Video Game Comparison: AAFES vs. Wal-Mart

What we are asking of AAFES, with regards to our "Call to AAFES", is to follow the pro-family example of Wal-Mart - especially with M-rated video games (for 17 or older). FixAAFES.org commends AAFES for not selling A-rated video games (for adults), but we stress that the lack of a plan for M-rated games is unsatisfactory.

The following information about what Wal-Mart is doing to police up the video game industry was taken from ICCR.org. Wal-Mart is currently doing the following:

1. Wal-Mart forbids the selling of A-rated games. AAFES does also.

2. Wal-Mart has cash register prompts reminding cashiers that they must verify the age of a customer purchasing M-rated games. AAFES doesn't.

3. Wal-Mart formally trains its cashiers about video game ratings. AAFES doesn't.

4. Wal-Mart has empowered its stores to take disciplinary action. AAFES hasn't.

5. Wal-Mart displays signs with ESRB Ratings and Meanings. AAFES doesn't.

6. Wal-Mart has a policy that prohibits the selling of M-rated games to those under seventeen years of age. AAFES doesn't.

Wal-Mart gets 6 thumbs up. AAFES gets only 1 thumbs up and 5 thumbs down. Our Military and their children deserve better than that.

Positive Signs at the Commissary

Today at the Fort Riley Commissary, I was encouraged. When waiting in line to pay for my groceries, I noticed that there was a Men's Fitness magazine covered in the same manner that is pictured above. I was pleased that this particular check-out aisle was kid-friendly. This is a victory for Fort Riley's military families.

Curious, I asked the cashier why the magazine was covered. She stated, "some jealous woman complained about and it; so they covered it."

I simply smiled, checked out, loaded my groceries in the car, and walked back in to the Commissary. This time, I went to the customer service office and asked to speak to the manager. The manager wasn't on duty, but the assistant manager was. He came quickly to the front probably anticipating a complaint. I told him, "I have a compliment for your store, I want to let you know because I know compliments are rare."

I asked the assistant manager to follow me so that I could show him what I was pleased about. I then showed him the magazine that was covered and said that this was "...a good step in the right direction. This is what customers expect." The manager told me that he was simply responding to customer complaints. I told him that I appreciate what he did and that a good rule of thumb is - if ever in doubt, cover it up, because military parents deserve the right to determine what their children are exposed to."

Toward the end of our pleasant conversation, he told me that if his headquarters knew that he covered the magazine, they wouldn't be pleased. Surprised, I responded that if he receives retribution from his chain of command for covering this or any other magazine he should let me know because I would support him in front of his superiors. Motivated by my compliment, he said, "I know there are more magazines that aren't covered that should be; maybe I should look into that." Of course I agreed, but in the end I was simply encouraged by the current situation.

Additionally, I would like to comment on Men's Fitness Magazine. Usually, it isn't a bad magazine. However, if one issue is questionable, AAFES needs to err on the side of protecting children. This magazine is questionable because its cover states "10 sex tips". Also, it is objectionable because it has pictured a woman with her breasts bulging out of her swimsuit top. Swimsuit tops aren't bad. We all go to the beach. But adding sex to the equation makes the magazine inappropriate. Parents have a right to not have their kids exposed to this stuff. There should never be an "in-your-face" approach to selling periodicals. Selling questionable magazines in the check-out aisle is unacceptable.

In conclusion, the Commissary at Fort Riley, Kansas has set the standard for local managers. Although FixAAFES.org would like to still see Cosmopolitan and the like removed from the AAFES inventory, covering the magazines is a major step in the the right direction. We at FixAAFES.org hope that AAFES as a whole follows the example of this local leader and implements this policy world-wide.

Allow me to also note, some may argue that the current system works - when local managers receive complaints from customers they act. However, this positive sign at the Commissary has not, as far as I've seen, been the standard response of local mangagers. Many local managers have a nonchalant or sometimes confrontational attitude towards customers who don't agree with the way they are running their store. For this reason, a company-wide policy is essential.

AAFES Cut & Paste Standard Reply

Anytime one complains to AAFES regarding sexually explicit material, AAFES always sends the same standard reply. It never includes solutions nor does it include new courses of action to fix anything. Their response attempts to make one feel like part of some scarce minority. However, it is well know in the business community that customers who harbor a complaint rarely voice it. Research has indicated that there are several reasons for this. Often, customers are afraid their voice will not be heard, or they may simply want to avoid confrontation altogether. Therefore, when we do voice our concerns, AAFES must realize that every one complaint may in fact represent numerous others who share our views.

This cut-and-paste reply that many of us have received indicates that AAFES has heard these complaints before. It is time AAFES addresses our concerns instead of passing the buck like they attempt to do here:

AAFES thanks you for utilizing the Exchange Customer Comment Program to let us know that you have had a recent concern with sexually explicit headlines at our check-out lines.

First, let me start by saying AAFES is a "family" store and we go to great efforts to ensure our customers have a pleasant experience while shopping in our stores. In regard to magazine presentation, AAFES has a very clear policy about the location and presentation of "adult magazines" which the magazine industry classifies as Men ' s Sophisticates (e.g. Playboy). These magazines must have restrictive closures applied by the supplier to avoid random customer browsing, and are displayed on the top shelf/shelves of the self-service magazine display rack with only the title showing. An "adult reading material" panel will be used if the display fixture allows more than the title show.

Exchanges are to post a sign in the display area stating: WE SELL ADULT-ORIENTED MAGAZINES TO CUSTOMERS 18 YEARS OR OLDER. PLEASE DO NOT OPEN SEALED MAGAZINES. Managers are to check the magazine display racks regularly to make sure adult magazines aren ' t left where underage customers can reach them...and they check to ensure the restrictive closures are in place.

However, the magazines at our central-checkout do not fall in this category-they are classified as Women ' s General, Women ' s Fashions, Teen, House & Gardening, Weeklies, Tabloid, Social-Literary, etc. The criteria for the classification are based on the magazine content and not the cover. The magazine companies pay retailers, like AAFES, to display their magazines at their central checkouts.

Normally, the covers of these magazines are not bothersome to most of our customers. Nevertheless, we are aware that an occasional issue of a "non-adult magazine" can have an offensive cover, such as the recent issue of some magazines. The local general manager then has the option of placing a panel over the magazine to cover everything but the title until that issue is sold out. We encourage customers, like you, to notify the manager on duty if they are bothered by any of our central-checkout magazines so appropriate action can be taken.

The Military Honor and Decency Act of 1996 (Section 2489a, Title 10, United States Code) prohibits the sale or rental of sexually explicit materials on property under the jurisdiction of the Department of Defense (DoD).

At the direction of the Secretary of Defense, a Resale Activities Board of Review was established to review publications and other materials that might be viewed as sexually explicit. As a result of that review, a list of publications and other materials that may not be sold on property under the authority of DoD was published on 21 Sept 98, as was a list of publications that may be sold on property under DoD authority. The Commander of AAFES has instructed managers of all AAFES facilities to remove from sale all materials deemed sexually explicit by the Board of Review.

It is important to note that the Army and Air Force Exchange Service did not develop the list of approved publications. Those decisions were made at the Department of Defense, and our comment on them would be inappropriate. We suggest questions on these matters be directed to the Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness.

Porn A Growing Problem in Military (Family.org Article)

Taken from Family.org:

Porn A Growing Problem in Military
from staff reports

Chaplains report an increasing number of confessions from servicemen and women about addiction.

Pornography is causing a problem in the military, with chaplains overseas and at home reporting that an increasing number of servicemen and women are confessing to their pastors about porn's hold on them.

Father Mark Reilly, a Marine Corps chaplain, recently returned from a tour in Iraq where he heard continual confessions from soldiers addicted to porn.

"People will mail them stuff," he told Family News in Focus, "and the Internet is the biggest source of the spread of this addiction I would say."

The combination of war stress and being away from loved ones is a bad mixture for a porn addiction, he explained, adding that curbing the problem starts at home.

"I have trouble with the fact that you can step into the PX and buy pornography," Reilly said. "I don't think our Post Exchanges need to be in the business of peddling porn."

Congress enacted the Military Honor and Decency Act in 1996 to ban the sale of sexually explicit magazines and videos at military stores. Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center for Military Readiness, said the law isn't being enforced.

"When a military base makes available pornography, or condones it, or does nothing about it when it comes in through other areas," she said, "it sort of implies that it's OK with the leadership."

Donnelly said she wants porn in the PX revisited, and it should start with admitting there's a problem.

"Congress is going to have to take a look at this. Certainly the Pentagon is going to have to enforce those rules," she said. "It's a matter of good order and discipline and not just a matter of religion or free speech. It's a matter that the military itself needs to be concerned about."

In the meantime, the only help soldiers are finding is in the confessional and from their chaplains.

Unsolicited Sex Education

According to our "Call to AAFES" we ask AAFES to not position any offensive materials in areas where the customer is a "captive audience". In this article, I would like to elaborate on what we mean by this request.

We are talking mainly about the checkout aisle. In the AAFES checkout aisle, every customer gets an immediate sexual education class - whether they want one or not. Here is a list of what one might expect to read in the AAFES checkout aisle taken from the past two issues of Cosmopolitan:

“Sex vs. Skanky”
“30 Sex Boosters”
“Discover the Sex Fantasy That 68% of Men Have”
“Orgasms Unlimited”
“8 Places to Have Sex"

There are other magazines AAFES has in their checkout aisle that have similar titles. Children, who are authorized customers of AAFES, have to checkout through this same aisle that adults do. There are also adults who are principled who don't want to see those slogans either.

AAFES should immediatly stop selling these titles for the reasons above, but more importantly because these titles represent a stark contrast to the military culture of decency and military mission of winning hearts and minds while serving overseas.

Pornography a Problem in the Military (ABC News Article)

Taken from ABCNews.Go.com:

Combating the 'Problem of Pornography'
Divorce rates in the military have risen, especially in the Army, where the number of divorces nearly doubled from 2001 to 2004, according to the Center for Research on Military Organization at the University of Maryland.

Chaplain Randy Brandt, stationed in Schweinfurt, Germany, said the kits have helped combat the "problem of pornography."

"Even while we were in Iraq, the pervasion of this problem was evident — soldiers had porno CDs they could play on their personal DVDs, and they had sexually suggestive magazines "graciously" donated for the soldiers' entertainment," Brandt said. "The problem is an age-old one with the military: Soldiers are far away from home for a long time, sexual frustration sets in, and the visual stimuli become the easiest release."

But Brandt said the real problem starts when the soldiers return home.

"The soldiers come home, many are addicted to this type of sexual stimulation and either consciously or subconsciously they begin to compare their current relationship with the visual/Internet/virtual reality that they are used to and unfortunately, the real woman — wife or girlfriend — rarely can measure up," Brandt said.

1st Infantry Division General Order #1

When the First Infantry Division deployed to Iraq, the Commanding General, MG John Batiste, issued General Order #1. The purpose of this order is to "identify conduct that is prejudicial to good order and discipline while deployed in the Iraqi Theater of Operations."

One of the items identified as prohibited in this order is the use of pornography. Apparently, according to MG Batiste, pornography (to include sexually explicit images and words) affects "good order and discipline" in the ranks of the 1st ID while serving in Iraq. Below are the exact words dealing with sexually explicit items.

4. PROHIBITED ACTIVITIES:
c. Possession, transfer, sale, creation, or display of any pornographic or sexually explicit material.
5. DEFINITIONS:
d. Pornography: Any depiction (either by writing or picture) of erotic behavior intended to cause sexual excitement.

Now what does all this mean to AAFES? AAFES is to support the mission of the military. The military is not a career or job, it is a profession. Within this profession, there is a seperate standard - a seperate mission. AAFES' sole job is to support the men and women of the Armed Forces. According to this, their products should be in line with the military mission.

How can Soldiers, who train to fight wars, switch from buying pornography and sexually explicit materials at their local government store (AAFES) and then deploy and be expected to immediatly do away with it altogether? The bottom line is Service Members shouldn't have to. AAFES should be supportive, in-touch with the mission, and make the adjustment.