It used to be, and still may be, that plastic placards were placed on the displayed cover of magazines unsuitable for children at checkout. Cosmo would have been one, I imagine.
The thing that irritated me, though, was the placards being placed on political mags. More than once, I moved them around. Yes, I’ve beem a bad boy.
Debatable. Does the store get to promote political content?
But the Hearst heiress (family of cosmo owners) sued to have cosmo cover up on the grounds that it is porn
Many stores do cover it up.