Good work, fellow millennials, we might just have killed Playboy magazine.
CEO of Playboy enterprises ben Kohn shred a blog post on Medium today explaining that the current, just-published issue of the iconic magazine will be it’s last for 2020, and possibly forever. This is big, considering the cultural pervasiveness of the Playboy brand, but also not surprising considering how badly the magazine publishing industry is doing.
Kohn took over as CEO Playboy enterprises in 2011, taking the company private as well. A year later the company’s founder, Hugh Hefner stepped back from being the public face of the brand. Hefner passed away in 2017 at the age of 91, but left behind a company and brand that, for better or worse, had a huge cultural impact.
“Playboy is many things to many people. A magazine to many, a lifestyle to many more, an apparel brand, a membership club and even, according to some, ‘a corruptor of our youth,’” Kohn wrote in his post. “But throughout the past 66 years, one thing has remained constant: our commitment to free expression and breaking taboos, leaning into discomfort, helping audiences express and understand their sexuality, and advocating for the pursuit of pleasure for all.”
While a lot of those statements are debatable or have at least been debated in the 66 years since Playboy started publishing, it still remains true that Playboy is one of those things that just seemed like it would always be there. But then again, the allure of a “sophisticated” magazine that includes nude photos is less compelling nowadays when you can get both kinds of content on the internet for free and more conveniently.
And that’s where the future of Playboy probably is, while the magazine won’t print, the brand will still be creating content online. “We will move to a digital-first publishing schedule for all of our content including the Playboy Interview, 20Q, the Playboy Advisor and of course our Playmate pictorials,” Kohn wrote. “In 2021, alongside our digital content offerings and new consumer product launches, we will bring back fresh and innovative printed offerings in a variety of new forms – through special editions, partnerships with the most provocative creators, timely collections and much more.”
So you’ll have to pay extra for hard copies, just like so many things. Sounds about right.
(via: The Hollywood Reporter, image: Victor Blackman/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Here are a few other things we saw today:
- This social distanced Where’s Waldo seems a bit easier. (via LaughingSquid)
- You can do some of that Magical Gathering for free this month! (via Comicbook.com)
- RIP Lyle Waggoner. (via io9)
- This is fine.
Someone is driving around playing the purge alarm during the quarantine 😂pic.twitter.com/hIbmo5kRAC
— Taylor Swift Facts (@teaandfacts123) March 17, 2020
- Yes to Lana Condor calling out racist BS. (via UPRoxx)
- You can have a Netflix watch party online! (via USA Today)
- We may be biased but we love “It’s Lit” with The Mary Sue’s Princess Weekes!
- Putting up Christmas lights to spread joy in the time of coronavirus? Okay. (Via CNN)
- Now, go wash your hands, we’re going to watch this on a loop for a while:
Once SUE heard about the @shedd_aquarium penguins, we really didn’t have a choice. 🤷♀️ pic.twitter.com/X5z1yo5VU1
— Field Museum (@FieldMuseum) March 18, 2020
What did you see today?
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