I write this blog post after a morning of conversations between 4 quite different people. We sat in Costa Coffee and talked about this and that. Many topics were on the table, one of these topics was the force for change that Social Media can invoke.

This, in particular, struck a chord with me as I have been involved in an on-going effort to force a change in our local store. This is my story:

In October of 2008 my local Co-Operative store underwent a refurbishment as part of their update rollout across the country. The end result of the refurbishment, was that the magazine display stand was the first thing you would see as you entered the store. I am assuming that it was a 'strategic' move to place the soft-porn 'lads mags' (Nuts, Zoo, Loaded, etc) directly in line with the entrance, and the console 'gaming' magazines placed next to them. Despite the explicit nature of both the magazines and their front covers no attempt had been made to hide the covers from the visitors to the store walking in. All of the magazine covers in question can be very explicit in nature, leaving nothing to the imagination.

I first approached one of the store workers to ask whether the covers could be hidden or 'wrapped' to hide their explicit nature. I was informed that he would speak to the manager and see what could be done. Nothing was done and, after a month or so of waiting, I then decided to contact The Co-Operative head office.

I first spoke to a gentleman who informed me that he would speak to the buying and trade departments to see what could be done. After a number of months and various unresponded emails it was clear that The Co-Operative were not interested in the complaint.

Since 2008, there have been peaks and troughs with my attempts to force a change in The Co-Operative's best practice. It's now 2011 and nothing has changed whatsoever. Almost every email has been ignored completely and to this day I await a response from an email I sent in April of Last year. 

This company has made its name from trading as an 'ethical' company, and yet it is happy to push soft pornography to small children, and seems not to care about the people within the community they have chosen to place themselves within.

So, I am now reaching out to YOU! This is a situation that simply cannot continue. It's inappropriate and morally wrong for an 'ethical company' to trade like this and not take responsibility for the products they choose to sell, in the fashion that they do. I am not asking them to stop selling the magazines (although it would be good if they did!)...I am merely asking them to wrap the covers in such as way so that minors can only see the title of the magazine.

Please, please, PLEASE get this story out into the arena of Social Media. Let's say to The Co-Operative that it's NOT ok to display sexually provocative material in a way that allows young children to see it. Get this blog post out and get people talking about it. Let's try and make a difference for our children.

I need you, and I thank you.

Make the difference!