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Playboy (stylized in all caps) is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, available both online and in print. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother.
Known for its of nude and semi-nude models (Playboy Playmate), Playboy played an important role in the sexual revolution and remains one of the world's best-known brands, 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, Vladimir Nabokov, Saul Bellow, Chuck Palahniuk, P. G. Wodehouse, Roald Dahl, Haruki Murakami, and Margaret Atwood. With a regular display of full-page color cartoons, it became a showcase for cartoonists such as Jack Cole, Eldon Dedini, Jules Feiffer, Harvey Kurtzman, Shel Silverstein, Doug Sneyd, Erich Sokol, Roy Raymonde, Gahan Wilson, and Rowland B. Wilson. Art Paul designed the bunny logo. Leroy Neiman drew the Femlin characters for Playboy jokes. Patrick Nagel painted the headers for Playboy Forum and other sections.
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.
Published in December 1953, the first issue was undated, as Hefner was unsure there would be a second. He produced it in his Hyde Park kitchen. The first centerfold was Marilyn Monroe, although the picture used initially was taken for a calendar rather than for Playboy.Summers, p. 59. Hefner chose what he deemed the "sexiest" image, a previously unused nude study of Monroe stretched with an upraised arm on a red velvet background with closed eyes and mouth open. The heavy promotion centered on Monroe'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. Playboy Collector's Association Playboy Magazine Price Guide 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, by Ray Bradbury, was published in 1953 and serialized in the March, April and May 1954 issues of Playboy.
An urban legend started about Hefner and the Playboy Playmate 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 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 truth, stars, between zero and 12, indicated the domestic or international advertising region for that printing.
From 1966 to 1976, Robie Macauley was the fiction editor at Playboy. During this period the magazine published fiction by Saul Bellow, Seán Ó Faoláin, John Updike, James Dickey, John Cheever, Doris Lessing, Joyce Carol Oates, Vladimir Nabokov, Michael Crichton, John le Carré, Irwin Shaw, Jean Shepherd, Arthur Koestler, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Bernard Malamud, John Irving, Anne Sexton, Nadine Gordimer, Kurt Vonnegut and J. P. Donleavy, as well as poetry by Yevgeny Yevtushenko.
In 1968, at the feminist Miss America protest, symbolically feminine products were thrown into a "Freedom Trash Can". These included copies of Playboy and Cosmopolitan magazines. One of the key pamphlets produced by the protesters was "No More Miss America!", by Robin Morgan, which listed ten characteristics of the Miss America pageant that the authors believed degraded women; it compared the pageant to Playboys 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, then from Oui (which was published as a spin-off of Playboy) and Gallery in the 1970s; later from pornographic Videotape; and more recently from lad mags such as Maxim, FHM, and Stuff. In response, Playboy attempted to re-assert its hold on the 18–35-year-old male demographic through slight changes to the content and focusing on issues and personalities more appropriate to its audience—such as hip-hop artists being featured in the " Playboy Interview". In February 1974, Ratna Assan became the first women of Indonesian descent to be featured, shortly after a positively received role in the film Papillon (1973).
Christie Hefner, 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. She said that the election of Barack Obama 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 as interim CEO, who was in turn succeeded by publisher Scott Flanders.
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—to develop its list. The top-ranked party school by Playboy for 2009 was the University of Miami.
In June 2009, the magazine reduced its publication schedule to 11 yearly issues, with a combined July/August issue. On August 11, 2009, London's Daily Telegraph newspaper reported that Hugh Hefner had sold his English manor house (next door to the Playboy Mansion 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, 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). However, 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.
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), eliminating most of the space for cartoons. Hefner, himself a former cartoonist, reportedly resisted dropping the cartoons more than the nudity, but ultimately obliged. Playboys plans were to market itself as a competitor to Vanity Fair, as opposed to more traditional competitors GQ and Maxim. Playboy enters non-nude era: Sexy but 'safe for work' WTAE-TV, via CNN Money (February 24, 2016)
Playboy announced in February 2017, however, that the dropping of nudity had been a mistake. Furthermore, for its March/April issue, it 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 company's chief creative officer made the announcement on Twitter with the hashtag #NakedIsNormal.
In early 2018, and according to Jim Puzzanghera of the Los Angeles Times, 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, a profile of Pete Buttigieg, coverage of BDSM, and a cover photo representing gender and sexual fluidity.
In August 2024 it was announced that the magazine would relaunch in print in February 2025; it will now be published annually.
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). Will the Millennials Save Playboy?, The New York Times
In 1970, Playboy became the first gentleman's magazine printed in braille. It is also one of the few magazines whose microfilm format was in color, not black and white.
The jaunty rabbit quickly became a popular symbol of extroverted male culture, becoming a lucrative source of merchandizing revenue for the company. In the 1950s, it was adopted as the military aircraft insignia for the US Navy's Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Four (VX-4).
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.
Music:
Sports:
Television:
In 2010, Playboy introduced The Smoking Jacket, a 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 iPad. By launching the archive as a web app, Playboy was able to circumvent both Apple's App Store content restrictions and their 30% subscription fee.
Stacy Arthur, Playboy's Playmate of the Month for January, 1991, filed a $70 million lawsuit against Playboy Enterprises Inc. and others alleging she was raped and sodomized by three Playboy employees on October 6, 1991, at the Playboy mansion in Los Angeles and that inaction by the magazine led to the death of her husband.
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 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 Inc. and Netscape for trademark infringement.
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 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.John Rettie, "7-Eleven's Ban on Playboy Magazine", "L.A. Times", April 19, 1986. Retrieved October 29, 2021.Charles Storch, "7-Eleven Won't Sell Adult Magazines", Chicago Tribune, April 11, 1986. Retrieved October 29, 2021.
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. "Too Rude For Queensland", State Library of Queensland. Retrieved October 29, 2021.
In 2013, Playboy was cleared by the 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 mismanagement of user data resulting from the Cambridge Analytica problem.
Steinem detailed many forms of harassment she allegedly received during training, including customers touching her costume, putting their arm around her, breathing heavily down her neck, along with multiple instances of being yelled at when refusing to go home with a customer. Steinem claimed to have worked long night shifts in uncomfortable clothing, with no breaks or food. The Bunnies were told they would make around $200 – 300 a week, when in reality they had to share tips and they were underpaid. Steinem also observed and noted in her expose how Bunnies of color were called "Chocolate Bunnies" and were given lower ranking jobs in the club.
After Jennifer's parents' divorce, Dr. Saginor spent significantly more time at the mansion than prior, bringing his children along with him. No matter how often her mother would forbid them from going, Jennifer would lie about her whereabouts to spend time at the "playhouse". Jennifer yearned for her father's love and affection, so, she would insist on going to the mansion with him. Unfortunately for Jennifer, this would lead to years of processing her broken childhood, which she is continuing to work on in present times.
A specific story that Jennifer references in her memoir is, again, at the age of six when she ventures to the mansion for the first time, meeting Hugh Hefner, and is left to her own devices by her father. As she walked through the mansion, surrounded by half-naked strangers, she ran into the butler who showed her to the pool. Once getting to the pool, Jennifer discovered a secret tunnel under the water, leading to an underground Jacuzzi in a separate section of the house. Here, she walked in on John Belushi having sexual intercourse with one of the Playboy Bunnies. She was six years old at the time, but describes her response to this experience as "I am no longer six. I have grown to full maturity in a matter of seconds." Jennifer's experiences display just one of the hidden stories of the Playboy Mansion that haven't been addressed or brought to light for the masses. Throughout the rest of her book, she discusses several stories involving herself and others, sharing what really went down in the mansion during her time residing there, including the sexual relationship she was involved in with one of Hugh Hefner's girlfriends.
In the documentary, Theodore spoke about the pressure she felt to engage in sexual acts, not only with Hefner, but also with other men and women who frequented the house. She also alleged that she was forced to be a "drug mule" for Hefner, stating that he forced her to retrieve drugs, including cocaine, for his personal use. Many other former bunnies called out Theodore saying that she was "chasing fame" and alleging that her accusations were false due to the fact that she didn't speak out for years. The backlash that Theodore faced was in part due to the fact that after their split she remained on good terms with Hefner. She ended up marrying a close friend of Hefner. She also returned to the mansion many times after her split with Hefner and when she eventually divorced her husband it was Hefner who gave her money for a divorce lawyer. Their close friendship, even after their romantic relationship ended, led many to question the validity of Theodore's story. In the documentary Theodore acknowledges how she waited to speak out due to blocking out traumatic memories and believing that she didn't have a voice. The documentary gave her and other former bunnies a chance to share their experiences. In response to Theodore's allegations and the documentary in general, Playboy released an open letter stating that "today's Playboy is not Hugh Hefner's Playboy".
Anniversary collections
Interview compilations
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