Ahmed Sabbagh
Professor Henrietta charles
Media 1
10/22/2015
Effects of Playboy's Nude Centerfold's Removal
Playboy is one of the most established entertainment magazines in America. It has been in existence since 1953 after it was established by Hugh Hefner and his acquaintances. The magazine rose to the limelight due to its posting of nude centerfolds as an embrace their strategy to address men's lifestyle. The magazine has, however, changed its approach to entertainment and adapted a new way of addressing lifestyle. The founder Hugh Hefner has decided to drop the norm of posting nude centerfolds citing the fact that they have already reached their basic goal of making the female body appear normal. This has been possible as they were able to introduce women in their natural state to the world. This paper will discuss the consequences of Playboy's move to abandon the tradition of posting nude centerfold photos on its long serving magazine. I will discuss my take on the effect of this move. Several advantages and detriments of this action by Playboy will be discussed and a stand taken on the matter.
I think that the removal of the nude centerfolds will have immense effects on the magazine's purchases by the youth of ages between 18-34. However, most of them will not reduce the level of subscription to the magazine. This is because most of the students do not purchase the magazine for the purpose of seeing the nudes. They, however, will still want to read stories about their favorite Playboy celebrities. Most of these youths have easier and more premise sources for nude photos, especially from online pornography. They thus do not need to subscribe to the magazine for the purpose of seeing the nudes but to read the other interesting stories posted in the magazine. There are other sources that are more accessible and flexible for these youths. The youths might even increase the number of subscriptions they make to Playboy magazine if they can relate more to the stories it prints.
Youths aged 18-34 may also likely increase their subscription to Playboy because they would now find it comfortable to read its content in the presence of most members of the society. The fact that Playboy has always been associated with nude centerfolds makes most youths less comfortable when reading its articles in the presence of their folks. Without the magazine’s association with these nude centerfolds, any youth will be at peace with reading the interesting articles in the magazine anywhere in the society without the fear of being misjudged.
Playboy is known for its reliability as it offers credible contents to its readers. This explains its long presence since the 50s. The editor of the magazine asserted that these pornographic images of nude women are no longer commercially viable. This is true since most of the fans and readers of magazines buy them for their content. The interviews are catchy and up to date and they concentrate on the most adored celebrities in the world. This fact will not alter the number of readers who subscribe to the magazine.
The removal of the nudes has taken the world by a storm as this move has increased the population that knows about the magazine. Since it has been reported all over the internet and in different media and blogs, most youths will have the urge to read it even though they did not have any information about it in the past. This likely increases the volume of sales and subscriptions for the magazines by youths since they will be more driven by curiosity spurred by the change. As the stories in Playboy are more relatable to these youths, they will openly embrace the magazine.
The publication of the nudes has greatly lowered sales over the year. The editors can thus not continue to allow their primary commodity to be nudity as they have already accomplished their goal of normalizing the female body; which was the goal. Since the establishment of Playboy, they have managed to change female nudity from being a taboo to being a normal thing. More youths aged 18-34 would thus be proud to be associated with Playboy after their new resolution.
