“This is not your grandma’s Cosmo.”
That’s the message Utah Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross, says he got loud and clear when he met last year with Victoria Hearst, the creator of an advertising campaign that alleges the long-established and widely known Cosmopolitan magazine has gotten more explicit through the years to the point it contains pornographic material.
“She pulled out some examples [of the magazine] and started showing me recent articles and pictures from the past 18 months and I will tell you — I was shocked,” he said. “And I’m not a prude. I think people think I am. But I was shocked to see that in a magazine that I know is targeting teens.”
Now, Weiler, who has established a reputation as the Utah Legislature’s chief anti-porn crusader, said he commends Walmart’s announcement that it will remove Cosmo from its checkout aisles. He noted that the best way to combat pornography is through corporate responsibility.
“I applaud Walmart for listening to their shoppers, listening to the public [and] listening to their consumers,” he told The Salt Lake Tribune on Wednesday. “I think they’re striking the right balance. Any of their customers who want Cosmo can still buy it. But customers, especially mothers with children, who don’t want that literally thrust in their face don’t have to see it. So I think it’s a brilliant compromise.”
Weiler last October considered reviving the state’s discontinued obscenity and pornography complaints office after meeting with Hearst, an heiress of the Hearst Corp. and creator of Cosmo Hurts Kids.
Hearst’s extended family owns Cosmopolitan, and she told The Salt Lake Tribune last October that she asked the corporation to define the magazine as “adult material” so it couldn’t be sold to anyone under 18. The company refused.
After that, Hearst used her personal wealth to launch an ad campaign in select states to argue that the publication is porn — and viewed the Beehive State as a logical choice for billboards and radio ads.
“Utah is a state that seems to care about protecting children from pornography,” she said at the time. “My campaign is finding allies like Senator Weiler there, and I’m very grateful.”
Weiler was the sponsor of Utah’s resolution declaring pornography a public health crisis, as well as of legislation that allows parents to sue pornographers for the cost of counseling that children may need after viewing obscene content.
“Most of my efforts have not been targeted toward Cosmo; I think Cosmo is borderline pornography but there are bigger fish to fry,” said Weiler, noting that he’s most concerned about free online videos of sex acts. “I’m not defending Cosmo but I’ve been shooting, I think, at a little bit of a higher target than a magazine at a grocery store.”
Walmart says it was a business decision to remove Cosmopolitan magazine from its checkout aisles, but some groups have raised concerns about the sexual content of the publication marketed to women.
The National Center on Sexual Exploitation says Walmart’s decision makes it a “leader and trailblazer in corporate responsibility.” The group says Cosmo “places women’s value primarily on their ability to sexually satisfy a man and therefore plays into the same culture where men view and treat women as inanimate sex objects.”
Walmart senior director of corporate affairs Meggan Kring says customers can find Cosmopolitan in the magazine section of its stores.
A Cosmopolitan spokesperson says with a focus on empowerment, the magazine is “proud of all that the brand has achieved for women around the world.”
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
