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U.K. Priest Irate After Finding Playboy, Disney Items Side-by-Side in Stationery Store

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

One of these things is not like the other: Winnie the Pooh, Mickey Mouse … Hugh Hefner?

A U.K. priest perusing the shelves at his local stationery store was shocked to find Playboy items positioned directly next to those of the popular Disney characters, the Daily Mail newspaper reported.

The Rev. Tim Jones, 40, has since launched a protest against what he calls the sex industry’s "institutional grooming of children for their commercial exploitation," he told the paper.

It worked.

Since he began his one-man protest at the Stationery Box in York, the store has stopped selling the merchandise.

"The long-term intention of their strategy is to encourage children to see the Playboy bunny as a friendly brand appropriate for children, preparing them for early commercial acceptance of Playboy pornographic merchandise,” said Jones, who, with the blessing of the store’s manager, began throwing the Playboy items on the floor to separate them from the children’s paper, the Mail reported.

In response to the uproar, a Playboy spokesman said the incident will be investigated.

"Playboy's target audience is 18- to 34-year-olds so we clearly did not authorize or approve the placement of our product next to such well-known children's characters,” the spokesman told the paper.

Click here to read more on this story from the Daily Mail.

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