Anyone else bothered by magazine covers in supermarkets unsuitable for children

[Howgoesthework]

Hi all, just seeing if any other people are bothered by the front covers of magazines like Take A Break or Chat in supermarkets?

I've complained in my local Tesco's three times now about front pages with stories like 'My poor brother TORTURED TO DEATH in homemade horror film - His throat was slit for the camera TWICE' or 'We found poor Mum CHOPPED UP in the kitchen BIN' (and these aren't the worst headlines by any means). They have moved them up one level, and they are still completely visible to my 12yo, 9yo and 5yo. (Not such a problem for the youngest as he won't be reading it yet, but for the other two?!)

I really want to change this but I don't know what to do. I currently turn the magazines round or put them right at the top behind others, and I'm considering taking direct action with a marker pen if they don't sort this out.

Does anyone else have a problem with this, and if so, what do you do? The supermarket obviously makes enough money out of them not to care about the odd complaint, but I find it completely unacceptable.

Any thoughts?

I rarely ever noticed magazines not aimed at kids when I was one because I just viewed them as boring adult magazines so not even worth a glance.

I totally agree OP and I complained to a service station about this issue as they were eye level with the kids magazines and my 5 year old was reading out the headlines. They took it seriously and moved them (I checked). The headlines are beyond sick and disturbing and I don't want to read them, let alone have my kids read them. They are certainly not news, or anything that ANY child needs to be aware of about the world.

I can only assume that the people defending this are the same twisted folk that buy them and want to read about kids being raped and tortured. Makes me feel sick.

Thanks for posting. I think it's very sad and thoughtless that people are defending this stuff as harmless fun/trash read. Its truly unpleasant and does have an effect on all who either come across unwillingly or actually buy and read this on purpose for ...what purpose...enjoyment, relaxation?? Kids in partucular shouldn't be seeing it as it normalises extreme experience and revels in it. It is not ' everyday real life, instead it's sensationalising others' extreme horrible experiences and making it part of others casual everyday life to see and think about this stuff....Petition?Maybe but its a symptom of problems that run much deeper.

Editors need to take responsibility for this. They don't need to be quite so graphic on the front cover.

Here are another couple from a quick google search. I hadn’t realised how bad they’ve got - it’s sickening. I’m with you OP - either editors should tone this down or they get moved.

Kids are not that interested, look at wear their eyes track - towards things that interest them. There's so much to worry about, this isn't it. By all means complain to the magazine publishers about sensational headlines but other people do want to buy them, mostly older people, they wouldn't stock them otherwise.

I completely agree and was thinking this only the other day. There was a headline on the front cover of one of them that was describing a quite graphic rape and I just felt, for fucks sake, I don't want to read that, let alone a primary school aged child.

If someone talked that way in front of your child you'd be horrified. I don't see why it being written down is any better.

I would support this, OP. They need modesty covers at the very least. It is not something I ever would have read, but I do recall them being much more harmless nonsense than this kind of nightmare-inducing tat.

Horrific things do happen. A horrific murder happened less than a mile from where I am sitting now, in a beautiful English village. But there is a huge difference between reading about a murder in the newspaper from a crime and justice point of view and this kind of salacious reader-grabbing being on full public view.

I do also notice that more ‘up-market’ supermarkets don’t tend to stock them - make of that what you will!

I believe these magazines are the equivalent of junk food - and just as unhealthy to ingest, no matter our age.

Good LORD!I thought these sort of magazines were full of innocent fluff! Admittedly I've not seen them for years though. How long have they been like this?!

I used to buy them weekly, it's only the past couple of years or so that they've been getting steadily worse. They never used to be like this.
I've stopped buying these type of magazines as a result.
You're still safe with Peoples Friend, that's OK
Worst culprits are Take A Break, That's Life, Pick Me Up, Chat.
Glad it's not just me who thinks it's not on, I want to enjoy buying them again.

I agree it's just like a written version of a shock site and it's pretty disgusting they can do it. I know it's how they get profit and it's clearly liked because it wouldn't sell otherwise but it's just vile isn't it.

Why not at least hunt at but not say what it's about so 'Husbands horrific experience with step dad' of 'he will never forget what she did' which suckers people in without the graphic descriptions.

Maybe I should have done? Hmmm. Instead I swoop all the nasty magazine covers behind a nice one.

Just seen this, I actually did that in a shop the other week - as in put a different magazine deliberately in front of a particularly graphic awful one
Glad it's not just me

People wanted to buy The Sun with its page 3 models. That was eventually stopped after protests.

YANBU
DD, 8, is obsessed with these. I caught her reading a particularly lurid one while we were visiting a relative in hospital and now she makes a beeline for them.
Drives me mad.

Those magazines are wretched and I totally agree

I too hate the fact these magazines are placed at children's eye view and are also placed by the tills in many supermarkets. I think it's horrible and shocking that these magazines are still popular and sell enough to keep going when I think of all the decent and interesting magazines that have come and gone over the years. Who buys this crap? Really. Who? Obviously lots of people for the mags to still be published every week. But why - especially when there are plenty of decent interesting magazines to read out there.

Bookmum - I do (very rarely now though for reasons stated above)
I like these type of magazines, they're easy reading, real life stories that you can lose yourself in for half an hour. Plus they'll be popular with people for the weekly competitions as well.
The stories are becoming less and less real life stories though and all about sensationalising violence and abuse.
It's graphic clickbait in magazine form too.

I used to read them in the past rainbows from time to time. In the 90s I worked in a newsagents and on a quiet day I could read loads of magazines! If I want a magazine to flick through on a boring train journey I tend to buy a celeb one like Heat - but then realise I have no clue who these people are and wonder why I have just paid to look at pictures of random people coming out of supermarkets or whatever. They are another publishing mystery to me!

I saw the one about mum being chopped up and put in the bin and thought "Jeezzus".
They are OTT but it seems to sell.

Just wanted to be clear, I’m not trying to stop anyone reading these magazines. I just don’t want my kids seeing the gruesome front covers (nor any kids, though I know some parents don’t feel it matters). I might look into a change.org petition or similar but as I don’t really use fb, would any of you want to publicise it? (Not if you’re one of the posters who think this kind of thing is just for over-sensitive snowflakes of course!) I personally feel a modesty cover would be the ideal solution. It seems something that’s not really regulated so it would need to be the magazines themselves that did it. Or we could just mention it to supermarkets etc when we see it.

Also thanks for sharing, I’m glad I’m not the only one bothered :)

Agree. Those magazines are vile trash.

For as long as I can remember my gran has bought Take a Break, mainly to do the puzzles but she reads the stories to! I now buy them more as a ‘guilty’ pleasure than anything else and also because they remind me of my gran. I agree that TAB in particular seems to have got a lot worse over the years, it didn’t use to be on the same level as Chat etc which I would never consider buying (!) but more humorous. I do hide the ones I have at home from my seven year old as wouldn’t like her to pick up and start reading but haven’t noticed a problem in shops, she’s normally to involved in whatever she is doing or looking at to notice anything else!