Decision to pull men's mags lauded by religious loyalty club

Drug Store News,  June 9, 2003  by Liz Parks

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In response to mounting customer complaints, Wal-Mart Stores announced May 5 it had stopped selling three leading men's magazines--Maxim, Stuff and FHM--because the publications' content is built around a mix of scantily clad starlets and bawdy humor.

On the same day of the announcement, Kingdom Ventures, a rapidly growing church development company, announced it had approved Wal-Mart as a Christian merchant--a prerequisite for joining King dom Venture's Christian Merchants program. The company's Christian Merchants initiative provides a direct marketing channel to tens of millions of active church members who reportedly control hundreds of billions of dollars annually, according to the company. Kingdom Ventures also approved Costco for its Christian Merchants program.

Melissa Berryhill, a spokeswoman for Wal-Mart, said there was no connection between Wal-Mart's decision to yank the publications and Kingdom Ventures' announcement. "We have no idea what that company is or what they are doing," Berryhill company said. "There is no affiliation between Wal-Mart and Kingdom Ventures."

Berryhill said the decision to drop the publications came as a result of "listening to our customers and associates," many of whom, she said "were not pleased with the offering."

Kingdom Ventures also noted there was no connection between the two events.

In a statement from Kingdom Ventures, Gene Jackson, p resident and chief executive officer, said that while the organization "applauds Wal-Mart's decision, it is not our policy to influence other companies' decisions." Kingdom Ventures "approves or disapproves Christian merchants based on the way they operate," he continued. Jackson said Wal-Mart's decision to pull the racy men s magazines was not in itself the basis for approving the world's largest retailer. "We approved them only because of their solid track record in promoting Christian books and music," he added.

According to Kingdom Ventures, the retailing of religious and inspirational products is a $6 billion industry.

Jackson described Christian Merchants as a private label program run by Kingdom Ventures for churches. Although Kingdom Ventures is not quite three years old, the company already has built a distribution network of 2,100-plus retail stores, 1,200 Christian bookstores and 900 gift stores.

The company s goal is to touch at least 75,000 churches, amounting to tens of millions of people, within the next two years, he said.

In addition to being approved on a morality/ethical standpoint, retailers that want to participate in Kingaom Ventures' Christian Merchants program must agree to extend a special discount on its products.

Suppliers are reviewed similarly for participation in the program.

Products also will be sold through Kingdom's media properties, including its Christian Web portal, www.iExalt.com. A certain percentage of all purchases made through Kingdom Ventures is donated back to the purchaser's designated church.

Jackson said Kingdom Ventures wants to build its Christian Merchants initiative "to become the ultimate Christian affinity group program in the United States."

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