Adult Magazine Sales Slump as More Stores Clear Their Shelves
Distributors say more than 8,000 stores across the country have taken adult magazines off their shelves since the beginning of the year and magazine sales are hurting, it was reported today.
Drugstore and convenience store chains took the magazines off their shelves when they were told in a letter from a commission set up by Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III that they had been identified as being involved in “the sale or distribution of pornography,” the New York Times said.
The letters also said they would be listed as a participant in the commission’s report.
There are other stores that responded because of boycotts and picketing, mostly by church groups and sometimes by women’s organizations.
The National Federation for Decency, a Christian group based in Tupelo, Miss., which organized hundreds of picketing events on Saturday, said the number of outlets had decreased by 20,000 over the last three years.
Bob Guicione, editor and publisher of Penthouse magazine, told the newspaper, “We’re out of something upward of 15,000 outlets.”
The industry is formulating its own plans to fight back against the voluntary compliance with the commission’s demands, Guicione said.
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