/ 21 October 2004

Old, naked bodies too much for Wal-Mart

Retail giant Wal-Mart has cancelled an order for a bestselling book by a comedian and the writers of his show after executives learned that it contains a photo of nine naked, aged bodies, each with the superimposed head of a Supreme Court justice. <i>America (The Book)</i>, is a mock school text by Jon Stewart and the writers of <i>The Daily Show</i>.

Retail giant Wal-Mart has cancelled an order for a bestselling book by a comedian and the writers of his show after executives learned that it contains a photo of nine naked, aged bodies, each with the superimposed head of a Supreme Court justice.

America (The Book), is a mock school text by Jon Stewart and the writers of The Daily Show. The book lampoons the American government in much the same way the show spoofs the news, includes cut-outs of the justices’ robes and a caption asking readers to ”restore their dignity by matching each justice with his or her respective robe”.

Wal-Mart executives deemed the book inappropriate for its shelves this week.

”We were not aware of the image that was in the book [when Wal-Mart ordered it] and we felt the majority of our customers would not be comfortable with it,” said Wal-Mart spokesperson Karen Burk. ”We offer what we think our customers want to buy. That just makes good business sense.”

Jamie Raab, a publisher for Warner Books, which produced America, said the naked justice joke fits perfectly with the book’s theme.

”It’s not gratuitous and it’s very much in tune with the rest of the book,” Raab said. ”It’s funny, yet to the point. When you undress the Supreme Court justices, they’re just men and women and you have to judge them on who they are and what they do. It makes you look and think and laugh.”

Raab said she doesn’t fault Wal-Mart for its decision, but added that she doesn’t see the point in banning something that isn’t intentionally sexually explicit.

Wal-Mart has a well-known policy of refusing to carry magazines with racy covers or CDs with explicit lyrics.

The chain is offering the book on its website. Burk said the store’s online customers are a ”different audience” and that the company wants to give an option to people looking to buy the book from Wal-Mart. — Sapa-AP