Playboy (magazine)
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''Playboy'' is an American men's
lifestyle Lifestyle often refers to: * Lifestyle (sociology), the way a person lives * ''Otium'', ancient Roman concept of a lifestyle * Style of life (german: Lebensstil, link=no), dealing with the dynamics of personality Lifestyle may also refer to: Bu ...
and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by
Hugh Hefner Hugh Marston Hefner (April 9, 1926 – September 27, 2017) was an American magazine publisher. He was the founder and editor-in-chief of ''Playboy'' magazine, a publication with revealing photographs and articles which provoked charges of obsc ...
and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. Known for its
centerfold The centerfold or centrefold of a magazine is the inner pages of the middle sheet, usually containing a portrait, such as a pin-up or a nude. The term can also refer to the model featured in the portrait. In saddle-stitched magazines (as opp ...
s of
nude Nudity is the state of being in which a human is without clothing. The loss of body hair was one of the physical characteristics that marked the biological evolution of modern humans from their hominin ancestors. Adaptations related to h ...
and semi-nude
models A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a measure. Models c ...
(
Playmate A Playmate is a female model featured in the centerfold/gatefold of ''Playboy'' magazine as Playmate of the Month (PMOTM). The PMOTM's pictorial includes nude photographs and a centerfold poster, along with a pictorial biography and the "Playm ...
s), ''Playboy'' played an important role in the
sexual revolution The sexual revolution, also known as the sexual liberation, was a social movement that challenged traditional codes of behavior related to sexuality and interpersonal relationships throughout the United States and the developed world from the 1 ...
and remains one of the world's best-known brands, having grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc. (PEI), with a presence in nearly every medium. In addition to the flagship magazine in the United States, special nation-specific versions of ''Playboy'' are published worldwide, including those by licensees, such as Dirk Steenekamp's DHS Media Group. The magazine has a long history of publishing short stories by novelists such as Arthur C. Clarke,
Ian Fleming Ian Lancaster Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) was a British writer who is best known for his postwar ''James Bond'' series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., a ...
,
Vladimir Nabokov Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov (russian: link=no, Владимир Владимирович Набоков ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian-American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Bo ...
,
Saul Bellow Saul Bellow (born Solomon Bellows; 10 July 1915 – 5 April 2005) was a Canadian-born American writer. For his literary work, Bellow was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the National Medal of Arts. He is the only wr ...
,
Chuck Palahniuk Charles Michael "Chuck" Palahniuk (; born February 21, 1962) is an American freelance journalist and novelist who describes his work as transgressional fiction. He has published 19 novels, three nonfiction books, two graphic novels, and two adul ...
,
P. G. Wodehouse Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, ( ; 15 October 188114 February 1975) was an English author and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Jeeve ...
,
Roald Dahl Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British novelist, short-story writer, poet, screenwriter, and wartime fighter ace of Norwegian descent. His books have sold more than 250 million copies worldwide. Dahl has be ...
,
Haruki Murakami is a Japanese writer. His novels, essays, and short stories have been bestsellers in Japan and internationally, with his work translated into 50 languages and having sold millions of copies outside Japan. He has received numerous awards for his ...
, and
Margaret Atwood Margaret Eleanor Atwood (born November 18, 1939) is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, teacher, environmental activist, and inventor. Since 1961, she has published 18 books of poetry, 18 novels, 11 books of non-fiction, nin ...
. With a regular display of full-page color cartoons, it became a showcase for cartoonists such as
Harvey Kurtzman Harvey Kurtzman (; October 3, 1924 – February 21, 1993) was an American cartoonist and editor. His best-known work includes writing and editing the parodic comic book '' Mad'' from 1952 until 1956, and writing the ''Little Ann ...
, Jack Cole,
Eldon Dedini Eldon Dedini (June 29, 1921 – January 12, 2006) was an American cartoonist whose work appeared in ''Esquire'', ''The New Yorker'', ''Playboy'' and elsewhere. Life Dedini was born in King City, California, on June 29, 1921; his father was a d ...
,
Jules Feiffer Jules Ralph Feiffer (born January 26, 1929)''Comics Buyer's Guide'' #1650; February 2009; Page 107 is an American cartoonist and author, who was considered the most widely read satirist in the country. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1986 as North- ...
,
Shel Silverstein Sheldon Allan Silverstein (; September 25, 1930 – May 10, 1999) was an American writer, poet, cartoonist, singer / songwriter, musician, and playwright. Born and raised in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, Silverstein briefly attended universit ...
, Erich Sokol,
Roy Raymonde Roy Raymonde (1929–2009) was a British editorial cartoonist best known for his work in ''Playboy'', ''Punch'' and ''The Sunday Telegraph''. He was much admired for his stylish comic drawings and flamboyant use of colour. Early life Roy Stuar ...
,
Gahan Wilson Gahan Allen Wilson (February 18, 1930 – November 21, 2019) was an American author, cartoonist and illustrator known for his cartoons depicting horror-fantasy situations. Biography Wilson was born in Evanston, Illinois, and was inspired by th ...
, and
Rowland B. Wilson Rowland Bragg Wilson (August 3, 1930 – June 28, 2005) was an American gag cartoonist and animation production artist who did watercolor cartoon illustrations for leading magazines, notably ''Playboy'' (beginning in 1967) and ''TV Guide'' and ' ...
. ''Playboy'' features monthly interviews of public figures, such as artists, architects, economists, composers, conductors, film directors, journalists, novelists, playwrights, religious figures, politicians, athletes, and race car drivers. The magazine generally reflects a liberal editorial stance, although it often interviews conservative celebrities. After a year-long removal of most nude photos in ''Playboy'' magazine, the March–April 2017 issue brought back nudity.


Publication history


1950s

By spring 1953, Hugh Hefner—a 1949
University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...
psychology graduate who had worked in Chicago for ''
Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentlema ...
'' magazine writing promotional copy; Publisher's Development Corporation in sales and marketing; and ''Children's Activities'' magazine as circulation promotions manager—had planned out the elements of his own magazine, that he would call ''Stag Party''. He formed HMH Publishing Corporation, and recruited his friend Eldon Sellers to find investors. Hefner eventually raised just over $8,000, including from his brother and mother. However, the publisher of an unrelated
men's adventure Men's adventure is a genre of magazine that was published in the United States from the 1940s until the early 1970s. Catering to a male audience, these magazines featured pin-up girls and lurid tales of adventure that typically featured wartime fe ...
magazine, ''
Stag Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the reindeer ...
,'' contacted Hefner and informed him it would file suit to protect their trademark if he were to launch his magazine with that name. Hefner, his wife Millie, and Sellers met to seek a new name, considering "Top Hat", "Gentleman", "Sir'", "Satyr", "Pan" and "Bachelor" before Sellers suggested "Playboy". The first issue, in December 1953, was undated, as Hefner was unsure there would be a second. He produced it in his
Hyde Park Hyde Park may refer to: Places England * Hyde Park, London, a Royal Park in Central London * Hyde Park, Leeds, an inner-city area of north-west Leeds * Hyde Park, Sheffield, district of Sheffield * Hyde Park, in Hyde, Greater Manchester Austra ...
kitchen. The first centerfold was
Marilyn Monroe Marilyn Monroe (; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; 1 June 1926 4 August 1962) was an American actress. Famous for playing comedic " blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s, as wel ...
, although the picture used originally was taken for a calendar rather than for ''Playboy''. Hefner chose what he deemed the "sexiest" image, a previously unused nude study of Marilyn stretched with an upraised arm on a red velvet background with closed eyes and mouth open. The heavy promotion centered around Marilyn's nudity on the already-famous calendar, together with the teasers in marketing, made the new ''Playboy'' magazine a success. The first issue sold out in weeks. Known circulation was 53,991. The cover price was 50¢. Copies of the first issue in mint to near-mint condition sold for over $5,000 in 2002. The novel ''
Fahrenheit 451 ''Fahrenheit 451'' is a 1953 dystopian novel by American writer Ray Bradbury. Often regarded as one of his best works, ''Fahrenheit 451'' presents an American society where books have been personified and outlawed and "firemen" burn any that ar ...
'', by
Ray Bradbury Ray Douglas Bradbury (; August 22, 1920June 5, 2012) was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of modes, including fantasy, science fiction, horror, mystery, and r ...
, was published in 1953 and serialized in the March, April and May 1954 issues of ''Playboy''. An
urban legend An urban legend (sometimes contemporary legend, modern legend, urban myth, or urban tale) is a genre of folklore comprising stories or fallacious claims circulated as true, especially as having happened to a "friend of a friend" or a family m ...
started about Hefner and the Playmate of the Month because of markings on the front covers of the magazine. From 1955 to 1979 (except for a six-month gap in 1976), the "P" in ''Playboy'' had stars printed in or around the letter.
Urban legend An urban legend (sometimes contemporary legend, modern legend, urban myth, or urban tale) is a genre of folklore comprising stories or fallacious claims circulated as true, especially as having happened to a "friend of a friend" or a family m ...
stated that this was either a rating that Hefner gave to the Playmate according to how attractive she was, the number of times that Hefner had slept with her, or how good she was in bed. In actuality, stars, between zero and 12 indicated the domestic or international advertising region for that printing.


1960s–1990s

In the 1960s, the magazine added "The Playboy Philosophy" column. Early topics included LGBTQ rights, women's rights, censorship, and the First Amendment. ''Playboy'' was an early proponent of cannabis reform and provided founding support to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws in 1970. From 1966 to 1976,
Robie Macauley Robie Mayhew Macauley (May 31, 1919 – November 20, 1995) was an American editor, novelist and critic whose literary career spanned more than 50 years. Biography Early life Robie Macauley was born on May 31, 1919, in Grand Rapids, Michigan ...
was the fiction editor at ''Playboy''. During this period the magazine published fiction by
Saul Bellow Saul Bellow (born Solomon Bellows; 10 July 1915 – 5 April 2005) was a Canadian-born American writer. For his literary work, Bellow was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the National Medal of Arts. He is the only wr ...
,
Seán Ó Faoláin Seán Proinsias Ó Faoláin (27 February 1900 – 20 April 1991) was one of the most influential figures in 20th-century Irish culture. A short-story writer of international repute, he was also a leading commentator and critic. Biography Ó ...
,
John Updike John Hoyer Updike (March 18, 1932 – January 27, 2009) was an American novelist, poet, short-story writer, art critic, and literary critic. One of only four writers to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction more than once (the others being Booth ...
,
James Dickey James Lafayette Dickey (February 2, 1923 January 19, 1997) was an American poet and novelist. He was appointed the eighteenth United States Poet Laureate in 1966. He also received the Order of the South award. Dickey is best known for his no ...
,
John Cheever John William Cheever (May 27, 1912 – June 18, 1982) was an American short story writer and novelist. He is sometimes called "the Chekhov of the suburbs". His fiction is mostly set in the Upper East Side of Manhattan; the Westchester suburbs; ...
,
Doris Lessing Doris May Lessing (; 22 October 1919 – 17 November 2013) was a British-Zimbabwean novelist. She was born to British parents in Iran, where she lived until 1925. Her family then moved to Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), where she remain ...
,
Joyce Carol Oates Joyce Carol Oates (born June 16, 1938) is an American writer. Oates published her first book in 1963, and has since published 58 novels, a number of plays and novellas, and many volumes of short stories, poetry, and non-fiction. Her novels '' Bla ...
,
Vladimir Nabokov Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov (russian: link=no, Владимир Владимирович Набоков ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian-American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Bo ...
,
Michael Crichton John Michael Crichton (; October 23, 1942 – November 4, 2008) was an American author and filmmaker. His books have sold over 200 million copies worldwide, and over a dozen have been adapted into films. His literary works heavily feature tech ...
,
John le Carré David John Moore Cornwell (19 October 193112 December 2020), better known by his pen name John le Carré ( ), was a British and Irish author, best known for his espionage novels, many of which were successfully adapted for film or television. ...
,
Irwin Shaw Irwin Shaw (February 27, 1913 – May 16, 1984) was an American playwright, screenwriter, novelist, and short-story author whose written works have sold more than 14 million copies. He is best known for two of his novels: ''The Young Lions'' ( ...
,
Jean Shepherd Jean Parker 'Shep' Shepherd Jr. (~July 21, 1921 – October 16, 1999) was an American storyteller, humorist, radio and TV personality, writer, and actor. With a career that spanned decades, Shepherd is known for the film '' A Christmas Story'' ...
,
Arthur Koestler Arthur Koestler, (, ; ; hu, Kösztler Artúr; 5 September 1905 – 1 March 1983) was a Hungarian-born author and journalist. Koestler was born in Budapest and, apart from his early school years, was educated in Austria. In 1931, Koestler join ...
,
Isaac Bashevis Singer Isaac Bashevis Singer ( yi, יצחק באַשעװיס זינגער; November 11, 1903 – July 24, 1991) was a Polish-born American Jewish writer who wrote and published first in Yiddish and later translated himself into English with the help ...
,
Bernard Malamud Bernard Malamud (April 26, 1914 – March 18, 1986) was an American novelist and short story writer. Along with Saul Bellow, Joseph Heller, and Philip Roth, he was one of the best known American Jewish authors of the 20th century. His baseba ...
,
John Irving John Winslow Irving (born John Wallace Blunt Jr.; March 2, 1942) is an American-Canadian novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter. Irving achieved critical and popular acclaim after the international success of ''The World According to G ...
,
Anne Sexton Anne Sexton (born Anne Gray Harvey; November 9, 1928 – October 4, 1974) was an American poet known for her highly personal, confessional verse. She won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1967 for her book '' Live or Die''. Her poetry details ...
,
Nadine Gordimer Nadine Gordimer (20 November 192313 July 2014) was a South African writer and political activist. She received the 1991 Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Prize in Literature in 1991, recognized as a writer "who through her magnificent epic writin ...
,
Kurt Vonnegut Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American writer known for his satirical and darkly humorous novels. In a career spanning over 50 years, he published fourteen novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and ...
and
J. P. Donleavy James Patrick Donleavy (23 April 1926 – 11 September 2017) was an American-Irish novelist, short story writer and playwright. His best-known work is the novel ''The Ginger Man'', which was initially banned for obscenity. Early life Donleavy ...
, as well as poetry by
Yevgeny Yevtushenko Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Yevtushenko ( rus, links=no, 1=Евге́ний Алекса́ндрович Евтуше́нко; 18 July 1933 – 1 April 2017) was a Soviet and Russian poet. He was also a novelist, essayist, dramatist, screenwriter, ...
. In 1968, at the feminist
Miss America protest The Miss America protest was a demonstration held at the Miss America 1969 contest on September 7, 1968, attended by about 200 feminists and civil rights advocates. The feminist protest was organized by New York Radical Women and included putting ...
, symbolically feminine products were thrown into a "Freedom Trash Can". These included copies of ''Playboy'' and ''
Cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Food and drink * Cosmopolitan (cocktail), also known as a "Cosmo" History * Rootless cosmopolitan, a Soviet derogatory epithet during Joseph Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign of 1949–1953 Hotels and resorts * Cosmopoli ...
'' magazines. One of the key pamphlets produced by the protesters was "No More Miss America!", by
Robin Morgan Robin Morgan (born January 29, 1941) is an American poet, writer, activist, journalist, lecturer and former child actor. Since the early 1960s, she has been a key radical feminist member of the American Women's Movement, and a leader in the ...
, which listed 10 characteristics of the Miss America pageant that the authors believed degraded women; it compared the pageant to ''Playboy''s centerfold as sisters under the skin, describing this as "The Unbeatable Madonna–Whore Combination". Macauley contributed all of the popular ''Ribald Classics'' series published between January 1978 and March 1984. After reaching its peak in the 1970s, ''Playboy'' saw a decline in circulation and cultural relevance due to competition in the field it founded—first from ''
Penthouse Penthouse most often refers to: *Penthouse apartment, a special apartment on the top floor of a building *Penthouse (magazine), ''Penthouse'' (magazine), a British-founded men's magazine *Mechanical penthouse, a floor, typically located directly u ...
,'' then from '' Oui'' (which was published as a spin-off of ''Playboy'') and ''
Gallery Gallery or The Gallery may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Art gallery ** Contemporary art gallery Music * Gallery (band), an American soft rock band of the 1970s Albums * ''Gallery'' (Elaiza album), 2014 album * ''Gallery'' (Gr ...
'' in the 1970s; later from pornographic
videos Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) syste ...
; and more recently from
lad mags Lad mag was a term principally used in the UK in the 1990s and early 2000s to describe a then-popular type of lifestyle magazine for younger, heterosexual men, focusing on "sex, sport, gadgets and grooming tips". The lad mag was notable as a new t ...
such as ''
Maxim Maxim or Maksim may refer to: Entertainment * ''Maxim'' (magazine), an international men's magazine ** ''Maxim'' (Australia), the Australian edition ** ''Maxim'' (India), the Indian edition *Maxim Radio, ''Maxim'' magazine's radio channel on Sir ...
,'' ''
FHM ''FHM'' (For Him Magazine) is a British multinational men's lifestyle magazine that was published in several countries. Its master edition contained features such as the ''FHM'' 100 Sexiest Women in the World, which has featured models, actres ...
,'' and ''
Stuff Stuff, stuffed, and stuffing may refer to: *Physical matter *General, unspecific things, or entities Arts, media, and entertainment Books *''Stuff'' (1997), a novel by Joseph Connolly (author), Joseph Connolly *''Stuff'' (2005), a book by Jere ...
.'' In response, ''Playboy'' attempted to re-assert its hold on the 18–35-year-old male demographic through slight changes to content and focusing on issues and personalities more appropriate to its audience—such as hip-hop artists being featured in the "''Playboy'' Interview".
Christie Hefner Christie Ann Hefner (born November 8, 1952) is an American businesswoman. She was chairman and CEO of Playboy Enterprises from 1988 to 2009, and is the daughter of ''Playboy'' magazine founder Hugh Hefner. Early life Hefner was born in Chicago, ...
, daughter of founder Hugh Hefner, joined ''Playboy'' in 1975 and became head of the company in 1988. She announced in December 2008 that she would be stepping down from leading the company, effective in January 2009, and said that the election of
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
as the next President had inspired her to give more time to charitable work, and that the decision to step down was her own. "Just as this country is embracing change in the form of new leadership, I have decided that now is the time to make changes in my own life as well", she said. Hefner was succeeded by company director and media veteran
Jerome H. Kern Jerome H. Kern (born June 1, 1937) is an American lawyer, investment banker, consultant, and philanthropist. Kern was one of the founding members of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. After a career in investment banking, he served as a senior partne ...
as interim CEO, who was in turn succeeded by publisher
Scott Flanders Scott N. Flanders (born December 26, 1956) is an American corporate executive in the media, entertainment and technology industries. He is currently chief executive officer and long-term member of the board of directors at EHealthInsurance, eHea ...
.


2000–present

The magazine celebrated its 50th anniversary with the January 2004 issue. Celebrations were held at
Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
, Los Angeles, New York, and Moscow during the year to commemorate this event. ''Playboy'' also launched limited-edition products designed by fashion houses such as
Versace Gianni Versace S.r.l. (), usually referred to as Versace ( ), is an Italian luxury fashion company founded by Gianni Versace in 1978 known for flashy prints and bright colors. The company produces Italian-made ready-to-wear and accessories, as w ...
,
Vivienne Westwood Dame Vivienne Isabel Westwood (née Swire; born 8 April 1941) is an English fashion designer and businesswoman, largely responsible for bringing modern punk and new wave fashions into the mainstream. Westwood came to public notice when she m ...
and
Sean John Sean John is a privately held fashion lifestyle company created by music mogul Sean Combs. The line made its fashion debut with a men's sportswear collection for the spring 1998 season. Individuals of note who have represented the brand in advert ...
. As a homage to the magazine's 50th anniversary,
MAC Cosmetics MAC Cosmetics, stylized as M·A·C, is a Canadian cosmetics manufacturer founded in Toronto, Canada in 1984 by Frank Toskan and Frank Angelo. The company is headquartered in New York City after becoming a subsidiary of Estée Lauder Companies i ...
released two limited-edition products, namely a lipstick and a glitter cream. The printed magazine ran several annual features and ratings. One of the most popular was its annual ranking of the top "party schools" among all U.S. universities and colleges. In 2009, the magazine used five criteria: bikini, brains, campus, sex and sports in the development of its list. The top-ranked party school by ''Playboy'' for 2009 was the
University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, incl ...
. In June 2009, the magazine reduced its publication schedule to 11 issues per year, with a combined July/August issue. On August 11, 2009, London's ''
Daily Telegraph Daily or The Daily may refer to: Journalism * Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks * ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times'' * ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...
'' newspaper reported that Hugh Hefner had sold his English manor house (next door to the
Playboy Mansion The Playboy Mansion, also known as the Playboy Mansion West, is the former home of ''Playboy'' magazine founder Hugh Hefner who lived there from 1974 until his death in 2017. Barbi Benton convinced Hefner to buy the home located in Holmby Hills ...
in Los Angeles) for $18 m ($10 m less than the reported asking price) to another American, Daren Metropoulos, the President and co-owner of
Pabst Blue Ribbon Pabst Blue Ribbon, commonly abbreviated PBR, is an American lager beer sold by Pabst Brewing Company, established in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1844 and currently based in San Antonio. Originally called Best Select, and then Pabst Select, the cu ...
, and that due to significant losses in the company's value (down from $1 billion in 2000 to $84 million in 2009), the Playboy publishing empire was for sale for $300 million. In December 2009, the publication schedule was reduced to 10 issues per year, with a combined January/February issue. On July 12, 2010, Playboy Enterprises Inc. announced Hefner's $5.50 per share offer ($122.5 million based on shares outstanding on April 30 and the closing price on July 9) to buy the portion of the company he did not already own and take the company private with the help of Rizvi Traverse Management LLC. The company derived much of its income from licensing, rather than from the magazine. On July 15, ''Penthouse'' owner FriendFinder Networks Inc. offered $210 million (the company is valued at $185 million), though Hefner, who already owned 70 percent of voting stock, did not want to sell. In January 2011, the publisher of ''Playboy'' magazine agreed to an offer by Hefner to take the company private for $6.15 per share, an 18 percent premium over the price of the last previous day of trading. The buyout was completed in March 2011.


20162018 changes and brief ending of full-frontal nudity

In October 2015, ''Playboy'' announced the magazine would no longer feature full-frontal nudity beginning with the March 2016 issue. Company CEO
Scott Flanders Scott N. Flanders (born December 26, 1956) is an American corporate executive in the media, entertainment and technology industries. He is currently chief executive officer and long-term member of the board of directors at EHealthInsurance, eHea ...
acknowledged the magazine's inability to compete with freely available
internet pornography Internet pornography is any pornography that is accessible over the internet, primarily via websites, FTP servers peer-to-peer file sharing, or Usenet newsgroups. The availability of widespread public access to the World Wide Web in late 1990s ...
and nudity; according to him, "You're now one click away from every sex act imaginable for free. And so it's just passé at this juncture". Hefner agreed with the decision. The redesigned ''Playboy'', however, would still feature a Playmate of the Month and pictures of women, but they would be rated as not appropriate for children under 13. The move would not affect PlayboyPlus.com (which features nudity at a paid subscription). Josh Horwitz of ''
Quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical form ...
'' argued that the motivation for the decision to remove nudity from the magazine was to give Playboy Licensing a less inappropriate image in India and China, where the brand is a popular item on apparel and thus generates significant revenue. Among other changes to the magazine included ending the popular jokes section and the various cartoons that appeared throughout the magazine. The redesign eliminated the use of jump copy (articles continuing on non-consecutive pages), which in turn eliminated most of the space for cartoons. Hefner, himself a former cartoonist, reportedly resisted dropping the cartoons more than the nudity, but ultimately obliged. ''Playboy''s plans were to market itself as a competitor to '' Vanity Fair'', as opposed to more traditional competitors '' GQ'' and ''
Maxim Maxim or Maksim may refer to: Entertainment * ''Maxim'' (magazine), an international men's magazine ** ''Maxim'' (Australia), the Australian edition ** ''Maxim'' (India), the Indian edition *Maxim Radio, ''Maxim'' magazine's radio channel on Sir ...
''.Playboy enters non-nude era: Sexy but 'safe for work'
WTAE-TV WTAE-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, affiliated with ABC. It has been owned by Hearst Television since the station's inception, making this one of two stations that have been built and signed on ...
, via
CNN Money CNN Business (formerly CNN Money) is a financial news and information website, operated by CNN. The website was originally formed as a joint venture between CNN.com and Time Warner's ''Fortune'' and ''Money'' magazines. Since the spin-off of Time ...
(February 24, 2016)
''Playboy'' announced in February 2017, however, that the dropping of nudity had been a mistake and furthermore, for its March/April issue, reestablished some of its franchises, including the Playboy Philosophy and Party Jokes, but dropped the subtitle "Entertainment for Men", inasmuch as gender roles have evolved. The announcement was made by the company's chief creative officer on
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
with the
hashtag A hashtag is a metadata tag that is prefaced by the hash (also known as pound or octothorpe) sign, ''#''. On social media, hashtags are used on microblogging and photo-sharing services such as Twitter or Instagram as a form of user-generated ...
#NakedIsNormal. In early 2018, and according to Jim Puzzanghera of the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'', ''Playboy'' was reportedly "considering killing the print magazine", as the publication "has lost as much as $7 million annually in recent years". However, in the July/August 2018 issue a reader asked if the print magazine would discontinue, and ''Playboy'' responded that it was not going anywhere. Following Hefner's death, and his family's financial stake in the company, the magazine changed direction. In 2019, ''Playboy'' was relaunched as a quarterly publication without adverts. Topics covered included an interview with
Tarana Burke Tarana Burke (born September 12, 1973) is an American activist from The Bronx, New York, who started the MeToo movement. In 2006, Burke began using MeToo to help other women with similar experiences to stand up for themselves. Over a decade late ...
, a profile of
Pete Buttigieg Peter Paul Montgomery Buttigieg ( ; ; Sometimes pronounced or , but not by Buttigieg himself. born January 19, 1982) is an American politician and former military officer who is currently serving as the United States secretary of transp ...
, coverage of
BDSM BDSM is a variety of often erotic practices or roleplaying involving bondage, discipline, dominance and submission, sadomasochism, and other related interpersonal dynamics. Given the wide range of practices, some of which may be engaged ...
and a cover photo representing gender and sexual fluidity.


Online-only

In March 2020, Ben Kohn, CEO of Playboy Enterprises, announced that the Spring 2020 issue would be the last regularly scheduled printed issue and that the magazine would now publish its content online. The decision to close the print edition was attributed in part to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
which interfered with distribution of the magazine.


Publicly traded

In autumn 2020, Playboy announced a reverse merger deal with Mountain Crest Acquisition Corp.—a Special-purpose acquisition company, special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). In February 2021, the stock of a combined company, PLBY Group, began trading on the Nasdaq exchange as “PLBY.”


Circulation history and statistics

In 1971, ''Playboy'' had a circulation rate base of seven million, which was its high point.Dougherty, Philip H. (2 November 1982)
Playboy to Cut Circulation Rate Base
''The New York Times''
The best-selling individual issue was the November 1972 edition, which sold 7,161,561 copies. One-quarter of all American college men were buying or subscribing to the magazine every month. On the cover was model Pam Rawlings, photographed by Rowland Scherman. Perhaps coincidentally, a cropped image of the issue's centerfold (which featured Lena Söderberg) became a de facto Standard test image, standard image for testing image processing algorithms. It is known simply as the "Lenna (test image), Lenna" (also "Lena") image in that field. In 1972, ''Playboy'' was the ninth highest circulation magazine in the United States.Media and Culture with 2013 Update: An Introduction to Mass Communication
p. 268 (chart posts a list cited from magazines.org in 2010, showing top ten circulation magazines in the United States in 1972 and 2010. The 1972 list was (1) Reader's Digest (17,825,661); (2) TV Guide (16,410,858); (3) Woman's Day (8,191,731); (4) Better Homes and Gardens (7,996,050); (5) Family Circle (7,889,587); (6) McCall's (7,516,960); (7) National Geographic (7,260,179); (8) Ladies' Home Journal (7,014,251); (9) Playboy (6,400,573); (10) Good Housekeeping (5,801,446))
The 1975 average circulation was 5.6 million; by 1981 it was 5.2 million, and by 1982 down to 4.9 million. Its decline continued in later decades, and reached about 800,000 copies per issue in late 2015, and 400,000 copies by December 2017.Bennett, Jessica (2 August 2019)

''The New York Times''
In 1970, ''Playboy'' became the first gentleman's magazine to be printed in braille. It is also one of the few magazines whose microfilm format was in color, not black and white.


Features and format


Rabbit logo

''Playboy''s enduring mascot, a stylized silhouette of a rabbit wearing a Black tie, tuxedo bow tie, was created by ''Playboy'' art director Art Paul for the second issue as an Note (typography), endnote, but was adopted as the official logo and has appeared ever since. A running joke in the magazine involves hiding the logo somewhere in the cover art or photograph. Hefner said he chose the rabbit for its "humorous Human sexual behavior, sexual connotation", and because the image was "frisky and playful". In an interview Hefner explained his choice of a rabbit as ''Playboy''s logo to the Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci: The jaunty rabbit quickly became a popular symbol of extroverted male culture, becoming a Playboy Enterprises, Inc.#Playboy Licensing, lucrative source of Merchandizing#Licensing, merchandizing revenue for the company. In the 1950s, it was adopted as the military aircraft insignia for the Navy's VX-4 fighter-evaluation squadron.


The ''Playboy'' Interview

Besides its centerfold, a major part of ''Playboy'' for much of its existence has been the ''Playboy'' Interview, an extensive (usually several thousand-word) discussion between a publicly known individual and an interviewer. Writer Alex Haley served as a ''Playboy'' interviewer on a few occasions; one of his interviews was with Martin Luther King Jr.; he also interviewed Malcolm X and American Nazi Party founder George Lincoln Rockwell. The magazine interviewed then-presidential candidate Jimmy Carter in the November 1976 issue, in which he stated "I've committed adultery in my heart many times." David Sheff's interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono appeared in the January 1981 issue, which was on newsstands at the time of Lennon's murder; the interview was later published in book format. Another interview-type section, entitled "20Q" (a play on the game of Twenty Questions), was added in October 1978. Cheryl Tiegs was the first interviewee for the section.


Rock the Rabbit

"Rock the Rabbit" was an annual music news and pictorial feature published in the March edition. The pictorial featured images of rock bands photographed by music photographer Mick Rock. Fashion designers participated in the Rock the Rabbit event by designing T-shirts inspired by ''Playboy''s rabbit head logo for each band. The shirts were sold at ''Playboy''s retailers and auctioned off to raise money for AIDS research and treatment at LIFEbeat: The Music Industry Fights AIDS. Bands who were featured include: MGMT, Daft Punk, Iggy Pop, Duran Duran, Flaming Lips, Snow Patrol, and The Killers.


Photographers

The photographers who have contributed to ''Playboy'' include Ken Marcus, Richard Fegley, Arny Freytag, Ron Harris (photographer), Ron Harris, Tom Kelley (photographer), Tom Kelley, David Mecey, Russ Meyer, Pompeo Posar, Suze Randall, Herb Ritts, Stephen Wayda, Sam Wu, Mario Casilli, Ana Dias (photographer), Ana Dias,"Playboy Contributors: Ana Dias"
''Playboy''. Retrieved 21 September 2020.
Ellen von Unwerth,Grimes, Gary (14 September 2019)
"Ellen von Unwerth: 30 years of photographing women"
''The Face''. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
Annie Leibovitz, Helmut Newton, and Bunny Yeager.


Celebrities

Many celebrities (singers, actresses, models, etc.) have posed for ''Playboy'' over the years. This list is only a small portion of those who have posed. Some of them are:
Film: * Jayne Mansfield ''(February 1955)'' * Mara Corday ''(October 1958)'' * Ursula Andress ''(June 1965)'' * Carol Lynley ''(March 1965) '' * Margot Kidder ''(March 1975)'' * Kim Basinger ''(February 1983)'' * Terry Moore (actress), Terry Moore ''(August 1984)'' * Janet Jones ''(March 1987)'' * Drew Barrymore ''(January 1995)'' * Denise Richards ''(December 2004)'' * Sasha Grey ''(October 2010)'' Music: * La Toya Jackson ''(March 1989/Nov 1991)'' * Fem2Fem ''(December 1993)'' * Nancy Sinatra ''(May 1995)'' * Samantha Fox ''(October 1996)'' * Joey Heatherton ''(April 1997)'' * Linda Brava ''(April 1998)'' * Belinda Carlisle ''(August 2001)'' * Tiffany Darwish, Tiffany ''(April 2002)'' * Carnie Wilson ''(August 2003)'' * Debbie Gibson ''(March 2005)''
Sports: * Svetlana Khorkina ''(November 1997 Russian edition)'' * Katarina Witt ''(December 1998)'' * Tanja Szewczenko ''(April 1999 German edition)'' * Chyna, Joanie Laurer ''(November 2000 and January 2002)'' * Gabrielle Reece ''(January 2001)'' * Kiana Tom ''(May 2002)'' * Torrie Wilson ''(May 2003 and March 2004 [the latter with Sable (wrestler), Sable])'' * Amy Acuff ''(September 2004)'' * Amanda Beard ''(July 2007)'' * Ashley Harkleroad ''(August 2008)'' Television: * Linda Evans ''(July 1971)'' * Suzanne Somers ''(February 1980 and December 1984)'' * Teri Copley ''(November 1990)'' * Dian Parkinson ''(December 1991 and May 1993)'' * Shannen Doherty ''(March 1994 and December 2003)'' * Farrah Fawcett ''(December 1995 and July 1997)'' * Claudia Christian ''(October 1999)'' * Shari Belafonte ''(September 2000)'' * Brooke Burke ''(May 2001 and November 2004)'' * Susie Feldman ''(August 2008)'' * Karina Smirnoff ''(May 2011)''


Other editions


''Playboy Special Edition''s

The success of ''Playboy'' magazine has led PEI to market other versions of the magazine, the Playboy Special Edition, ''Special Edition''s (formerly called ''Newsstand Special''s), such as ''Playboy's College Girls'' and ''Playboy's Book of Lingerie'', as well as the List of Playboy videos, ''Playboy'' video collection.


Braille

The National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS) has published a braille edition of ''Playboy'' since 1970. The braille version includes all the written words in the non-braille magazine, but no pictorial representations. Congress cut off funding for the braille magazine translation in 1985, but U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Hogan reversed the decision on First Amendment to the United States Constitution, First Amendment grounds.


International editions


Current


Former


Online

The growth of the Internet prompted the magazine to develop an official internet presence called ''Playboy'' Online in the late 1980s. The company launched Playboy.com, the official website for Playboy Enterprises and an online companion to ''Playboy'' magazine, in 1994. As part of the online presence, Playboy developed a pay web site called the ''Playboy Cyber Club'' in 1995 which features online chats, additional pictorials, videos of Playboy Playmate, Playmates and Playboy Cyber Girls that are not featured in the magazine. Archives of past ''Playboy'' articles and interviews are also included. In September 2005, ''Playboy'' began publishing a digital version of the magazine. In 2010, Playboy introduced ''The Smoking Jacket'', a safe for work, safe-for-work website designed to appeal to young men, while avoiding nude images or key words that would cause the site to be filtered or otherwise prohibited in the workplace. In May 2011, Playboy introduced iplayboy.com, a complete, uncensored version of its near-700 issue archive, targeting the Apple Inc., Apple iPad. By launching the archive as a web app, Playboy was able to circumvent both Apple's App Store (iOS), App Store content restrictions and their 30% subscription fee.


Litigation and legal issues

On January 14, 2004, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that Playboy Enterprises Inc.'s trademark terms "Playboy" and "Playmate" should be protected in the situation where a user typing "Playboy" or "Playmate" in a Web browser, browser search was instead shown advertisements of companies that competed with PEI. This decision reversed an earlier district court ruling. The suit started on April 15, 1999, when Playboy sued Excite (web portal), Excite Inc. and Netscape Communications Corporation, Netscape for trademark infringement.


Censorship

Many in the American religious community opposed the publication of ''Playboy''. The Louisiana pastor and author L. L. Clover wrote in his 1974 treatise, ''Evil Spirits, Intellectualism and Logic'', that ''Playboy'' encouraged young men to view themselves as "pleasure-seeking individuals for whom sex is fun and women are play things." In many parts of Asia, including India, mainland China, Myanmar, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, and Brunei, sale and distribution of ''Playboy'' is banned. In addition, sale and distribution is banned in most Muslim countries (except Lebanon and Turkey) including Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan. Despite the ban on the magazine in these countries, the official ''Playboy'' brand itself can still appear on various merchandise, such as perfume and deodorants. While banned in mainland China, the magazine is sold in Hong Kong. In Japan, where Censorship of pornography in Japan, genitals of models cannot be shown, a separate edition was published under license by Shueisha. An Indonesian edition was launched in April 2006, but controversy started before the first issue hit the stands. Though the publisher said the content of the Indonesian edition will be different from the original edition, the government tried to ban it by using anti-pornography rules. A Muslim organization, the Islamic Defenders Front (IDF), opposed ''Playboy'' on the grounds of pornography. On April 12, about 150 IDF members clashed with police and stoned the editorial offices. Despite this, the edition quickly sold out. On April 6, 2007, the chief judge of the case dismissed the charges because they had been incorrectly filed. In 1986, the American convenience store chain 7-Eleven removed the magazine. The store returned ''Playboy'' to its shelves in late 2003. 7-Eleven had also been selling ''Penthouse'' and other similar magazines before the ban. In 1995, ''Playboy'' was returned to shelves in the Republic of Ireland after a 36-year ban, despite staunch opposition from many women's groups. ''Playboy'' was not sold in the state of Queensland, Australia during 2004 and 2005, but returned as of 2006. Due to declining sales, the last Australia-wide edition of ''Playboy'' was the January 2000 issue. In 2013, ''Playboy'' was cleared by the United States Department of Defense, Pentagon of violating its rule against selling sexually explicit material on military property, but the base exchanges stopped selling it anyway. In March 2018, Playboy announced that they would be deactivating their Facebook accounts, due to the "sexually repressive" nature of the social media platform and their Criticism of Facebook#Application privacy breach, mismanagement of user data resulting from the Cambridge Analytica problem.


Books

General compilations * Nick Stone, editor. ''The Bedside Playboy''. Chicago: Playboy Press, 1963. Anniversary collections * Jacob Dodd, editor. ''The Playboy Book: Forty Years''. Santa Monica, California: General Publishing Group, 1994, * ''Playboy: 50 Years, The Photographs''. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2003, * Nick Stone, editor; Michelle Urry, cartoon editor. ''Playboy: 50 Years, The Cartoons''. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2004. * Gretchen Edgren, editor. ''The Playboy Book: Fifty Years''. Taschen, 1995. Interview compilations * G. Barry Golson, editor. ''The Playboy Interview''. New York: Playboy Press, 1981. (hardcover), (softcover) * G. Barry Golson, editor. ''The Playboy Interview Volume II''. New York: Wideview/Perigee, 1983. (hardcover), (softcover) * David Sheff, interviewer; G. Barry Golson, editor. ''The Playboy Interviews with John Lennon and Yoko Ono''. New York: Playboy Press, 1981, ; 2000 edition, * Stephen Randall, editor. ''The Playboy Interview Book: They Played the Game''. New York: M Press, 2006,


See also

* :Playboy lists * Counterculture of the 1960s * List of men's magazines * Playboy Bunny * Playboy Club * Playboy TV * ''Playgirl'' * Pubic Wars * Media ** ''Playboy's Book of Forbidden Words'' ** Playboy Collectors' Figure Series, Playboy Dolls ** ''Playboy: The Mansion''


References


External links

Official * Others
''Playboy'' Covers of the World
– Thousands of ''Playboy'' covers from all past and present editions worldwide. * Crossett, Andrew


Playmate database at the University of Chicagoarchived version June 2008


* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100227113720/http://www.tabletmag.com/arts-and-culture/books/26418/my-son-the-pornographer/ Josh Lambert, "My Son, the Pornographer"]: Jewish Editors at ''Playboy''
A Playboy's Guide to Hugh Hefner's Chicago
''Chicago Tribune'' {{Authority control Playboy 1953 establishments in Illinois 2020 disestablishments in California Defunct magazines published in the United States American pornographic film studios Erotica magazines published in the United States Literary magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 1953 Magazines disestablished in 2020 Magazines published in Chicago Magazines published in California Men's magazines published in the United States Monthly magazines published in the United States Obscenity controversies in literature Playboy magazines Sexual revolution