Walmart removes Cosmopolitan magazine from checkout aisles

Walmart is removing Cosmopolitan magazines from the checkout lines at 5,000 stores across the U.S., according to USA TODAY.

In a statement, a Walmart spokesperson said: “As with all products in our store, we continue to evaluate our assortment and make changes. Walmart will continue to offer Cosmopolitan to customers that wish to purchase the magazine, but it will no longer be located in the checkout aisles. While this was primarily a business decision, the concerns raised were heard.”

There have been concerns about the racy covers on Cosmopolitan, and the National  Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCSE) claimed this was a victory, saying, "We at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation have been working behind the scenes with Walmart for months regarding this policy improvement, and applaud Walmart for making their checkout aisles family-friendly and sexploitation-free."

"That’s over 5,000 stores where families and individuals will no longer be automatically exposed to Cosmo’s hypersexualized and degrading article titles that regularly promote pornography, sexting, BDSM, group sex, anal sex, and more, all while marketing toward young teens with Disney star cover models," the NCSE, founded in 1962 and formerly known as Morality in Media, said in a statement.

Walmart offered the following statement to FOX Business. “As with all products in our store, we continue to evaluate our assortment and make changes. Walmart will continue to offer Cosmopolitan to customers that wish to purchase the magazine, but it will no longer be located in the checkout aisles. While this was primarily a business decision, the concerns raised were heard.”

The NCSE was behind a successful effort to get Rite Aid and Delhaize America, which owns Hannaford Stores and Food Lion, to put the magazine behind blinders in their stores.