Playboy to drop nudity

Playboy will adopt a cleaner, more modern style, said Chief Content Officer Cory Jones, as executives admit that the magazine has been outdone by the Internet, according to a report in the New York Times.

Circulation has dropped from 5.6 million in 1975 to about 800,000 now, according to the Alliance for Audited Media, claimed the Times.

There will still be a Playmate of the Month, but the pictures will be “PG-13” and less produced — more like the racier sections of Instagram, the article stated, adding that it is not yet decided whether there will still be a centerfold.

“You’re now one click away from every sex act imaginable for free,” said Scott Flanders, the company’s chief executive, in the Times article. “And so it’s just passe at this juncture.”

According to its own research, Playboy’s logo is one of the most recognizable in the world, along with those of Apple and Nike, the Times reported. But now, as the magazine seeks to compete with younger outlets like Vice, Mr. Flanders said, it sought to answer a key question: “If you take nudity out, what’s left?”

Some of the moves, like expanded coverage of liquor, are partly commercial, Mr. Flanders admitted; the magazine must please its core advertisers, the Times claimed.

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The target audience, Mr. Flanders said in the Times article, is young men who live in cities. “The difference between us and Vice,” he said, “is that we’re going after the guy with a job.” All the changes have been tested in focus groups with an eye toward attracting millennials.

The company now makes most of its money from licensing its ubiquitous brand and logo across the world — 40 percent of that business is in China even though the magazine is not available there — for bath products, fragrances, clothing, liquor and jewelry among other merchandise. Nudity in the magazine risks complaints from shoppers, the report stated.