Shell Oil Company is the first and only major oil company to define Penthouse and Playboy magazines as “not pornographic.” Shell Oil Company made this policy change to allow Circle K Stores to sell pornographic magazines at two hundred forty (240) independent Shell branded stores that Circle K recently purchased.
Florida Family Association (FFA) has worked since 1997 to influence every major oil company to prohibit their branded independent stores from selling pornography. FFA influenced BP-Amoco, Exxon-Mobil, Chevron-Texaco, Citgo, Marathon, Murphy and Sunoco to add restrictions to their marketing agreements with independent retailers to prohibit the sale of pornography.
Shell Oil Company also adopted these restrictions. Click here to read Shell’s former policy that once prohibited pornography but is no longer being enforced. However, in 2007 Shell Oil Company declined to enforce those no-porn marketing agreement restrictions at Circle K Stores that sell Shell branded gasoline. Circle K Stores recently purchased two hundred forty Shell branded stores at that time. The overwhelming majority of these two hundred forty stores did not sell pornography before being purchased by Circle K Stores.
FFA communicated concerns regarding the continued sale of pornography under Shell signage at Circle K Stores. Shell Oil slowly responded with ambiguous answers. However, the last email received from Shell Oil made their position very clear.
“In regard to your inquiry about specific Circle K locations, our investigation has concluded that these stores are not selling pornography as one would think the general public defines it, but rather ‘adult sophisticate’ magazines such as Playboy and Penthouse,” Otto O’. Meyers, III, GM, U.S. Retail Operations Support, Shell Oil Company.
Shell Oil Company has made it clear that they do not consider the hardcore content of Penthouse and the explicit content of Playboy to be pornographic. The likely reason, the money they make or would lose from the two hundred forty Circle K Stores that sell Shell branded gasoline.
After four months of emails and phone calls FFA asked Shell Oil Company officials to meet with several pro-family organization leaders to discuss their new policy position. Shell Oil Company officials ignored this request.
A Shell Oil official on the east coast of Florida informed Florida Family Association that now that Shell Oil allows hundreds of Circle K Stores to sell pornography the company will find it legally indefensible to prohibit other retailers of their brand of gasoline from also selling pornography. Thus Shell will become the preferred brand of gasoline to be sold by retailers who also sell pornography.
Florida Family Association launched an email campaign urging Shell Oil Company to reconsider their policy change. The American Family Association and Citizens for Community Values also sent an email encouraging their supporters to contact Shell Oil. Citizenlink.org (Focus on the Family) and Worldnetdaily.com also reported Shell Oil Company’s policy change.
Florida Family Association has prepared an email for you to send to encourage Shell Oil Company officials to change their policy back to one of prohibiting the sale of pornography by independent retailers who sell the Shell brand of gasoline.
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