The supermarket chain Morrisons has called on rivals to adopt a collective stance over the controversy of how to display lads' mags on shelves, arguing that consumers are "confused" by the different policies being adopted by the major players.
The call from Morrisons follows the decision by the publishers of Zoo and Nuts to withdraw their titles from the Co-op, after the supermarket demanded "modesty bags" to cover explicit images on front covers.
A spokesman for Morrisons said: "Going it alone doesn't feel the right approach. It would be better to have an industry approach, as it could be confusing for customers."
Morrisons will talk with bodies such as the British Retail Consortium (BRC), the trade body for the UK retail industry, in the hope that it can encourage its rivals to come together on a collective stance.
Currently, retailers have a variety of restrictions on display of lads' magazines.
Tesco, for instance, is considering tougher restrictions, but has not yet decided whether to follow the Co-op in forcing publishers to use modesty bags.
Sainsbury's has since 2006 provided a form of modesty cover – boards placed over titles, not individual packets – for magazines including Zoo, Loaded and Bizarre. Similarly, Asda has a modesty cover for the titles.
Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury's were unavailable for comment on the proposal from Morrisons.
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