In a sign of the times, Playboy Magazine as we know it is about to look a lot different.
That’s because, beginning in March 2016, the publication will no longer publish photos of naked women.
Executives for the company announced the redesign of the magazine – and the subsequent change – this morning. The print edition of the magazine will still feature women in suggestive poses, but they will no longer be fully nude, according to The New York Times.
This, of course, marks a major shift for the publication, which has featured fully naked women for decades since Marilyn Monroe debuted on its cover in 1953.
Apparently, Playboy editor Cory Jones contacted founder and current editor-in-chief Hugh Hefner about dropping nude photos from the print edition and he agreed, as The Times reported.
It makes sense. Fewer people are reaching for that top shelf of the magazine racks and coughing over the cash for a Playboy magazine when the same thing (plus far more) is available with just a few clicks of a mouse – and free of charge and physical evidence at that.
According to The Times, Playboy’s print circulation is now about 800,000. Pre-Internet, it was once measured in the millions.
The move to remove nudity from its magazine pages comes after the publication removed images of full nudity from its website last August. As for the magazine, it will reportedly take on a more modern, cleaner style. Think, more provocative Instagram shots or Maxim-esque photoshoots.
Apparently, the “Playmate of the Month” will remain (a more PG version, that is), but it’s yet to be decided whether there will still be a centrefold.
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