Playboy (stylized in all caps) is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, available both online and in print. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, funded in part by a US$1,000 loan () from Hefner's mother.
Known for its centerfolds of nude and semi-nude female models (Playmates), Playboy played an important role in the sexual revolution and remains one of the world's best-known brands, with a presence in nearly every medium. In addition to the flagship magazine in the United States, special nation-specific versions of Playboy are published worldwide, including those by licensees, such as Dirk Steenekamp's DHS Media Group.
The magazine has a long history of publishing short stories by novelists such as Arthur C. Clarke, Ian Fleming, Saul Bellow, Chuck Palahniuk, P. G. Wodehouse, Haruki Murakami, and Margaret Atwood. Eldon Dedini, Jules Feiffer, Harvey Kurtzman, Shel Silverstein, Doug Sneyd, Erich Sokol, Gahan Wilson, and Rowland B. Wilson. Art Paul designed the bunny logo. LeRoy Neiman drew the Femlin characters for Playboy jokes. Patrick Nagel painted the headers for Playboy Forum and other sections.
Playboy features monthly interviews of public figures, such as artists, architects, economists, composers, conductors, film directors, journalists, novelists, playwrights, religious figures, politicians, athletes, and race car drivers. The magazine generally reflects a liberal editorial stance, although it often interviews conservative celebrities.
After a year-long removal of most nude photos in Playboy magazine, the March–April 2017 issue brought back nudity.
Publication history
1950s
Hugh Hefner graduated from the University of Illinois in 1949 with a psychology degree. He subsequently worked for Esquire magazine in Chicago writing promotional copy; for Publisher's Development Corporation in sales and marketing; and for Children's Activities magazine as circulation promotions manager. He formed HMH Publishing Corporation, and recruited his friend Eldon Sellers to find investors. However, the publisher of Stag, an unrelated men's adventure magazine, informed Hefner that his publication would file suit to protect its trademark if Hefner launched his magazine with the name Stag Party. Hefner, his wife Millie, and Sellers met to seek a new name, considering "Top Hat", "Gentleman", "Sir'", "Satyr", "Pan", and "Bachelor" before Sellers suggested "Playboy".
Published in December 1953, the first issue was undated, as Hefner was unsure there would be a second. He produced it in his Hyde Park kitchen. The first centerfold was Marilyn Monroe, although the photograph used had initially been taken for a calendar rather than for Playboy. Hefner chose what he deemed the "sexiest" image, a previously unused nude study of Monroe stretched with an upraised arm on a red velvet background with closed eyes and mouth open. Heavy promotion for the magazine, which centered on Monroe's nudity on the already-famous calendar, made Playboy a success, with the first issue selling out within weeks. The cover price was 50¢ and known circulation was 53,991. In 2002, copies of the first issue in mint or near-mint condition sold for over US$5,000 ().
In 1954, Playboy serialized the classic Ray Bradbury sci fi novel Fahrenheit 451 (1953), which has been published the previous year to little fanfare, in the March, April, and May 1954 issues, significantly boosting the work's popularity.
An urban legend started about Hefner and the Playmate of the Month because of markings on the front covers of the magazine. From 1955 to 1979 (except for a six-month gap in 1976), the "P" in Playboy had stars printed in or around the letter. Urban legend stated that this was either a rating that Hefner gave to the Playmate according to how attractive she was, the number of times that Hefner had slept with her, or how good she was in bed. In truth, stars, between zero and 12, indicated the domestic or international advertising region for that printing.
1960s–1990s
thumb|right|The editorial board of Playboy in 1970. Back, left to right: [[Robie Macauley, Nat Lehrman, Richard M. Koff, Murray Fisher, Arthur Kretchmer; front: Sheldon Wax, Auguste Comte Spectorsky, Jack Kessie.]]
In the 1960s, the magazine added "The Playboy Philosophy" column. Early topics included gay rights, Playboy was an early proponent of cannabis reform and provided founding support to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws in 1970.
From 1966 to 1976, Robie Macauley was the fiction editor at Playboy. During this period the magazine published fiction by Saul Bellow, Seán Ó Faoláin, John Updike, James Dickey, John Cheever, Doris Lessing, Joyce Carol Oates, Vladimir Nabokov, Michael Crichton, John le Carré, Irwin Shaw, Jean Shepherd, Arthur Koestler, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Bernard Malamud, John Irving, Anne Sexton, Nadine Gordimer, Kurt Vonnegut and J. P. Donleavy, as well as poetry by Yevgeny Yevtushenko.
In 1968, at the feminist Miss America protest, symbolically feminine products were thrown into a "Freedom Trash Can". These included copies of Playboy and Cosmopolitan magazines. One of the key pamphlets produced by the protesters was "No More Miss America!", by Robin Morgan, which listed ten characteristics of the Miss America pageant that the authors believed degraded women; it compared the pageant to Playboys centerfold as sisters under the skin, describing this as "The Unbeatable Madonna–Whore Combination".
After reaching its peak in the 1970s, Playboy saw a decline in circulation and cultural relevance due to competition in the field it founded—first from Penthouse, then from Oui (which was published as a spin-off of Playboy) and Gallery in the 1970s; later from pornographic videos; and more recently from lad mags such as Maxim, FHM, and Stuff. In response, Playboy attempted to re-assert its hold on the 18–35-year-old male demographic through slight changes to the content and focusing on issues and personalities more appropriate to its audience—such as hip-hop artists being featured in the "Playboy Interview". In February 1974, Ratna Assan became the first women of Indonesian descent to be featured, shortly after a positively received role in the film Papillon (1973).
Christie Hefner, daughter of founder Hugh Hefner, was employed by the company that published Playboy magazine beginning in 1975. In 1988, she became the company's chief executive officer. In December 2008, Ms. Heffner announced that she would resign from the company effective in January 2009. She explained that the election of Barack Obama as the next President had inspired her to devote more time to charitable work and that the decision to resign was her own. "Just as this country is embracing change in the form of new leadership, I have decided that now is the time to make changes in my own life as well", she said. Ms. Hefner was succeeded by company director and media veteran Jerome H. Kern as interim CEO, who was in turn succeeded by publisher Scott Flanders.
2000–2024: Continue decline, death of Hugh Hefner, and cessation of publication
The magazine celebrated its 50th anniversary with the January 2004 issue. Celebrations were held at Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York, and Moscow during the year to commemorate this event. Playboy also launched limited-edition products designed by fashion houses such as Versace, Vivienne Westwood and Sean John. As a homage to the magazine's 50th anniversary, MAC Cosmetics released two limited-edition products: lipstick and glitter cream.
The printed magazine ran several annual features and ratings. One of the most popular was its annual ranking of the top "party schools" among all U.S. universities and colleges. In 2009, the magazine used five criteria—bikini, brains, campus, sex, and sports—to develop its list. The top-ranked party school by Playboy for 2009 was the University of Miami.
In June 2009, the magazine reduced its publication schedule to 11 yearly issues, with a combined July/August issue. On August 11, 2009, London's Daily Telegraph newspaper reported that Hugh Hefner had sold his English manor house (next door to the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles) for $18 m ($10 m less than the reported asking price) to another American, Daren Metropoulos, the President and co-owner of Pabst Blue Ribbon, and that due to significant losses in the company's value (down from $1 billion in 2000 to $84 million in 2009), the Playboy publishing empire was for sale for $300 million. In December 2009, the publication schedule was reduced to 10 issues per year, with a combined January/February issue.
On July 12, 2010, Playboy Enterprises Inc. announced Hefner's $5.50 per share offer ($122.5 million based on shares outstanding on April 30 and the closing price on July 9) to buy the portion of the company he did not already own and take the company private with the help of Rizvi Traverse Management LLC. The company derived much of its income from licensing rather than from the magazine. On July 15, Penthouse owner FriendFinder Networks Inc. offered $210 million (the company is valued at $185 million). However, Hefner, who already owned 70 percent of voting stock, did not want to sell. In January 2011, the publisher of Playboy magazine agreed to an offer by Hefner to take the company private for $6.15 per share, an 18 percent premium over the price of the last previous day of trading. The buyout was completed in March 2011.