Marge Simpson, the mother character on Fox’s “The Simpsons,” is on the cover of the November issue of Playboy magazine, hitting newsstands 10/16/09, and the American Family Association is not amused. Marge also will be featured on a two-page centerfold.
AFA is directing its campaign not at Fox, however, but at convenience giant 7-Eleven, asking it not to even stock the magazine.
“Most American dads know the dangers that porn represents to young males. It’s irresponsible of 7-Eleven to display porn in front of boys who pop into 7-11s for a hot dog or a Slurpee,” said Randy Sharp, AFA Special Projects Director. “The cover will create the kind of curiosity that can easily lead them into an addictive porn habit. This is not what American families want to see in their neighborhood convenience store.”
7-Eleven says the mag will be displayed with a special cover so as to be inoffensive in the store, and will not be sold to anybody under the age of 18.
RBR-TVBR observation: We’re not sure how Fox ducked the wrath of AFA, at least up until this point, for allowing its character to be so used. We suspect that when all of the dust clears, it won’t. However, speaking as a group of writers who never understood what the big attraction was about Olive Oyl to suitors-in-perpetuity Popeye and Bluto, we also find it hard to follow AFA down any addiction path that begins with Marge Simpson.
