Indecency At The Checkout Counters. Ho Hum? Apparently Not!

By: American Decency Staff

What we place before our eyes DOES IMPACT!   So little thought – so little care seems to be exerted to this end in these days of the easy flow of “whatever.”

I used to say quite often if you can’t win the battle against indecency at the checkout counter where can you win it?

There was a day when we spent a lot of time addressing this very issue.  We sent letters to hundreds of major grocery store chains on a monthly basis urging them to at the very least place blinders over magazines with indecent/pornographic images and titles.

We urged these chains to let the magazine publishers know that they weren’t going to display magazines that were explicit.

In addition, we placed a full page ad in the New York Times expressing outrage and concern over the filth customers are captive to – at the eye level of children – as they wait in checkout lines.  In the ad we asked people to fill out a little response box and return it to us (with a donation of any size) so that we could run the ad in other newspapers.  Shoppers shouldn’t have to have their moral sensibilities compromised by insensitive, greedy grocery stores that are more concerned about profiting than the hearts and minds of impressionable shoppers both young and old.

After a couple of months of applying such pressure, I actually received a telephone call from a national journalist (Inside.com) reporting that a survey was showing that Glamour circulation was down 10.9% and Cosmo circulation down 9.3% for the last half of 2000.

The writer for Inside.com stated their analysis showed that these magazines have done some toning down (noting, however, that ADA probably wouldn’t be satisfied with the changes.)

The writer’s observation was that Cosmo and Glamour “are impulse buy” magazines and with the slight alterations in sexually hot verbiage on the covers, buyers who might otherwise buy, did not.

The writer noted that these declining circulation figures are significant for such mainstream magazines.   ….. [Taken from ADA’s April 2001 newsletter]

Much more could be said regarding this important battlefront.  I’ll suffice it to say that things have only continually gotten worse on that front.

I hardly ever hear anyone speak a word about trash at the checkout counter any longer but I did receive a call from the mother of a six year old out of New Jersey just the other day.  How refreshing. How encouraging to hear a young mother talk about the importance of guarding the eyes and heart of her child.

Does anybody care?  Perhaps one of you reading this does.

I might add, my wife, Jan, does.  She still discusses and stands up for morality, decency, and purity at our local stores, including Wal-Mart, and year after year there is fruit in her labors!

It is in this light and with this background that I report the following:  World Net Daily reports that “the granddaughter of newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst is scorching her own family’s magazine for publishing what she calls ‘pornographic’ material kids can buy.”

If you are one that still cares about indecency at your checkout, you’ll be encouraged by this article. Maybe you’ll be encouraged enough to speak up like the women mentioned above!  I hope so.  One person can make a difference.

And let us hear from you.  I’d like to hear your story or your thoughts and let others know what others are thinking about this concerning issue that quietly but surely effects all of us.

 

Click here for the World Net Daily article entitled: Media giant’s own family attacks Cosmo ‘porn’

 

==========================================================

Modesty booklet: a comment –
“Just wanted to let you know that I received the information about dressing modestly.  It is excellent material!  I have given it to [a young friend of ours] who was also told to dress modestly and that she could not wear certain clothes, but she was never given a reason why.  She now has her reasons.  She is reading it and enjoying it and is thankful that I’m sharing it with her.  This is a message that NEEDS to get out to all Christian girls.  I think if they truly understood WHY, they would not fight their parents and those that care of about them.  Thank you for making those resources available.”
God bless
Virginia

========================================================

Help young girls, and even those who are not so young, understand why it is important to dress in a way that conforms to Biblical standards of holiness.

 

http://secure4.afo.net/ada/store2/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=44

---