Furious vicar clears shelves at local shop of Playboy stationery 'targeted' at children

The Reverend Tim Jones accused the soft porn empire of "cynical and wicked commercial exploitation".

Outraged: Tim Jones spotted the Playboy stationery on the shelves aimed at children

He was appalled when he found items carrying Playboy's bunny logo on the shelves at his local Stationery Box store in York next to Winnie-the-Pooh and Mickey Mouse products.

Mr Jones was with his seven-year-old daughter and walked out in disgust.

But he decided to take a stand and returned on Monday with a petition objecting to the sale of the goods to children and moved all the Playboy products to an empty shelf.

Playboy's stationery range, which is widely sold in High Street stores, includespink pencil cases, notebooks, folders, diaries, gel pens and ring binders.

Mr Jones, 40, also criticised parents who allow the products to be bought for their children.

He scored an initial success by persuading staff at the Stationery Box branch to remove the Playboy range pending a '"merchandising review".

The vicar rejected Playboy's claim that all its products are aimed at adults only and attacked its marketing strategy as 'grossly irresponsible and appallingly negligent'.

He said: "Ultimately, what they are trying to do is normalise pornography even among much younger children.

"At the end of the day, they are in the business of making themselves very rich out of human sexual desire.

"They are cashing-in on it big time and don't care about the consequences.

"This constitutes a kind of institutional grooming of children for their commercial exploitation by the powerful sex industry.

"It is indirect but not accidental. It is deliberate, intentional, cynical and wicked and must be resisted.

"If cigarette companies started producing pencil cases and pens for children, people would go bananas.

"I intend to continue this protest and make more people aware of the mendacious and manipulative way Playboy conducts its business."

Three years ago, W H Smith was attacked for selling the same Playboy range to children.

But the store chain and other leading High Street names have continued to offer it.

Argos sells the Playboy stationery range in the section of its catalogue which includes "toys and gifts".

Playboy also sells bedding, glasses, mugs, shower gel, greetings cards and hot water bottles. Many are pink and clearly aimed at girls or young women.

Catherine Hanly, editor of the parents website raisingkids.co.uk said many mothers had condemned the sale of Playboy products in W H Smith stores on a recent discussion forum.

"They are perceived as targeting children," she added.

'It's the idea of children and girls going around with something with a Playboy logo on, it's seen as deeply inappropriate.

"It's the slow drip, drip effect of having sexualised merchandise aimed at children."

The parent company of Stationery Box refused to comment on the criticism.

But W H Smith defended the sale of the Playboy items, saying it aims to strike the right balance to meet the needs of all its customers "whilst not acting as a censor".

It added: "We always take into account the level of knowledge, sophistication and maturity of the people we are marketing to, particularly children."

Some of the Playboy stationery products: The firm insists they are for adults only

Playboy insist its products are aimed at adults only.

Commenting on the vicar's protest, a spokesman said: "We were surprised to discover that Playboy stationery has been so inappropriately positioned.

"Playboy's target audience is 18 to 34-year-olds, so we clearly did not authorise or approve the placement of our product next to such well-known children's characters. We will be reviewing this situation immediately."