Finding your dad’s Playboy collection in the future won’t be as exciting.
It started in 1953 to the chagrin of many men and the disgust of others. It will be the end of an era. Playboy has announced it will stop publishing nude photos. From Marilyn Monroe, Belinda Carlisle, Robin Givens, Nancy Sinatra, Jenny McCarthy to so many more women who’ve reinforced the male gaze in pop culture will have one less print magazine to show their wares.
Why are they doing away with the nakedness? According to an article in the New York Times, circulation has dropped from 5.6 million in the 70’s to under a million today. Of course, with porn on the cutting edge of everything internet and technology in general, it’s not surprising that Playboy’s niche isn’t quite what it used to be. In addition, during the 2000’s magazines, such as Maxim, gained shelf space and didn’t featured nudity – just mostly naked women. Aside from those changes, a more politically correct world forced Playboy’s hand even more according the the same New York Times article:
The latest redesign, 62 years later, is more pragmatic. The magazine had already made some content safe for work, Mr. Flanders said, in order to be allowed on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, vital sources of web traffic.
Basically, doing away with unclad parts, will mean a wider audience, which will likely lead to more advertising revenue.
What does that mean for the future? Well, like many have already pointed out, the old standby: “I read it for the articles” won’t be blowing smoke.