Tesco and other major retailers are stocking versions of the film Lesbian Vampire Killers with stickers that obscure the word Lesbian and part of the image of a cleavage that appear on the cover.
The distributor of the DVD said it was
complying with a request from retailers, although stores have denied they requested that the film's title be obscured.
The censored version picked up by the big retailers has a sticker covering the word Lesbian, which states: Warning: may
display sexually suggestive cover image . Another bigger sticker that partially obscures the cleavage displays the message: Warning: contains explicitly fit bloodsucking hotties!
A spokesperson for the distributor of the DVD, Momentum,
said the changes were made at the request of stores: We were asked by a number of retailers to cover up certain parts of the cover, and we complied with their requests.
Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda and Borders are among the stores that have
chosen to stock the censored version of the cover, but all deny asking for the wording to be obscured.
Tesco said it had asked for the image of the cleavage to be covered: In common with other retailers we asked the supplier to change the
picture to make it more appropriate as we are a family retailer. We did not suggest that they [Momentum] amend the wording.
A spokeswoman for Borders said the store was never asked about censorship. Indeed, there were some censury [sic]
labels stuck on the packaging but they were not requested by Borders – they were sent to us like that.
HMV, which is running the uncensored version of the cover, said an alternative version of the cover was never discussed with Momentum: We've been happy to stock Lesbian Vampire Killers in its original sleeve. We find the idea of any retailer requiring the word Lesbian to be covered up surprising to say the least, and can't see why anyone would find the word offensive
.
