedom, liberties, sexuality, and the like. I'm not against the sale of such material in a clothing store.
But I have to agree with the mother in this case. She's absolutely right. As a consumer, I like to have the freedom to access mature material - but as a consumer, she has the right not to be exposed to it if she doesn't like.
It's like smoking - you have the right to smoke, but I have the right not to have to smell it at the next table. Please smoke in the appropriately designated place.
The magazine should be accessible to 18 upon request, and/or displayed in a room or on a shelf where there is a clear sign - "The material within contains explicit sexual content."
Remember - we have to respect people's right to define their own sense of decency, and as a mother, she has every responsibility to maintain decency for her child until she's an adult. We'd all be up in arms about what a bad mother she was if she didn't care about what her daughter was exposed to.
However, I would never dream of going into a store and disturbing one of their displays. Most often there are clear signs in the stores not to touch the displays.
This mother goes into a clothing store and sees a display which includes a backpack with a magazine sticking out of it. She takes the magazine out, opens it up and sees "filthy pictures". That's where she sort of loses out on her argument...the magazine was NOT openly displayed...it was in a display. Does this woman make a regular practice of taking things out of store displays? Having worked in retail, I am generally in favor of the rules that ban this sort of magazine from being openly displayed..But before she decided to take the magazine out and "flip through it" and finding "pornographic material" shouldn't her first clue have been the title on the cover, BUTT? was she expecting it to be a catalog of the store items? What she should have done (if she really wanted to disturb the display, instead of just leaving it) is take the magazine, and hand it to a salesperson in the store.
But she is right as a parent, I would not want my children seeing that while out shopping with them either. that's part of being a good parent. good for her for bringing this to light. totally inappropriate.
A magazine with 2 people engaging in a full on sex act is not a magazine depicting a loving scene that children should witness.
This story also seems to have some twists and turns to it...
- A mother and a 13 year old girl go shopping at an apparel store. (fair enough)
- They find a porn magazine in back pack on display. Apparel is clothing. So this a clothing store. Now a backpack is little out of place in most clothing stores but not something you'd never expect to find in one though. Ok this still makes sense so far, somewhat anyways.
- The way I read it, is that the head office says they put the decision to put the magazine on display like this. (hey, all companies have head offices that make some decisions for them that don't always seem to make sense...moving along...)
- Next they say they are selling the magazine behind the counter. I thought this was a clothing store not magazine store? porn magazines are the last thing I expect to see sold in clothing store unless it's one of those store where 13 year old kids aren't allowed into (most clothing stores don't even sell thongs or real skimpy lingerie).
So is this store a clothing store, adult shop or magazine retailer? If it is just a clothing store, what clothing store sells porn to go along with pants?
From the first part of the story, it sounded like someone just slipped the magazine in the display. By the end you it sounds like a magazine shop that sells porn like any other shop.
Also, The magazines are supposed to be located behind the counter (even with that, most people have a hard time asking for condoms that are behind a counter, I can't imagine someone walking up to the counter, where there's nothing else like this sold in the store, and having to ask for one of these magazines) . So if it was on display out in the shop in a back pack I again think some prankster shoved the magazine in there thinking it would be funny.
Thoughts???
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