Nude Photos Now a Thing of the Past for Playboy Magazine
Playboy magazine will no longer be printing photos of women fully in the nude. Instead, the publication's editor-in-chief Hugh Hefner has agreed to display pages of intimate photos of woman in different state of undress.
The decision was finalized during Hefner's meeting with chief content officer for Playboy Magazine Cory Jones. Instead of the usual pornographic photos of women gracing the pages of the magazine, Jones has proposed a more PG-13 content featuring "a little more intimate" shots. This change will reportedly take effect in March 2016.
According to the New York Times, the no-nude prints were officially ditched in August 2014 for the digital distribution of Playboy Magazine. This is exemplified by the photos posted on the publications social media counterpart Instagram. The move was initially done to abide by the requirements of the social media platform about photo nudity.
However, this change has made a great impact on Playboy's user traffic. According to the site, the web traffic jumped to about 16 million from around four million even though the average age of its reader dropped from 47 to just over 30. This improvement reportedly drove executives to ditch the ultra-NSFW pictures entirely for its print copies.
The usual "Playmate of the Month" photo will reportedly still remain on the pages of the magazine. It will still also continue with its investigative journalism interviews and fiction stories. But Jones maintained the rest of the women photos will be less racy.
"A little more accessible, a little more intimate. Don't get me wrong, 12-year-old me is very disappointed in current me. But it's the right thing to do," he said.
According to MTV, another reason Playboy Magazine is ditching the nude photos is the realization that sex in America has completely already been revolutionized. As was the team's essential purpose in the 1970's, Playboy's CEO Scott Flanders believes that the modern era of internet has completely fulfilled their purpose.
"That battle has been fought and won. You're now one click away from every sex act imaginable for free. And so it's just passé at this juncture," Flanders told the New York Times.
This move will reportedly also mean more money for Playboy, especially on the licensing business part. According to the New York Times, no nude photos mean more partnerships with the Playboy logo in certain brand merchandise including fragrances, clothing and liquor. This step reportedly gives the potential to attract more paper distribution considering nude photos in magazines risk complaints from shoppers.
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