AFA Levels Porn Charge at Sears; Retailer Refuses to Bite

TUPELO, Miss.—The American Family Association (AFA), a far-right-wing Christian association that promulgates an intolerant attitude to adult sexual freedom, is accusing venerable retailer Sears of using pornography to market items on its website. The offending content in this instance can be found in the In the Home section of the website, in the Wall décor/Art category.

There are, in fact, nude art posters for sale in that section. It is unknown at this time exactly how long the products have been available for sale on the site, but according to an Aug. 3 blog post by AFA president Tim Wildmon titled “You Won’t Believe What Sears is Selling,” AFA “tried more than a half-dozen times to reach out to Sears quietly and professionally,” to no avail. “Sears' public relations department has refused to return our calls and emails.”

The blog post continues with a tone of incredulity. “Sears is currently offering giant posters of total nud**y on its website,” writes Wildmon. “Sears knows they are selling smut. Technology allows Sears to remove and stop selling these posters within minutes, so why won't they?”

For the unbelievers, Wildmon includes a link to a page on the AFA that contains some of the images in question, with the requisite warning that the photos may offend. The post is so important that Wildmon, as the reader may have noticed, added asterisks to words in the post that might “trigger blocks by many filters.” (We suspect that AFA itself blocks emails that contain words such as nud***ity and ***uality, to protect the children: this time, however, the children and their parents are apparently being encouraged to click through. It’s just that important!)

“These aren't just posters of scantily-clad women,” adds Wildmon. “Some of them depict groups of people, lesbians and others engaged in ***ual activities. Very little is left to the imagination.” Except the actual ***, that is.

Here’s a direct link to one of the posters, sans warning. Scroll down for most of the other images, one of which features adult superstar Tera Patrick.

Needless to say, AFA wants its readers to complain to Sears, and they provided a link to its publicity department for that purpose.

“Unless Sears hears from you, they will continue to sell offensive posters,” Wildmon says.

Well, the hoo-haw apparently did get the attention of Sears, but not the desired response. According to The Consumerist, “A Sears employee has responded to the group's concerns by saying that they ‘have reviewed the products in question and found that they do not fall outside our marketplace guidelines.’”

AFA replied, incensed, “Sears is playing with fire. Sears is the place that American families are used to going ... and I just cannot imagine that the vast majority of their customer base wants to shop at a place that's marketing pornography. ... There are a lot of other places that American families can shop for the same goods they get at Sears.”

That may be, but will they be able to purchase the “Adult Giant Boob Costume with Sound Bite” elsewhere?

Not if Sears has anything to say about it.