Zoo and Nuts boycott of Co-op stores after demand for 'modesty bags' leads to call for industry to have collective stance
Supermarket chain Morrisons has called on rivals to adopt a collective stance over the controversy of how to displaying lads' mags on shelves, arguing that consumers are "confused" by the different policies being adopted by the major players. .
The call from Morrisons follows the publishers of Zoo and Nuts to boycott selling their titles at the Co-op, after thesupermarket demanded "modesty bags" to cover explicit images on their front covers.
A spokesman for Morrisons said: "Going it alone doesn't feel the right approach. It would be better to have an industry approach, as it could be confusing for customers."
Morrisons will now be talking with bodies such as the British Retail Consortium (BRC), the trade body for the UK retail industry, to seek the best approach, hoping it can encourage its rivals to come together on a collective stance.
Currently, retailers have a variety of different restrictions for selling lads' magazines.
Tesco, for instance, is considering tougher restrictions, but has not yet decided whether to follow the Co-op in forcing publishers to use modesty bags.
Sainsbury's has provided a form of modesty cover – boards placed over titles, not individual packets – for titles including Zoo, Loaded and Bizarre since 2006. Likewise, Asda has a modesty cover for the titles.
Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury's were unavailable to comment on the proposal from Morrisons.
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