Backing off its ban, the Shell Oil Co. is stocking 240 of its branded stores in Florida with pornographic magazines.
The Florida Family Association (FFA) has worked for years to keep porn mags out of convenience stores, but Circle K stores at Shell gas stations will soon be selling Playboy and Penthouse.
David Caton, executive director of FFA, said the oil company is operating in violation of its own policy.
"In many cases, in the past couple of years, they would not allow smaller chains or individual Shell-branded stations to sell such material," he said.
In an e-mail to FFA, Otto O. Meyers III, a spokesman for Shell, wrote, "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."
But Daniel Weiss, media and sexuality analyst for Focus on the Family Action, said the company is clearly in violation of its own policy that prohibits stores from "selling or displaying materials with themes of sex, nudity or prurient interest."
"Just making up a new word doesn't change the policy."
