Walmart Inc. has bowed to pressure from an activist group and agreed to remove Hearst Corp.-owned Cosmopolitan magazines from its checkout counters, Bloomberg reported March 27, citing an email from a company spokesman.

The decision follows calls from the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, which refers to the magazine's covers as "sexploitation." In a same-day website post, the Washington-based group said Cosmopolitan's articles "promote pornography and sexting," and sends the same messages about female sexuality as Playboy.

In an email to the news outlet, Walmart spokesman Randy Hargrove reportedly said that the retailer will still sell the publication in its magazine aisles.

The move comes in the wake of the #MeToo movement, which aims to shed light on sexual harassment, particularly in the workplace. The campaign has recently led to a number of financial repercussions for companies including Wynn Resorts Ltd. and Weinstein Co. LLC, whose founders stepped down following sexual abuse allegations.