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NZ Chief Censor: Sale of Fifty Shades of Grey Unrestricted
Decision From NZ’s Chief Censor Allows
Unrestricted Sale Of Global Best Seller Fifty Shades of
Grey
Random House New Zealand today welcomed the decision by the Chief Censor Office of Film and Literature classification to allow the continued unrestricted publication of global best seller Fifty Shades of Grey.
Karen Ferns, MD Random House New Zealand, said it was a victory for common sense and freedom of expression.
She said: "To have restricted publication would have put New Zealand out of step with comparable democratic countries such as the UK, Australia, Canada and the United States. Books with similar levels of explicit sexual content have been available for years.”
"This is a victory for common sense and freedom of expression and I am delighted that the OFLC has recognised that Fifty Shades of Grey is firmly embedded in popular culture and has decided to let it remain freely available."
Karen added: "Whilst Fifty Shades of Grey has allowed women to speak about sex in a socially permissible way it is, first and foremost, a love story. It has touched a nerve shared by millions of people, speaking to them about a range of issues that affect their lives."
"Fifty Shades is a hugely popular publishing phenomenon which is being discussed in media and around water coolers across the world. It is also empowering people - particularly women - to talk frankly and think creatively about sex."
NOTES TO EDITORS:
• Combined sales of the physical and eBook in
New Zealand have been over 350,000 copies and 40 million
have been sold in (English language editions) around the
world.
• The Fifty Shades trilogy has been
available in New Zealand since April 2012
• In New
Zealand, Fifty Shades of Grey has been on the
international fiction bestseller list for 20 weeks,
including 16 weeks at number one.
• 20,000 readers
voted the Fifty Shades trilogy as Number 5 in Whitcoulls'
Top 100 list for 2012-13.
• More than 2,000 readers
are reportedly on Auckland Library's waiting list for the
books.
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