It had to happen at some point. In this day and age where you can pull up porn on your phone faster than you can ask Siri the weather, a magazine like Playboy feels antiquated. And, that’s because it is. When it debuted in 1953, Hugh Hefner’s flagship publication helped start a sexual revolution, taking something as natural as physical attraction and throwing it on the table to indulge in. But, 62 years later, Playboy‘s aesthetic — that is, just plain ol’ women in the nude — pales in comparison to the hundreds of subgenres of coitus that you can find on your run-of-the-mill pornography website. (Or so I’ve heard at my weekly poker game. I’ve done no research. None.)
Still, it’s the true end of an era. In a New York Times article published on Monday, the writing on the wall became a siren from a mountaintop: Playboy is done with nude pictorials. The decision to close the door on the nude female form came last month, but it’s being made official now. The publication’s chief executive, Scott Flanders, cited the proliferation of porn as one of the primary reasons for ending the pictorials:
“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.”
It’s the right move for the once gargantuan flesh-peddler. At one point, the magazine had over five million subscribers. Now, circulation is floundering around 800,000. Playboy already nixed nudity off of its online presence last year, and because of that, the average age of the audience went down, while unique views on the website quadrupled. Getting rid of the nudity on all fronts is just the simple math of survival. You still have some time, though, to push one of those plastic-wrapped, blacked-out books across the counter of your corner store. (Again…no research. I swear.) The magazine will start the non-nude revolution in March of next year.
Now, when you say you crack open a Playboy for the articles, it will be real this time. As for those boxes of wrinkled skin mags in the garage, waiting for one of your kids to discover? They’ll still exist…in your browser history.
(via NYTimes)