On Madison, bookstores, and poor taste

As I've chronicaled here at Jiblog, this was a weekend of Christmas shopping for the lovely Mrs. Jib and I. Our very first stop was one of our favorite places in Madison, Borders Book Store on the east side. Typically we will burn hours at Borders, but this year we occupied with the business of Christmas shopping. While I waited for Mrs. Jib to accomplish her task, I leafed through the books, and then considered getting a coffee. I stood quite a ways back from the coffee counter while I scanned the menu board, and out of the corner of my eye I saw two books on the shelf next to me. The books were right beside each other with their covers facing out. Both titles had several books behind the front-facing copies, so they were obviously being highlighted by the staff. Their proximity to each other was completely tasteless, though. The book on the right was The Chronicles of Narnia-The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe Official Illustrated Movie Companion. The book to the left was The Big Book of Porn: A Penetrating Look at the Word of Dirty Movies. If I thought that these two books were accidentally placed next to each other, I'd have little problem with it. My problem is the fact that they were being obviously merchandised side by side. So one the right, we have a book which should be an attraction to kids and to families who have or will be seeing the movie. On the left we have a book that is filled with pornographic pictures, and which has no protective slip cover on it what so ever. I suspect in Madison people don't have a problem mixing their porn with their children's books. I live outside the 69 square miles surrounded by reality, though, and I do. Many kids know how to search for their own books by third grade, and this is a book that I suspect a number of them may want to look at. And right there beside it, the Madison East Borders decides to merchandise porn. Unacceptable.

I have a challenge for everyone who lives or works in close proximity to a Borders. Go to the media section and look for the Narnia book. Once you find it, see if it is being merchandised next to the Big Book of Porn. Hopefully this is just a bad decision by the employees of one bookstore, but if it is a corporate merchandising decision, then Borders is going to need to pressured to rescind the decision.

Up front admission
I failed to say anything to the management of the East Side Borders. I was more than a little caught up in myself and what I needed to accomplish on Saturday, and after point out the display to Mrs. Jib, we left the store for out next location.