Playboy Magazine to stop publishing nude photographs of women

IT became a household name for its photo spreads featuring nude women. But now Playboy magazine has a genius new plan to attract readers.

Anna Nicole Smith Picture: Playboy Magazine

THREE things have become synonymous with the legacy of the Playboy brand: blondes, boobs and bawdy content.

But in news that will shock even the most diehard bunny fans, the 62-year-old publishing empire is planning to remove naked women from its pages completely.

Playboy’s top editor Cory Jones recently approached the magazine’s 89-year-old founder and editor-in-chief Hugh Hefner with the idea to stop publishing photographs of naked women, The New York Times revealed.

Girls next door ... Hugh Hefner with his ex-girlfriends Kendra Wilkinson, Holly Madison and Bridget Marquardt. Picture: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

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The magazine played an integral role in the sexual revolution of the 60s and 70s with its groundbreaking content and often controversial pictorials, but has been sidelined in recent years with the internet now making accessing photos of nude women as simple as a click of the mouse.

Playboy chief executive Scott Flanders said the company’s original battle has been fought and won.

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“You’re now one click away from every sex act imaginable for free. And so it’s just passé at this juncture,” he said.

The change will be instated as part of the magazine’s new revamp, which will be unveiled in March.

It will still feature women in provocative poses, but gone are the days of full frontal nudity.

Playboy’s website has already undergone a similar transition, with all nudity removed in August 2014.

Blast from the past ... Hugh Hefner and Bill Cosby have a chat. Picture: Ron Galella/WireImage

Playboy executives claim website traffic jumped from about four million unique readers a month to 16 million.

One possible reason for this is the recent production of “safe for work content” which can be shared on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, effectively boosting traffic.

At its peak, Playboy managed to sell over seven million copies (November 1972 edition) but has dropped below the one million copies mark over the past decade.