Walmart Takes Cosmopolitan Magazine from Checkout Lines

Cosmopolitan magazine was able to make its name by having provocative covers. Walmart has decided to no longer sell the magazine at its checkout counters. The company called the move a business decision, but at least one advocacy group touted it as a win against sexual exploitation.

Hearst Communications is the owner of Cosmopolitan. The magazine describes itself as “the bible for fun, fearless females,” and says it reaches over 18 readers each month.

During the early days, the magazine was a hit with provocative front covers and the sex advice it gave to its readers, but has been criticized for uniting racier content with young models on the covers.

In a statement emailed to members of the media Tuesday night, the retailer said it would continue offering Cosmopolitan to its customers that want to purchase it, but the magazine would no longer be found at the checkout aisles.

The statement said that while the decision is primarily business related, the concerns that have been raised were heard.

National Center on Sexual Exploitation, an advocacy group, hailed Walmart’s decision as a victory over the hypersexualized and degrading titles of articles of Cosmo that the group says are not only pornography but other offenses. The group was founded 56 years ago during 1962.

Walmart has not made any comment yet on whether or not the sales of the Cosmopolitan magazine had been declining.

Rising political and social activism across the U.S. has made corporations re-evaluate their practices. That means everything from policies from human resources, following the start of the #MeToo movement, to restrictions on guns that retailers put into place after the shooting massacre at a Parkland, Florida high school killed 17.

Walmart is only one of several other retailers that issued new restrictions related to the sale of firearms.

That same climate had reflected itself in different magazines such as Cosmopolitan, which are broadening coverage they give to include topics such as politics.

Invanka Trump during a 2016 interview with Cosmopolitan magazine said the questions the magazine asked regarding the policies for childcare and maternity leave of President Donald Trump had a great deal of negativity.

No comment has been released by Hearst related to Walmart moving the location in which Cosmopolitan magazine is sold in is more than 4,400 U.S. locations.