Racy "lads' mag" publishers defy demand for coverups; pull titles from 4,000 British stores

The publisher of racy lads' mags Nuts  and Zoo are pulling them from the shelves of the Cooperative Group's 4,000 stores in Britain,according to a story in the Guardian. It is a response to the Co-op's demand that such mags as Nuts, Zoo, Front and Loaded be given "modesty covers" to hide their explicit, lurid front covers or be banned from its stores. IPC Inspire, which publishes Nuts, is the first of the titles to refuse, saying that the Co-op is trying to prevent shoppers from freely browsing a legal magazine. "Co-op's knee-jerk attempt to restrict access to a product that consumers have enjoyed for nearly a decade is wrong,"  said Paul Williams, managing director. 

Bauer, which publishes Zoo, had been attempting to respond to the Co-op's ultimatum by toning down its covers, but said it, too, would now boycott Co-op. [Photo: Dave Thompson/PA]

Tesco, a leading grocery chain in Britain and one of its biggest retailers, had  demanded that the lads' mags "tone down" their covers. The retailer and others were trying to meet demands of consumer groups such as UK Feminista which were lobbying for such magazines to be removed from the shelves altogether.