Playboy.com New Non Nude Covers Sneak Peek

Playboy.com New Non Nude Covers Sneak Peek

By now, everyone has heard that Playboy has decided to undergo a change to their 62 year old strategy, and in fact move away from their tradition of celebrating nudity, by dropping nude content of women from March 2016.

To be crystal clear, what this means is that the models that will appear in the magazine, including of course the Playmates, will be Non Nude for the first time since the magazine launched in 1953 with Marilyn Monroe on cover.

Of course the question everyone is asking is Why ? And the answer lies in both the original Playboy mission statement as well as the bottom line on their financial report – and the latter isn’t as evil a motive as most people think as after all, no one can survive without the financial stability to cover costs!

So what was the original mission statement and why is it no longer valid ?

Great question;

In 1953 when the first Playboy magazine was published by founder Hugh Hefner, nudity, sex and anything related was an extremely taboo subject! In fact the sexual oppression of Catholic America was rooted (no pun intended) very deep in the family values espoused by all levels of leadership from of course religion, right through to politics, education and corporate executives. Marketing companies were anchored to it, and movies, sitcoms and most publications clung to it!

Men’s lifestyle magazines were sold as under the counter publications at that time, and Hefner’s ambitious goal was to bring nudity out of the shadows and into the light! Hefner’s genius view, was for the magazine to be sold over the counter, at an affordable price that allowed all adults to access quality editorial and pictorial of Men’s Entertainment. The slogan of, “I read it only for the articles”, was not only a cute tongue in cheek slogan, but centered in truth as there was and remains quality editorial in the magazine (did you know that the James Bond franchise was born in Playboy?).

At that time, nude really only meant topless, so the inaugural topless images of Monroe were very daring at the time, but quite tame by today’s standards.

And there-in lies the conclusion; if the goal was to liberate women and remove the sexual oppression, and if the topless images of Monroe are passe now since much more explicit sexual images are available free across most media due to evolution of the industry, then by any measurement, not only America but the entire Western world has been liberated.

Although Playboy were not alone in that drive, they were at the core so mission accomplished!

Now what about the bottom line; the problem that Playboy and other men’s magazines dedicated to nudity and sex have faced for decades, is that they are NSFW – Not Safe for Workplace! A corporate executive could not really have a copy of Playboy on their desk but they could have say a fashion swimsuit calendar on the wall or on screen.

The difference is that classy photos of swimsuit models – when not in sexually suggestive poses – are accepted, where as nudity is clearly a breach of workplace HR policies and a sackable offence.

So to put it simply, when last year Playboy decided to make their main website Playboy.com safe for workplace by dropping nude and sexual imagery, their unique visit count increased immensely. So the thinking is that to be more work friendly, equates to more visitors and thereby survival through advertising dollars and sponsorship.

The main Playboy magazine has been running at a loss of recent years, so the move is driven by these financial pressures also. There is argument that the magazine could have been subsidized by Playboy’s hugely successful licensing business and kept alive for the sake of art, however the executives decided against that strategy in favor of dropping nudes altogether.

A Risky move as opposed to a Risque move that launched the magazine, however hats off to Hefner and the executive team for adapting to what they see is an evolving market place. As a friend and affiliate of Playboy, we support the move and suggest that you do also.

Having said that however, we feel there is a place in the market and always will be for a King of Glamorous Nudes that are classy and high quality and Playboy not only fit that bill perfectly but were undisputed as they created the imagery for many to copy.

Having said all that, the good news for die hard Playboy fans, is that the vast content over the last 6 decades still remains! This decision affects only the main website and USA magazine, so foreign franchises are business as usual as are PlayboyPlus and Cybergirls.

Now this next item may be some fun by the Playboy editorial and creative teams, however if you’d like a sneak peek of the covers that the publishing team are suggesting, then below are some upcoming examples …

 Images with thanx to Playboy.com