13849: The Rabbit Died.

Street Leader in Namibia is taking credit for this tribute to the late Hugh Hefner. How thoughtful. Although it might have been even more impactful as a magazine centerfold.

13799: Ancient Chinese Sex Secrets.

The Chinese office of a White advertising agency owned by a Japanese holding company produced this campaign for Playboy condoms that would never have been approved in the U.S. Now that’s diversity in action!

12913: Playboy South Of The Border.

Guess the jerk-offs in Buenos Aires aren’t aware of Playboy’s plan to strip the nudity from its magazine. Stay classy, guys.

From Ads Of The World.

12897: Deleting Play From Playboy.

Adweek reported on Playboy’s decision to—starting in April 2016—strip away the nudity that has essentially symbolized the magazine’s brand. Playboy pulled a similar move with its website in 2014, apparently increasing traffic, lowering the median age of visitors and attracting broader advertisers. What’s next—turning Playboy Mansion into a children’s amusement park? Can’t help but think this action is the New Coke of the decade—except it’s not a soft drink, but rather, soft porn. Playboy without Playmates is like Madison Avenue without culturally clueless racists.

Playboy’s No-Nudity Revamp Could Mean More Ad Dollars and Higher-End Brands

Magazine may compete with Esquire and GQ

By Emma Bazilian

That old line about “reading Playboy for the articles” is about to become a lot more legitimate. This morning, Playboy announced that beginning in March 2016, it will no longer run nude pictures in the magazine. While the move has been attributed to the rise of Internet pornography—after all, who really needs to buy magazines to see naked women in this day and age?—there’s another important factor at play: Fewer nudes may mean more advertiser dollars.

The safe-for-work approach has certainly benefited Playboy.com, which underwent its own nudity-free revamp in August 2014, shifting focus to more Facebook-friendly lifestyle and entertainment content. Since then, the site’s average monthly unique visitors have increased by 400 percent, and median reader age has dropped from 47 to 30, according to the company. The site has also managed to attract advertisers like Stoli Vodka, Hornitos Tequila and The Weinstein Company.

By instituting similar changes in the magazine—among them, higher-quality paper stock, more coverage of visual artists and liquor content, per the New York Times—Playboy might hope to compete with men’s magazines like GQ and Esquire for high-end fashion, automotive and spirits advertisers.

The no-nudity move could also help broaden Playboy’s appeal among mass brands that tend to be more conservative. “This opens up the conversation to marketers hesitant to go into what was a highly provocative environment,” said Robin Steinberg, evp, publishing and digital director, investment activation at MediaVest.

Whether advertisers really will embrace the “new” Playboy remains to be seen. But even if brands bite, the magazine will still need to win over its target millennial audience. “Readers and revenue are the two most crucial factors for success,” Steinberg said.

Take, for example, former laddie magazine Maxim, which relaunched in an attempt to reposition itself as a destination for stylish urban males. Since then, the magazine’s fashion advertising has grown, but newsstand numbers are still struggling: According to the Alliance for Audited Media, single-copy sales dropped 36 percent in the first half of 2015.

11888: Playboy Condoms Dumb-Dumbs.

These ads are infinitely awful.

From Ads of the World.

10195: Classic Coverage Of Garcelle Beauvais.

9984: Bunnies For Easter.

Darine Stern was the first Black model to appear on the cover of Playboy for the October 1971 issue.

Naturi Naughton played a Bunny on AMC series Mad Men and the short-lived NBC series The Playboy Club.



Naomi Campbell has incorporated Bunny imagery in her work.




Runa Lucienne became the first Black Playboy Bunny to work at the Playboy Club Macao in Macau, China. Lucienne was one of the 16 original Macao Bunnies, beating thousands of international applicants.

9192: Black and White TV.

Do these ads—which literally appeared side by side in the latest issue of Essence magazine—show how race, culture and stereotypes work on primetime TV? The White actress portrays a smart and strong character in the series’ lead role. The Black actress plays a sexual object.