The editor of Playboy has revealed that they are undergoing a redesign that will change the magazine significantly.
A report from The New York Times details how the magazine that was made famous by its debut cover story with Marilyn Monroe back in 1953 will no longer be publishing photos of nude women.
The decision was made by one of the magazine's top editors, Cory Jones, and was approved by Hugh Hefner who is still the editor-in-chief of the publication.
The move comes as part of an effort to boost sales and circulation of the magazine, and moving it from the top shelf may well help that. Speaking to The New York Times, chief executive Scott Flanders said the decision came about largely because of the internet: "you’re now one click away from every sex act imaginable for free. And so it’s just passé at this juncture".
The sheer size of the magazine is hard to imagine in the current day and age, but it was once a publishing behemoth and a cultural icon, with a circulation 30 years ago of around 5.6 million, while today it's closer to 800,000.
The magazine also has a storied history, featuring interviews, short stories, essays and journalism from some very famous figures: "It published stories by Margaret Atwood and Haruki Murakami among others, and its interviews have included Malcolm X, Vladimir Nabokov, Martin Luther King Jr. and Jimmy Carter, who admitted that he had lusted in his heart for women other than his wife. Madonna, Sharon Stone and Naomi Campbell posed for the magazine at the peak of their fame. Its best-selling issue, in November of 1972, sold more than seven million copies".
They aren't the first men's magazine to make a similar move either, with the appointment of Kate Lanphear as editor of Maxim and a new wider range of content, they are also looking to shake the lowbrow image that has seen the magazine's sales fall.
The change isn't deviating entirely from the concept that has become so synonymous with the Playboy bunny logo however, as it will still feature "women in provocative poses", but they won't be nude.
Soon you might really be able read it just for the articles.
Via Slate
