Playboy, the adult magazine that launched in 1953 with a sultry Marilyn Monroe on its cover will stop publishing the photographs of the fully nude women so closely associated with it.
The decision came after a top editor of the magazine met with its founder Hugh Hefner at the Playboy Mansion last month, according to chief executive Scott Flanders.
Starting in March, Playboy’s revamped print edition will still include photographs of women in provocative poses.
They just won’t be nude anymore, Flanders told The New York Times, adding that such pictures have become “passe” in the Internet age.
“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 came onto the scene by 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 less and less copies.
The magazine’s circulation decreased from 5.6 million in 1975 to about 800,000 now, the Times said, citing Alliance for Audited Media figures.
In order to be allowed on now-ubiquitous social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram that drive Internet traffic, Playboy has already made some content safe for work, according to Flanders.
For its latest redesign, the magazine sought to answer the question: “if you take nudity out, what’s left?” he explained.