After years of declining circulation, partially brought on by the very cultural changes it helped to enact over six decades, Playboy magazine will soon put out its most controversial issue since 1953; an issue with no nude women.
CEO Scott Flanders revealed during a recent interview with The New York Times his publication will stop publishing images of fully nude models in March of 2016, as the prevalence of internet pornography has rendered Playboy’s mild, artistic approach to nudity irrelevant.
During an extensive interview about the health of the company, as well as its storied past, Flanders revealed what led the groundbreaking men’s magazine to change its course.
Playboy’s first issue, in 1953, featured a nude spread of Hollywood starlet Marilyn Monroe, which instantly turned the publication into a hot item for adolescent males. Six decades later, times have changed, and even those buying Playboy for the articles have endless other options.
“You’re now one click away from every sex act imaginable for free. And so it’s just passé at this juncture,” he told The Times, while also saying the company, which is one of the most recognizable brands in the world, was in need of a fresh business approach.
Flanders said he met with Playboy’s legendary founder, 89-year-old Hugh Hefner, who agreed with a proposal to find a completely new direction.
The magazine’s circulation has dropped from 5.6 million in 1975 to around 800,000 this year, according to the Alliance for Audited Media, the NYT reports.
Playboy the magazine is no longer profitable in the United States, but still works as an effective marketing tool for international editions and the company’s other ventures, which are still bringing in cash.
The magazine is attempting to adapt to changes in culture by going modern, chief content officer of the magazine’s website, Cory Jones, revealed.
The new version of Playboy will still feature a “Playmate of the Month,” but the images being published will be “PG-13.”
“A little more accessible, a little more intimate,” Jones said of the new approach, which the NYT writes will look something like a racy Instagram page.
His team is still undecided in regards to keeping the mag’s signature centerfold, but changes to make the website more workplace, social media and age friendly were enacted months ago.
Among the changes for the mag redesign, Playboy’s sex columnist will be a “sex-positive female” and the target audience will be young, employed males, as the company hopes to compete with publications such as Vice, the interview revealed.
Cory Jones concluded of the upcoming changes, “Twelve-year-old me is very disappointed in current me. But it’s the right thing to do.”
Read the Times’ Playboy exposé in full, here.
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