A campaign launched in the Sutton Guardian has forced a national supermarket chain into action.

The Child Eyes campaign was launched in March by Carshalton mum Kathy McGuinness in protest at what she sees as pornographic images on display in newsagents at child eye level.

After discussions with other members of her group LocalMumsOnline, Mrs McGuinness realised she was not the only mother angry at children being subjected to half naked women on the front page of magazines and newspapers on a daily basis.

Now, after months of lobbying shops, including the Co-op supermarket, the chain has now listened and offered an ultimatum to publishers.

The Co-op announced on Monday (July 29) that it will withdraw 'lads mags' from its 4000 shops nationwide, unless they are put in 'modesty bags', away from children's eyes.

Publishers of Front, Loaded, Nuts and Zoo have been given until 9 September to deliver the magazines in pre-sealed bags, and Mrs McGuinness said it is a huge victory and very exciting for the campaign.

She said: "Its been a lot of hard work, but this is great news, and we just hope others will now follow suit. It shows people can make a difference if they don't agree with something. I have been to the Co-op head offices to lobby the decision makers within the company, and it has finally worked. It has taken time, and we thought they were not listening to us which was pretty frustrating, but we made them listen."

Mrs McGuinness thanked the Sutton Guardian for its coverage of the campaign.

She said: "You were the first newspaper to print the campaign, and it has snowballed since then. I have spoken to a lot of other media organisation as a result, so I would like to thank you for all your help."

Steve Murrells, chief executive retail for The Co-operative Group, said: "As a community-based retailer we have listened to the concerns of our customers and members, many of whom say they object to their children being able to see overt sexual images in our stores.

The Publishers of these magazines now have until 9 September to start providing their own modesty bags, after which any lads’ magazine which does not have the relevant bag will not be supplied in our stores."