A cover-up campaign

"Make Him Ache for You. Our 6 Frisky Phrases Will Have Him BurningUp by Bedtime."

The headline is one of seven rather saucy teasers on the cover ofthis month's Cosmopolitan, which also shows model Laetitia Casta in askintight, sequined dress.

It's typical stuff from the Hearst Corp. magazine, which boastsmore than 35 million readers worldwide, and exactly what has promptedthe American Decency Association to launch its latest campaign.

On Monday, the Michigan-based conservative group ran a $100,000,full-page ad in the metro section of The New York Times denouncingthe willingness of grocery stores to display such "morals-destroyingfilth."

"This is NOT a demand for censorship. We are simply asking forRESPONSIBILITY by supermarket chains (and local store managers),"read the ad, which included a petition to be filled out bysupporters. "It can be stopped . . . All it takes is for enough of usto ACT."

By Wednesday, the group had received one petition back in themail.

"I don't think it takes a moral giant to determine what is andwhat isn't appropriate," said Bill Johnson, the group's executivedirector, who keeps a stack of magazines on his desk for quickreference. "We know that there are many people who share our concern.Whether we get one piece of mail back or five pieces of mail, we'llcontinue to do what we have to do."

In the next few weeks, the group (formerly the American FamilyAssociation of Michigan) plans to fire off a series of letters tomajor advertisers in such magazines as Cosmo, Glamour and Redbook,encouraging them to consider advertising elsewhere.

The controversy of selling sex to sell magazines seems to havepicked up momentum in the past year, mostly because of the New Yorkgroup Morality in Media.

In December, the Cincinnati-based Kroger supermarket chainannounced it would place Cosmopolitan behind blinder racks in all itsstores. Earlier this year, Food Lion, based in North Carolina, alsoannounced it would use blinder racks on "certain magazines."

Responding to the American Decency Association in a statementissued Tuesday, the Magazine Publishers of America said: "It isunfortunate that a highly vocal minority is trying to deprivemillions of Americans-from all walks of life and in all parts of thecountry-of their right to purchase their favorite magazines."

As for the magazines, the association's ad doesn't seem to becreating much buzz. "We have not heard from any readers about this,"said Paul Luthringer, a Hearst spokesman.

"We're standing by the MPA's statement."