Family Group Supports Call To Pull Zoo Magazine

Family First NZ is supporting calls for Countdown stores in New Zealand to stop selling ZOO Weekly, and says that all retailers in NZ should be encouraged to reject the publication.

“The magazine promotes a rape culture and objectifies women – all at the same time as we try to tackle the ‘roastbusters’ mentality and unacceptable rates of sexual violence in New Zealand,” says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First NZ.

“We agree with Australian campaigners that the magazine normalises the sexualisation and objectification of women, teaches boys to be predatory, encourages sexual harassment and violence, and is harmful to young people.”

“It is vital that families continue to speak up rather than accept the sexualisation of girls and women in the media, and it’s vital that the corporate world join this fight.”

“The public deserve to be protected from the injurious impact of material deemed objectionable and dangerous to families and young people,” says Mr McCoskrie.

A 2011 UK study compared lads’ mags’ – including Zoo – and statements from convicted rapists. It found many people could not distinguish the source of the quotes.

“Family First is calling on Countdown and then other retailers to show social responsibility and corporate ethics and no longer stock the magazine.”

Family First has previously succeeded in getting an objectionable Lady Gaga billboard removed from the back of buses, objected to a three-storey-high mural of a naked woman on the side of Christchurch’s central city strip club, laid a complaint with the police over a highly offensive t-shirt being displayed at a Canterbury Museum exhibition, was successful in getting a complaint upheld by the Advertising Standards Authority which banned the Internet Mana party’s ‘Join the Revolution’ advert on YouTube which includes a crowd chanting “f*** John Key”, and welcomed a decision by Whitcoulls to remove an offensive advertisement from the NZ AIDS Foundation.

ENDS

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