Protests Lead to Removal of Pornographic Magazines from More than 5,000 Stores

Twelve months ago, the Mississippi-based National Federation for Decency (NFD) called for a nationwide boycott of 7-Eleven stores. As a result, more than 5,000 convenience stores nationwide have stopped selling pornographic magazines, according to NFD president Donald Wildmon.

With nearly 7,400 stores, 7-Eleven is the largest retailer of pornography in the country, said Steve Hallman, NFD associate director. “We thought we could have some leverage in … dealing with pornography by attacking it in the family market place,” he said.

In suburban Chicago, a church is waging its own battle against pornography. Steven French, associate pastor of youth at First Baptist Church in Wheaton, Illinois, said his congregation got involved after a parishioner alerted him to the magazines being sold at a nearby 7-Eleven store. In September, French and the church’s senior pastor, David Murdock, asked store manager Frank Hudock, Jr., to remove the offensive magazines. When negotiations failed, the church organized a picket and a boycott of the store. Three other churches joined the effort.

The store manager said sales immediately dropped “dangerously low,” costing him $300 a day in lost business. By December, Hudock had removed all 30 porn magazines from his store. Business had been poor for several months, he said, because of the boycott and competition from a nearby mini-mart that opened in October.

“Everywhere I went it seemed like this community was downright upset about those magazines,” he said. Hudock said his store had earned $6,000 a month from the magazines.

The church’s victory over pornography was short-lived, however. Hudock resigned as store manager in December because of financial complications he said were unrelated to the boycott. Southland Corporation, which owns and operates most of the 7-Eleven stores across the country, took control of the business. Despite the earlier boycott, Southland said it intended to sell three pornographic magazines in the store. Bob Davis, acting zone manager for Southland, said his company has a policy of selling Playboy, Penthouse, and Forum.

After Hudock removed the magazines, some critics told French the boycott violated the former store manager’s First Amendment rights. Alan Johnson, a member of one of the churches that joined the boycott and professor of New Testament at Wheaton (Ill.) College, voiced a different reason for opposing the effort. “It is inappropriate for the church to become involved in the use of coercive force [such as a boycott],” he said. “When it [the church] gets into the business of coercion it detracts and can even undermine its main mission … which is the proclamation of Christ’s gospel.”

First Baptist, however, is undeterred. If Southland insists on selling the three magazines at the 7-Eleven, the church might organize another boycott. “It would be the last thing we would want to do,” Murdock said. “I would much rather handle it on a one-to-one level.”

Two other convenience stores in the area have agreed to stop selling offensive magazines. The owner of the stores denied that pressure from the church led to his decision. Murdock said First Baptist might organize a boycott of other stores if negotiations fail to rid the town of pornography.

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