Playboy is removing nudity from its magazine

[Guy]

Playboy will be removing nudity from its magazine in march http://www.avclub.com/article/playboy-will-now-be-nothing-articles-226727

 

[zippypinhead]

Man, end of an era. I don't see how this decision is going to give the publication much life, though.

 

[Guy]

Man, end of an era. I don't see how this decision is going to give the publication much life, though.

They just could not compete with free hardcore pornography on the internet

 

[zippypinhead]

They just could not compete with free hardcore pornography on the internet

That does seem to be the case. I was always a fan of their tastefully-appointed celebrity pictorials.

 

[Nordling]

Kind of cool really. they've always had fantastic articles and interviews.

 

[JerryBoBerry]

27 years ago on the day of my 18th birthday I sent off my check for a lifetime subscription, after getting a P.O. box to deliver it to. The past decade I've been wondering if it would still be in business when I retired. It's been in slow decline for years. People blame the online porn but I think they have the wrong angle on that. I seem to remember they drastically changed their layout some time shortly after Hugh stepped down from most duties. It got thinner to begin with, but the big change was they moved the majority of the pictures that use to be in the magazine to their web page as enticement for signing up there. Content started suffering drastically around that time.

You can say online porn caused less subscriptions, but I think it's them trying to shift focus to their own online webpage is what really did it. There just wasn't as much substance in the monthly issues anymore to justify the price hikes that were also happening.

 

[Sevrin]

Guess it will be more like Maxim now. Can't say it will have an impact on me.

 

[AerynShade]

My brother is going to be so pissed. He has a lifetime subscription.

 

[LuckySmiles]

27 years ago on the day of my 18th birthday I sent off my check for a lifetime subscription, after getting a P.O. box to deliver it to. The past decade I've been wondering if it would still be in business when I retired. It's been in slow decline for years. People blame the online porn but I think they have the wrong angle on that. I seem to remember they drastically changed their layout some time shortly after Hugh stepped down from most duties. It got thinner to begin with, but the big change was they moved the majority of the pictures that use to be in the magazine to their web page as enticement for signing up there. Content started suffering drastically around that time.

You can say online porn caused less subscriptions, but I think it's them trying to shift focus to their own online webpage is what really did it. There just wasn't as much substance in the monthly issues anymore to justify the price hikes that were also happening.

Remove all the adult aspects from it, and the magazine on the decline because it's a print magazine. People rarely sign up for magazine subscriptions.
Analyze sales of Sports Illustrated,Time, or Cosmopolitan and you'll find comparative levels of decline in sales.

If the nudity is removed does that make it legal for teenagers to purchase? If people even really ID to buy magazines? Is it like the 17 and under thing at the movies? I have no idea in the 90s I was able to buy beer lotto tickets and cigarettes in my school uniform so I'm not sure how it all works, but I digress.

Seems taking the nudity out is a last resort effort to get more sales out of younger people(if that makes it legal) and women. Kind of futile.

 

[HiGirlsRHot]

I guess I'm glad that I didn't get a lifetime subscription, I was tempted. I dropped my print subscription in the early 2000s, the digital one 5 or 6 years ago and my subscription to the Playboy Cyberclub when the sold it to Manwin back in 2011. It is really tempted to write up a business school case on Playboy. It never ceases to amaze how company with a strong brand ,and early internet presence managed to go bankrupt, in a world where selling naked images became huge multi-billion dollar pretty mainstream business.

This is the best explanation I've seen on why PB is dropping nudity.

China—not online porn—is why Playboy is dumping nude photographs...

Over the course of a decade, Playboy has steadily transformed itself from a publishing company to a company that sells bunny drawings to T-shirt manufacturers. Revenues from licensing Playboy merchandise went from $37 million in 2009 to $65 million in 2013‚ marking about half the company’s revenues at the time....

Even with the government’s tough attitude to pornography, Playboy earns 40% of its revenues from China, according to the New York Times.

 

[JickyJuly]

Playboy operates under a beauty standard that is pretty slim. When it began, women who met that standard and were willing to appear nude were far more difficult to find. Today, that standard of beauty is no longer universally prized as the be all end all of erection makers. And, women who look the part aren't that hard to find. It makes Playboy look kind of antiquated.

Still, I think they could have kept operating as a classic/elite type of deal. Where they really killed their own brand is taking all of the mystique and class out of it. You can buy Playboy perfume at the grocery store for like $7. Add in the fact that Hugh Hefner did a reality show and ... mystery gone. It's way more exciting to picture this dude building an empire and living in his pajamas surrounded by beautiful women than it is to see it on tv where the beautiful women have curfews and herds of chihuahuas pooping all over the "mansion".

 

[Sevrin]

I guess I'm glad that I didn't get a lifetime subscription, I was tempted. I dropped my print subscription in the early 2000s, the digital one 5 or 6 years ago and my subscription to the Playboy Cyberclub when the sold it to Manwin back in 2011. It is really tempted to write up a business school case on Playboy. It never ceases to amaze how company with a strong brand ,and early internet presence managed to go bankrupt, in a world where selling naked images became huge multi-billion dollar pretty mainstream business.

This is the best explanation I've seen on why PB is dropping nudity.

They may also want to get apps approved on the App Store and Google Play. As long as they're porny, that won't happen.

 

[EdgarAllenWhoa]

Playboy is still circulating??? WOW...guess they couldn't keep up with paying people to airbrush/photo-shop the women in that mag.
Hugh "The Hef" represents a world that's long gone to dust...and he is just plain creepy...plus that mansion is so filthy, must have some ...accck omigod ...I want some penicillin just thinking about that place...prolly some high form penicillin resistant "clap" floating around in the place...nauseating.
Some of the interviews were interesting, some of the articles good but really..this thing should have been put to sleep about 20 years ago.
Play some trumpets, fire off a few gun rounds and put the bath robe in the Goodwill box

 

[Honey_Suckle]

plenty of other naked mags around for guys and i dont think hugh hefner will be too bothered about his profits .. for a start he's worth $50 million , he has the life of luxury and he's almost ready to pop his cloggs.

 

[omnomnom]

I know the Playboy name has declined a lot in recent years (I remember when Playboy was so on trend for all the popular girls back in school). This is probably an attempt to become more mainstream again and increase their market.

 

[HiGirlsRHot]

plenty of other naked mags around for guys and i dont think hugh hefner will be too bothered about his profits .. for a start he's worth $50 million , he has the life of luxury and he's almost ready to pop his cloggs.

Actually Hef is likely to die almost broke. He hasn't owned the mansion for years (Playboy owns it), Playboy Corp is heavily in debt and hasn't made a profit for most of this century. A big reason you hear all the stories about the mansion being kinda of gross is they just don't have the money to maintain it. Honestly, I wouldn't want Hef's lifestyle permanently but for a year or two it would be pretty great.

 

[Honey_Suckle]

Ahh i see .. aww well you hear that happening a lot. Celebs earning millions upon millions and they have mansions and 5 cars and boats etc .. of course we would all love that lifestyle but you do tend to forget that they need to keep getting business and being im the limelight to keep the cash rolling in otherwise all that fancy flashy stuff is taken away because they can't afford the upkeep or to maintain it.

 

[Always_Tim]

They may also want to get apps approved on the App Store and Google Play. As long as they're porny, that won't happen.

playboy.com has been nudity-free for over a year and they released iOS and Android apps around the same time.

The print magazine is just catching up to what they've already been doing online.

 

[omnomnom]

playboy.com has been nudity-free for over a year and they released iOS and Android apps around the same time.

The print magazine is just catching up to what they've already been doing online.

Yeah I think they now post those pictorials over on PlayboyPlus.

 

[MDouble00]

I can see some point to the narrative that the availability of nude women on the internet has hurt their business. I don't think that is the primary reason. I think the naked women were a bonus to the magazine in the years that I had a subscription. I ultimately got rid of my subscription when I felt the overall product was no longer reflective of continuing the subscription. I still maintain a few magazine subscriptions and it is because I'm still value the content they are providing. And would only discontinue them if I found I wasn't reading them.

 

[SaffronBurke]

Playboy is still circulating??? WOW...guess they couldn't keep up with paying people to airbrush/photo-shop the women in that mag.
Hugh "The Hef" represents a world that's long gone to dust...and he is just plain creepy...plus that mansion is so filthy, must have some ...accck omigod ...I want some penicillin just thinking about that place...prolly some high form penicillin resistant "clap" floating around in the place...nauseating.

Shocking as this may seem to you, adult entertainers are more vigilant about testing for STD's than the general population, considering our incomes depend on our genitals being in healthy, working condition. So the likelihood of this "penicillin-resistent clap" in the mansion is very low. Dog pee/poop, on the other hand? Watch where you step, that shit's everywhere.

 

[Dream Alien]

WOOWWW this is so stupid!!! Whats the world coming toooooo!

 

[Sasha Green]

I personally love the first non-nude Playboy's cover, this lady is gorgeous :