MORRISONS has apologised for positioning a magazine containing gory headlines about rape and murder at ‘kids eye level’ in its Malvern store.
Customer Stuart Knapman was left angry after his request to one of the managers at the Roman Way store to move a recent edition of ‘Chat’ was turned down.
The weekly magazine, which was on display by the check-out tills, contained headlines such as ‘Killer Ex Slashed My Throat’, ‘Raped By My Big Brother’ and ‘He Even Made Me Drink His Own Urine’ to the disgust of Mr Knapman who was shopping with his wife.
Although his seven-year-old daughter was not in the shop at the time, Mr Knapman took it on himself to ask one of the store managers to move it because of its explicit content and the potential risks of children seeing it.
However, his request was turned down by management staff which led him to express his concerns on his Twitter page @StuartKnapman to the supermarket.
The London-based businessman wrote: “Store mgr told me he is ‘allowed’ to do this and so he will. It would actually be less offensive to put porn there.”
Speaking to The Observer, Mr Knapman said he could not believe his eyes when he saw the magazine.
“The magazine contained graphic headlines about murder and sexual violence and I just thought ‘I’ve never seen anything like this in a family supermarket before’.
“I have a daughter of seven-years-old so I am always aware of what they can see at the check-outs.
“I was shocked how it was positioned at kids eye level by the sweets. I felt I shouldn’t be in a position where I could have to explain to my daughter what this means or any other parent for that matter.
“It’s not something children should be confronted with.
“It was the only magazine there so it appeared obvious they (staff) had chosen to showcase that particular one which I thought made it worse.”
Morrisons’ staff responsible for their Twitter page replied to Mr Knapman apologising for the incident.
A spokeswoman for Morrisons said: “Some time ago we moved titles like Chat – that have adult themes – away from children’s magazines after listening to customers.
“The positioning of the magazine in our Malvern store was a mistake.
“We pride ourselves on being a family-friendly store and apologise for any offence that might have been caused.”
Mr Knapman thanked the chain for its apology and said he hoped the incident would not happen again at other stores.
According to its Twitter page, Chat Magazine provides content about life, death and prizes, mainly dealing with ‘ordinary people with extraordinary stories’.
Do you think Morrisons was right to apologise? Do you think supermarkets should be more aware of where to place magazines? Send us your thoughts to [email protected].
