No more nudes in Playboy
October 13, 2015
The magazine's founder and editor-in-chief, Hugh Hefner, agreed last month to change Playboy's strategy and adapt it to the new market after a suggestion by editor Cory Jones to stop publishing pictures of naked women.
The company's CEO, Scott Flanders, told the "New York Times" that readers could easily access nudity on the Internet, making it "passé" for a magazine like Playboy.
However, the editors are still discussing the magazine's new layout. According to the article published late on Monday, Playboy will adopt a "cleaner, more modern style." The Playmate of the Month feature will still be there, but the pictures will be "a little more accessible, a little more intimate."
Its sex columnist will be a "sex-positive female" and the magazine will "continue its tradition of investigative journalism, in-depth interviews and fiction," the Times said, quoting Playboy editor Cory Jones.
"Don't get me wrong," Jones said, justifying his decision. "Twelve-year-old me is very disappointed in current me. But it's the right thing to do."
Playboy is making changes after its circulation dropped drastically from 5.6 million in 1975 to around 800,000 at present. The magazine, which has featured women like Marilyn Monroe on its cover also faced severe criticism from feminists who said it reduced women to sex objects.
However, the magazine has also had an "intellectual" appeal, with writers like Kurt Vonnegut, Vladimir Nabokov, Joyce Carol Oates and Alex Haley saying they did not buy Playboy just for pictures. Playboy's articles have included interviews with Fidel Castro, Martin Luther King, Jr. and John Lennon.
mg/kms (dpa, Reuters)