Playboy

American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine

Playboy was a monthly American men's magazine. It was founded by Hugh Hefner in Chicago, Illinois in 1953. Marilyn Monroe was the magazine's first cover model. The logo was created by Art Paul.

Playboy
Editor-in-ChiefHugh Hefner
CategoriesMen's magazine
FrequencyMonthly
Circulation800,000[1]
PublisherPlayboy Enterprises, Inc.
FounderHugh Hefner
Year founded1953
First issueDecember 1953
CountryUnited States
Based inChicago, Illinois
LanguageEnglish
WebsitePlayboy.com
ISSN0032-1478
OCLC number3534353
Brazilian playmates, in 2009

The magazine featured articles about men's interests including clothing, sports, consumer goods, men's health, politics, and public figures. The magazine always showed large pictures of nude women, except for one year in 2016–2017.[2]

In each issue, a provocatively posed "Playmate of the Month" was featured in a pictorial several pages in length at the center of the magazine with an accompanying "centerfold" photograph. Unlike traditional pin up art, Playboy humanized their models by describing their real world jobs, accomplishments, and goals.[3]

In 1963 Hefner was arrested for obscenity in Chicago after publishing nude photos of actress Jayne Mansfield that were taken on the set of Promises! Promises! He was acquitted at trial by a hung jury.

Starting with the March 2016 issue, the magazine no longer had pictures of nude women. According to the company, "times change."[4] Times changed again in February 2017 when nudity returned. In March 2020 the company announced that it would stop publishing the magazine on paper and only use digital copies instead.[5] Between 1970 and 1985 Playboy was also printed in braille.[6][7] It is also one of the few magazines whose microfilm format was in color, not black and white.[8]

References change

  1. Logan, Bryan (October 12, 2015). "Playboy will no longer feature nude women in its print edition". businessinsider.com. Business Insider. Archived from the original on August 7, 2016. Retrieved August 7, 2016.
  2. Somaiya, Ravi (October 12, 2015). "Nudes Are Old News at Playboy". The New York Times. Archived from the original on August 14, 2016. Retrieved August 7, 2016.
  3. Hollows, Joanne; Bell, Mr David (December 28, 2012). Historicizing Lifestyle. ISBN 9781409490630.
  4. Donatelli, Joe (October 13, 2015). "Playboy is Doing What?!?". playboy.com. Playboy. Archived from the original on October 14, 2015. Retrieved August 7, 2016.
  5. "Playboy to end print version of magazine". UPI. Archived from the original on March 27, 2020. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
  6. "BLIND WIN RULING ON BRAILLE PLAYBOY". The New York Times. August 29, 1986. Archived from the original on January 27, 2011. Retrieved October 16, 2011.
  7. SPIEGEL, DER (April 13, 2010). "Porno in Brailleschrift: Blinde bekommen scharfe Kurven zum Anfassen - DER SPIEGEL - Panorama". Der Spiegel (in German). Archived from the original on May 3, 2017. Retrieved October 29, 2020.
  8. "Re: Nicholson Baker and NEH". Ibiblio.org. April 16, 2001. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved February 14, 2016.