Christians Target ‘Cosmo’ Sales to Young Teens
Cosmopolitan magazine should be be sold exclusively to adults.
That’s the sentiment of Victoria Hearst, an independent Christian retailer and granddaughter of William Randolph Hearst. Hearst has teamed up with Christian model Nicole Weider, who is campaigning to make that sentiment a reality. Weider has said that “Cosmo has the devil written all over it.”
Hearst’s grandfather was the newspaper publisher who gave his name to the Hearst Corporation, which now includes major broadcast and print interests such as Cosmopolitan. The magazine has recently come under fire from conservative groups for pushing the limits on its explicit content, and including underage actress Dakota Fanning and Disney star Selena Gomez on the publication’s covers earlier this year.
Hearst operates Praise Productions Christian Store in Ridgway, Colo., the location for the famous John Wayne movie True Grit, and with a population around 1,000. To help protect the development of teen girls, Hearst has joined forces with Weider, who founded ProjectInspired.com, which seeks “to take the best interests of young women to heart.”
“About 11 years ago, I contacted Frank Bennack and the board of the Hearst Corporation, and told them that what they are publishing in Cosmopolitan magazine was pornographic,” Hearst said. “I had the support of two female psychologists and counselors who attest that this content hurts young girls. Like Nicole, I also asked that the magazine be sold only to adults 18 and older.
Although Hearst said she never received a reply, she “had peace because I delivered the message,” she added. “When I heard about Nicole’s campaign, I knew I needed to join in her mission to put Cosmopolitan in a bag and make sure that its pornographic content cannot be sold to minors!”
Hearst’s “advice and wisdom has been much an encouragement,” Weider said. “Parents, teachers and church leaders need to know just how damaging the content of Cosmopolitan magazine is to the development of young girls.”
Weider’s Change.org campaign demands that Cosmopolitan be sold in a non-transparent wrapper to adults only to prevent children from buying and reading material inappropriate for their stage in life.
Click here to view the petition, which currently has more than 33,000 signatures.
