Say it ain't so, Hugh!

[Old Guy]

Like the last line says, "What's left?"

Playboy magazine to end publishing fully nude female photos

EW YORK (AP) -- Playboy will no longer publish photos of nude women as part of a redesign, the decades-old magazine announced Tuesday.

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The magazine will still feature women in provocative poses, but they will no longer be fully nude, Playboy said in a statement.

The change, to take place in March, represents a major shift for the magazine, which broke new ground when Hugh Hefner created it and featured Marilyn Monroe on its debut cover in 1953. It marks the latest step away from depictions of full nudity, which were banned from the magazine's website in August 2014.

The magazine claims it website audience soared with that move, averaging a 400 percent increase in monthly unique visitors.

"The political and sexual climate of 1953 ... bears almost no resemblance to today," said Playboy Enterprises CEO Scott Flanders. "We are more free to express ourselves politically, sexually and culturally today, and that's in large part thanks to Hef's heroic mission to expand those freedoms."

Officials acknowledge that Playboy has been witnessing widespread changes. "You're now one click away from every sex act imaginable for free. And so it's just passé at this juncture," Flanders told The New York Times.

Playboy editor Cory Jones recently contacted Hefner about dropping nude photos from the print edition and he agreed, the Times reported.

Playboy's print circulation, once measured in millions, is now about 800,000, according to Alliance for Audited Media, the newspaper reported.

The shift from nudity will be accompanied by other changes in the magazine, including a slightly larger size and a heavier, higher quality of paper meant to give the magazine a more collectible feel.

Previous efforts to revamp Playboy have never quite stuck. But this time, as the magazine seeks to compete with younger outlets, Flanders said it sought to answer a key question: "If you take nudity out, what's left?"

 

[Big Sky]

Why pay for it when porn is free?

 

[SacramentoMike]

It's always been about the articles anyway.

 

[beemerdons]

^^^^^What SacramentoMiguelito said ese, we're not into that cheap physical shit! JSNS, Blarney and Mullarkey aye!^^^^^

 

[MrZappo]

Simple strategy really .. Just do the opposite of what everyone else is doing and get free publicity ... I will miss the boobies though ...

 

[bluesdog]

Kinda sad that society continues to consider nudity equivalent to pornography.

 

[Old Guy]

Kinda sad that society continues to consider nudity equivalent to pornography.

I worked in the IT department of a bank before I retired, and one of our bank managers reported that customer was coming in and using the lobby computer (for customer use) to browse porn. I came by to check, and the customer was going to swimsuit and bikini sites. I thought to myself that if he considered that porn, I could show him some sites that'd give him a nervous breakdown in short order

 

[odot]

Kinda sad that I've never been to the strip clubs in British Columbia......I hear they are the cat's ass.

 

[Uncle Hud]

What Playboy did/does is more like Glamour Shots. While scandalous in the 60s, it doesn't even come close to current R-rated movies.

 

[BigOgre]

Found this in today's paper. Hopefully the link works even if you're not a paying customer.

Playboy's Odd Return to Innocence

 

[Knifemaker]

Playboy? I remember them....even had a small collection when I was much younger.....then I found Hustler..... .....

The airbrushed photoshopped naked gals in Playboy suddenly looked so fake i lost all interest in the magazine...only good part were the Gahan Wilson cartoons....

 

[Big Sky]

Fixed it for myself: "Why pay for it when artistic nudity is free."

 

[Old Guy]

 

[ionbeam]

Miss October:

Next the jokes will be PG.

 

[SwollenRaccoon]

* A Big Mac with no meat, just a bun, lettuce, pickle, cheese and sauce. (Well, a pretty good argument could be made that NO MacDonald's burgers contain actual "meat").

* Onion rings with no batter.

* Bust with no sheep.

* Trump without the comb-over.

* Marty Feldman without those eyes.

Come on, Hef, what are you thinking? It will be pretty hard for a 12 year old to hide a computer between the mattress and box spring.

 

[Old Guy]

* A Big Mac with no meat, just a bun, lettuce, pickle, cheese and sauce. (Well, a pretty good argument could be made that NO MacDonald's burgers contain actual "meat").
* Onion rings with no batter.

* Bust with no sheep.

* Trump without the comb-over.

* Marty Feldman without those eyes.

Come on, Hef, what are you thinking? It will be pretty hard for a 12 year old to hide a computer between the mattress and box spring.

Have you seen today's laptops? I've got one hidden there now.

 

[HotRodZilla]

Cellphones are easily hidden in a pocket. They have HD screens and fast download times, rivaling most computers. Porn and nudity are but a Google search away.

I did love Playboy's jokes when I was a kid!

 

[juniorfjr]

I've read a recent article that the concern was more the survival of the magazine industry. Playboy isn't alone in trying to hold on. All magazines are loosing circulation and struggling to keep up.

 

[Old Guy]

I've read a recent article that the concern was more the survival of the magazine industry. Playboy isn't alone in trying to hold on. All magazines are loosing circulation and struggling to keep up.

For sure. I would imagine the circulation would have to be very high to justify advertising rates that'd keep a print magazine alive. With shrinking subscriber revenues would naturally come shrinking advertising revenues.

I just thought it was pretty bizarre for a magazine to stop publishing the one thing that most people to subscribe to. It'd be like Cycle World dropping all coverage of sport bikes to concentrate on cruisers. But, then, I guess that's not so far fetched.