How to Speak to Your Shop Manager About Offensive Magazines/DVDs

Print

Cleaning Up Your Community of Pornographic Magazines, DVDs and Tabloid Newspapers

Porn magazines include Hustler and Loslyf. There may also be other imported titles (such as Nuts). They are often sold from CNA, Exclusive Books and Seven-11 shops (and some other corner cafes). Check if the shops in your neighbourhood stock these magazines. These magazines regularly include material that should be rated X18 – i.e. they should only be allowed to be sold from “sex shops” such as Adult World. The covers of these magazines, let alone the content, contravene Section 19 of the Sexual Offences Amendment Act- "displaying or exposing or causing the display or exposure of pornography to children" - provisions which came into effect in December 2007.

Other sexually explicit magazines such as Heat, FHM, GQ, Cleo, Cosmo, Gay Pages and Mate should be in an opaque plastic cover and should be out of reach of children.

The sexually explicit “page 3 girl” in tabloids such as Die Son and The Voice, should also be rated 18. Complain to the manager of shops that sell these tabloids and pressure him to not sell these smutty tabloids.

Your local DVD Hire store often stocks offensive DVDs. The covers are often explicit. As with magazines, you can pressure the store to stop hiring these out or at the very least that these be placed out of reach of children.

How To Speak To Your Local Shop Manager About Pornographic Magazines, DVDs or Tabloid Newspapers

1) Courteously speak to the shop manager and tell him that his display and sale of pornographic materials is offensive to you. Ask him to: (1) put these out of sight, and out of reach of children (2) seek a change in business policy which will discontinue the sale of this material. (3) Turn the offensive magazines upside down and conceal under other magazines and put Christian magazines in front, at eye-level.

2) After a short time, if he still continues to display and sell these products, again speak to the store manager and tell him of your concern. Ask whether he has communicated your concerns to headquarters and sought a change in corporate policy so as to discontinue selling the material; if he has not, repeat your request that he do so. Leave him a copy of a courteous letter stating your concerns, requests, and prior conversations with him on this issue. You could include a leaflet like Finding Freedom From Pornography with your letter. This tract is downloadable from here. Tell him you will stop patronising his store if he does not comply.

3) If the merchant persists in openly promoting and selling these materials, write a letter to the headquarters office of the store telling them of your concern; send a copy of your letter to the shop manager. Enlist other friends to focus a stream of "Friendly Complaint" letters at the local store, with copies to the corporate headquarters. Please see below for contact details of CNA, 7-11 and Exclusive Books headquarters. Contact us for a sample letter to the Executive Marketing Manger of CNA – you can adapt this for your own use. Copy your complaint to the Film and Publications Board:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , www.fpb.gov.za

4) If there is no change in the store's practices, stop buying at this store. Write to the local store and headquarters office and tell them you will no longer patronize their business. As a “sermon illustration” you can staple all your till slips from the past months to your letter to indicate the volume of trade they are about to lose. Get others to write similar letters.

Head Offices:

Exclusive Books:
P.O. Box 605, Rivonia, 2128
Tel: 011-798 0000
Fax: 0866794720 
Email: 

7-Eleven:
Merchandise Manager
P.O. Box 3251, Rivonia, 2128
Tel: 011 - 807 8992
Fax: 011 -807 7638
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

CNA:
Executive Marketing Manager
P.O. Box 100, Crown Mines, 2025
Tel: 0800 203 925
Fax: 086 522 7726
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Spar

Customer Care Line: 086 0313141
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Pick n Pay

Director of General Merchandise
Customer Care Line: 0800 11 22 88
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

"For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline."
2 Timothy 1:7

"Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain." 1 Corinthians 15:58

Christian Action P.O.Box 23632 Claremont 7735 Cape Town South Africa info@christianaction.org.za - 021-689-4481 - www.christianaction.org.za
DMC Firewall is developed by Dean Marshall Consultancy Ltd