Issues@Hand

AFA initiatives, Christian activism, news briefs

November-December 1994 – American Family Association says that its boycott of Kmart continues to cause the company major economic woes. Kmart recently reported that it expects to post its seventh consecutive quarterly profit decline in the fiscal third quarter ending October 26. In addition, Kmart recently reported that it will be closing 110 stores because of declining profits.

Kmart continues to blame the weather for their decline. However, Wal-Mart and Target stores, experiencing the same weather as Kmart, saw their September sales post healthy gains of 8.2% and 5% respectively, in stores open at least a year. AFA says that much of Kmart’s economic woes can be attributed to the four-and-one-half-year boycott pushed by AFA. AFA says Kmart is one of the largest retailers of pornography in America, selling the pornography in their Waldenbooks stores.

“It is amazing that in reporting on the decline of Kmart for the past two years, the news media has never even mentioned the boycott,” said Donald E. Wildmon, president of AFA.

Wildmon said the boycott began in the spring of 1990 when Waldenbooks, which is owned by Kmart, sued AFA. Waldenbooks sued the AFA because of AFA’s efforts against pornography. Kmart’s economic troubles began a few months after the AFA boycott began.

“We called for a boycott of Kmart because all the profits from Waldenbooks porn sales go to Kmart and because Kmart refused to take the porn out of their bookstores and refused to instruct Waldenbooks to drop their suit against AFA,” Wildmon said.

He said that AFA has distributed over 20,000,000 “Boycott Kmart” cards, mailed approximately three million boycott packets, and promoted the boycott through 160,000 churches and over several hundred Christian radio stations.

“If a similar boycott promoted by the homosexuals had been anywhere near as successful as this one, it would have been reported in the secular media with big fanfare,” Wildmon said.

AFA urges individuals to call their local Kmart store and tell the manager they are boycotting Kmart.

Also write Chrm. Joseph Antonini, Kmart Corporation, 3100 West Big Beaver Road, Troy, MI 48084, phone 1-800-63-KMART. Kmart owns Waldenbooks, Borders Book Stores, American Fare Stores, Bargain Harold’s, and Builders Square home supply stores.