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Perhaps it's because Kroger, headquartered in Cincinnati, is off the East Coast media map. But the 2,268 grocery stores and 800 convenience stores the chain owns can be found in 31 states (though not New York) under the names Kroger, Fred Meyer, Ralphs, Smith's and King Soopers. The chains' shoppers read and buy plenty of magazines, but thanks to Kroger, they won't be reading about Cosmo's guide for "Advanced Lovers Only!"

And if Morality in Media (MIM) has its way, Glamour, Redbook and Mademoiselle will soon be shrouded, too.

It was the New York-based MIM that first urged Kroger to cover Cosmo. According to MIM president Robert Peters, the anti-pornography watchdog group sent letters to the CEOs of more than 300 supermarket chains complaining about the monthly's increasingly saucy cover lines ("Moves So Hot You'll Need a Fire Hose to Cool Down the Bed") rather than its traditionally cleavage-crazed cover models.

"In July we received a form letter from them saying they left these decisions up to local management, telling me in so many words to go swim in the Hudson River," recalls Peters. Then in August, the Cincinnati Post ran a prominent piece about MIM's crusade. In September, Wirthlin Worldwide conducted a poll for MIM that indicated the majority of Americans thought teasers such as "Sex Tricks He's Never Seen Before -- the Outrageous Rock Technique" were inappropriate at the checkout stand -- "where children can see them every day." ("Mommy, how do you maximize your pleasure match?")

MIM sent another letter to the CEOs, touting the results of the poll, and this month Kroger announced Cosmo would be displayed at checkout in a "blinder bin," with only its title visible.

Kroger spokesman Gary Rhodes denies that MIM was the sole force behind the company's decision, noting that "the issue has been under consideration for at least a year. A year ago our Atlanta division decided to remove Cosmo from checkout counters based on complaints down there." Such decisions are usually left to regional managers, he said, but "we made this decision at a corporate level, and it was supported at all of our divisions." Since announcing the cover-up, Kroger has received "thousands of e-mails and hundreds of letters and phone calls overwhelmingly in favor of our decision." They are not considering covering other women's titles -- yet.

Perhaps what is most puzzling in all of this is the reaction of the magazines being placed under wraps: circle the wagons, draw the blinds and hope that this thing blows over. The editors of Cosmo, Glamour, Redbook and Mademoiselle all declined to comment for this column and even the spokespeople for Hearst (publisher of Cosmo and Redbook) and Condé Nast (Glamour and Mademoiselle) aren't saying much.

"Both Cosmo and Redbook are among the most loved magazines in America," says Hearst's Andrea Kaplan, citing their paid circulation (2.9 and 2.8 million, respectively) alone. And while MIM's Peters seems to have just discovered the saucy bits in Redbook, Kaplan says that the magazine has "always covered sex as an important part of marriage." (Unlike Cosmo, which celebrates it as an important part of entertaining.)

"The focus was not Cosmo," says Peters, "though in my letters to CEOs we beat up on Cosmo more than anybody else. In large part, Cosmo is the worst of this particular problem and it has a long history." Though Glamour has been biting Cosmo's style ever since it installed former Cosmo editor Bonnie Fuller in 1998 (and the two titles' cover lines often seem interchangeable), Glamour (with a 2.2 million paid circulation) is not on the top of MIM's hit list.

"I bought copies of the February Cosmo and Glamour," says Peters, "and went through them page by page. There is less offensive content in Glamour than Cosmo, and the stuff that is offensive is milder." Though Glamour's top line this month promotes "23 Erotic Ways to Make Sex With Him Sweeter," the content seems to have passed Peters' sniff test. "Erotica, as you well know, can apply to everything from a bare breast to someone having sex with a hyena," says Peters. "So when it says '23 Erotic Ways,' that can mean many things. But I've looked at it; it has quotes from doctors. Compared to Cosmo, which is just -- though couched in educational terms -- explicit sex!"

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