Business

Walmart removes Cosmopolitan magazine from checkout aisles

FILE - This June 1, 2017, file photo, shows a Walmart sign at a store in Hialeah Gardens, Fla. Walmart is expanding its same-day online grocery delivery service to more than 40 percent of U.S. households, or 100 metro areas, by year-end as it tries to keep pace with online leader Amazon.com. (AP Photo/Alan Diaz, File) Alan Diaz / AP, File

BENTONVILLE, Ark. (AP) — Walmart has removed Cosmopolitan magazine from its checkout aisles.

The retailer says it was primarily a business decision, but concerns raised by groups over the magazine’s content were heard.

The National Center on Sexual Exploitation says Walmart’s decision makes it a “leader and trailblazer in corporate responsibility.” In a statement, the group says Cosmo “places women’s value primarily on their ability to sexually satisfy a man and therefore plays into the same culture where men view and treat women as inanimate sex objects.”

Walmart senior director of corporate affairs Meggan Kring says customers can find Cosmopolitan in the magazine section of its stores.

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An email seeking comment from Cosmopolitan’s parent company, Hearst, was not immediately returned.