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The naked truth: Now people will really read Playboy for the articles after magazine decides to stop publishing nude photos
PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 14 October, 2015, 9:21am
UPDATED : Thursday, 15 October, 2015, 6:50am
Agence France-Presse in Washington
Playboy founder Hugh Hefner was consulted on the decision.
Playboy will stop publishing the photographs of fully nude women with which it is so closely associated, declaring such pictures have become "passe" in the internet age where free pornography is readily available.
The decision came after a top editor of the adult magazine met founder Hugh Hefner at the Playboy Mansion last month, chief executive Scott Flanders said.
Starting in March, Playboy's revamped print edition will still include photographs of women in provocative poses. They just won't be nude any more, Flanders told The New York Times.
"You're now one click away from every sex act imaginable for free. And so it's just passe at this juncture," he said.
It's a remarkable move for a magazine that launched in 1953 with a sultry Marilyn Monroe on its cover, breaking the taboo of showing women "au naturel".
But with pornographic images now so readily available online, and accessible via a variety of connected devices, Playboy is selling fewer and fewer copies.
Circulation decreased from 5.6 million in 1975 to about 800,000 now, the Times said, citing Alliance for Audited Media figures. At its peak in 1972, it sold more than seven million copies.
In order to be allowed on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, Playboy has already made content safer, Flanders said.
After its website went nude-free in August last year, the average reader age fell from 47 to just above 30, and internet traffic soared from four million to 16 million unique visitors per month, executives told the Times.
For its latest redesign, the magazine sought to answer the question: "If you take nudity out, what's left?" he explained.
Cory Jones, the chief content officer who met 89-year-old Hefner last month, said that the magazine will still feature a Playmate of the Month, though the images will now be "PG-13".
It is unclear the centrefold will survive the chopping block.
