Local Mums are launching a Child Eye Line campaign to get local shops to put sexualised images and pornographic publications out of sight. Find out all about our Child's Eye Line campaign.
Sign our petition to the government to make it illegal to display porn around children
Following our Child's Eye Line survey we that found out that an overwhelming 95% of you feel that lads mags and sexually explicit newspapers should be displayed out of sight of children, we are calling on local shops to cover up sexualised images.
The government's report 'Letting Children Be Children' recommended that magazines and newspapers with sexualised images on their covers are not in easy sight of children.
The report also states that 'publishers and distributors should provide such magazines in modesty sleeves, or make modesty boards available to all outlets they supply and strongly encourage the appropriate display of their publications. Retailers should be open and transparent to show that they welcome and will act on customer feedback regarding magazine displays.'
From the feedback you gave us, this clearly isn't happening. The Daily Sport is routinely displayed at child height, front cover up and magazines are on full display where children can see them with no modesty wraps. Local retailers are unwilling to adhere to these guidelines and are not receptive to complaints or suggestions that they follow them.
In a survey we carried out on our Facebook group only one of the respondents reported that a retailer had acted on their complaints about pornographic material being displayed at child height.
The majority of our members have reported being 'laughed at', 'ignored' or even 'verbally abused' by shop owners when they voiced concerns about the displays of these publications at child height.
We were so moved by some of your comments that we have decided to launch the Child's Eye Line campaign to get these images out of our public spaces where children can see them.
Sign our petition to the government to make it illegal to display porn around children
Take action:
1) Give this letter to the owner of the shop displaying pornographic material:
Dear proprietor,
Display of pornographic newspapers and 'lads' mags'
As someone who shops regularly in your store, I am writing to ask if you would be willing to promise that magazines and newspapers with sexualised images on the cover (such as Nuts, Zoo, Maxim, Stuff, the Sunday Sport and the Daily Sport) will be kept out of children's sight in your display racks.
I'm sure you agree that these images are not suitable for young children. In response to the Child's Eye Line campaign major retailers like ASDA, Sainsburys, Morrisons, Waitrose, the Co-op and Tesco have promised to take action to ensure that these publications are displayed appropriately. This means on a high shelf that is well above the eye-line of children and behind modesty covers, or even just stacked in such a way that offensive/sexualiesd images are not on display.
I would ask that you also agree to take these actions, so I can feel safe shopping here with my family.
Sainsburys and Morrisons, which have operated similar policies for some years, have told Child's Eye Line that it does not affect the sales figures of these titles, and I feel sure that such a policy would pay off for your business because of the goodwill you would receive by the huge number of families in this area.
I would very much appreciate it if you could let me know what you think.
Yours,
Mr/Mrs/Ms Local Mums Online
Personalising your letter
Mention the display in that particular shop – are lads mags in full view? Is the Daily Sport on a shelf at toddler eye-level?
If the shop is near a supermarket that has signed up to the campaign, you could let them know that the shopkeeper's response will inform your decision about where to buy your daily newspaper/ice creams/pint of milk/stamps in future.
Detail your children's ages and any comments they've made about the covers of magazines.
2) Contact your local MP and explain how you feel and what you would like them to do about it.
3) Sign our petition to help us fight for regulation to protect children from being shown sexual images in public places
4) Share this article on Facebook and twitter and follow our campaign @ChildEyesUK and #ChildsEyeLine and on our website www.childseyeline.org