Playboy Magazine To Stop Publishing Photos Of Fully Nude Women
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- It's a new chapter in the history of Playboy magazine as the magazine built on sex goes a little more modest.
Playboy will no longer publish photos of nude women as part of a redesign, the decades-old magazine announced Tuesday.
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.
Playboy wants to attract millennials -- those between the ages of 18 and 30-something -- with in-depth interviews, investigative journalism, fiction and visual art, CBS2's Rachel Kim reported.
Many believe modernizing their image will be good for Playboy.
"It's nice that they're taking a step back and adding maybe a little more respect to their magazine for ladies," Brenna White told CBS2.
"It's one of those things you're at your friend's house and their dad had it in the basement or something. I mean that's kinda what Playboy is to me," Michael Maloian said.
"People nowadays they want something a little bit more tasteful to read that has some insight into how women think," said Cameron Pack.
"I haven't read Playboy since the 80s, I wouldn't buy it," a deliveryman told 1010 WINS' Glenn Schuck. "It's done, over with."
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?''
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