You ask most guys about Playboy magazine and what they talk about is the naked women. But ask them about the publication's "editorial content" and the conversation quickly turns into confusion. Well, here's a shock. After 62 years of featuring glossy photos of naked women, Playboy is turning a new page.
Starting next March, the magazine plans to go digital and also ditch the nudity. Playboy is hoping no nudes is good news but will people really buy a modest version of the magazine? Most people we spoke with said no. But the magazine sees it differently. A PG13 version of Playboy.com recently relaunched and revenue is on the rise.
According to Scott Flanders; Chief executive officer for Playboy Enterprises, "We've more than four times grown our traffic. It's not provocative to see nudity and in fact, it can actually limit our audience." Realizing that nudity is no longer a novelty, Playboy is basically accepting defeat against online porn sites which feature countless pictures and videos of naked women for guys to ogle. Flanders adds, "Millennials have seen everything. They're one mouse click away from anything that you can imagine."
So the new Playboy will feature a "safe-for-work" blend of light reading, and interviews. The magazine will still feature lovely ladies to look at, but the new Playmates will be leaving a lot more to the imagination than the stripped down version most have come to love in the past.