# Playboy to Cease Publication **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 19, 2020, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playboy-to-cease-publication/849778 "2020-03-19T01:46:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![DKW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dkw/32/3118_2.png) [@DKW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DKW)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2020, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playboy-to-cease-publication/849778/61 "2020-03-22T05:08:12Z")
Playboy was one of those institutions that was a huge deal when it served a need that few or no other outlets did, but then _way_ overstayed its welcome. I’ve grumbled about how the fricking jokes **never, never, never, ever change** (to the point where simply discussing the contents of the magazine has become absolutely impossible), and now I believe that this, in a sense, encapsulates why this venerable company could never adapt to the times…it wasn’t _meant_ to. Seriously, go rewatch some of the videos or movies sometime and pay attention to the imagery, the style. Manual typewriters. Vintage muscle cars. Country houses. Gothic style mansions. Picket fences. Handwritten letters. Analog _everything_. Maybe it was a rigidly enforced policy, maybe it was a tradition that nobody dared defy, but there was a big push to keep things old-fashioned, classic, “timeless”, and that’s never going to be a formula for success in the age of smartphones and woke feminism and YouTube. I’ll probably miss the videos more than anything else. Yeah, yeah, the 90’s and early 00’s had tons of porn, but if you wanted _skin_…not gangbangs, not anal, not “cherry popping”, and, most importantly, no disgusting semen spraying all over the goddam place, just beautiful women with no clothes on…Playboy was the way to go. There were other “softcore” companies (man, does the Internet ever use that word?) at the time, but none with the scope or variety of Playboy. If you were to ask me where the best places on the internet were for female casual nudity, I wouldn’t have any idea how to answer. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2020, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playboy-to-cease-publication/849778/62 "2020-03-22T08:07:25Z")
> [@Guest-starring\_Id](#): > > Some of my favourite things about the rag were [The Vargas Girls](https://www.pinterest.ca/pin_nada/vargas-girls/) and (less so, but still dug) [Leroy Neiman’s stuff](https://www.google.com/search?q=leroy+neiman+-+playboy&rlz=1C1CHBD_enCA835CA835&sxsrf=ALeKk03nLbImri-flR4UlNbyZEDuMYLgJw:1584675601993&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjs6tzSkKjoAhVWgp4KHWLXDbEQ_AUoAXoECAwQAw&biw=958&bih=706). I’ve always liked [Doug Sneyd](https://www.google.com/search?q=doug+sneyd&hl=en&sxsrf=ALeKk03Rvez5SXK0kNVZtnR828OPVy4_AA:1584864262056&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiNpO26z63oAhW2SRUIHayTBdgQ_AUoAXoECBUQAw&biw=1536&bih=722)myself. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2020, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playboy-to-cease-publication/849778/63 "2020-03-22T09:07:50Z")
Remember when Playboy got a network TV show trying to cash-on the success of Mad Men but their period 60s drama only got headlines due to some local TV stations also having 60s values and refusing to air “pornographic content” despite being tamer than an episode of Survivor? ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2020, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playboy-to-cease-publication/849778/64 "2020-03-22T10:08:40Z")
> [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](#): > > How is a morality that lets you do what you like different from having no morality at all? That’s a really good question. I think the difference is, someone needs to poke the religious restrictions from time to time to see if they still serve a valid purpose. Does God seriously want us to eat fish on Friday? Or lock the liquor section of the store on Sunday? Or keep our daughters virgins until their wedding night? I don’t want to make _Playboy_ out to be more important than it was, but it sure did facilitate some awkward conversations that needed to be made. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2020, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playboy-to-cease-publication/849778/65 "2020-03-22T16:16:20Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > Remember when Playboy got a network TV show trying to cash-on the success of Mad Men Playboy served as a consultant (in a fairly minor role) but it was really a 20th Century Fox show trying to cash in on Mad Men. Much like the short lived Pam-Am show. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2020, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playboy-to-cease-publication/849778/66 "2020-03-22T16:39:11Z")
> [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](#): > > I have to admit this news is just a little sad. I preferred Penthouse. It made me sad after Guccione died and the magazine decided to take a stand in favor of incels and right-wing extremists. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2020, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playboy-to-cease-publication/849778/67 "2020-03-22T16:58:21Z")
> [@Zakalwe](#): > > Then they would complain about the work involved involved in doing so much retouching to the photos to make them look “Playboy”. _Thank_-you. I’m perplexed as to how that’s not so incredibly off-putting - more so than any basic hardcore. (shrug) > [@Drum\_God](#): > > Fiction? As I recall, every story began with something like “I can’t believe this actually happened to me.” You’re telling me that was fiction? I’m crushed. I’ll wager that you were whooshed. At least I’ll pray **JAQ** was sarcastic. Playboy, on the other hand, didn’t fare too badly with contributors like, oh - Updike, Cheever, Joyce Carol Oates, Mailer, Shirely Jackson… > [@Alessan](#): > > I’ve always liked [Doug Sneyd](https://www.google.com/search?q=doug+sneyd&hl=en&sxsrf=ALeKk03Rvez5SXK0kNVZtnR828OPVy4_AA:1584864262056&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiNpO26z63oAhW2SRUIHayTBdgQ_AUoAXoECBUQAw&biw=1536&bih=722)myself. Ah, slipped my radar. (and just found out - a fellow Canuck!) > [@DKW](#): > > I’ve grumbled about how the fricking jokes **never, never, never, ever change** … ::Go, memory banks, go!!!:: Recalling an unabridged dictionary definition mentioning the opposite of a ‘quickie’ as being a ‘slow poke’. :o ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2020, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playboy-to-cease-publication/849778/68 "2020-03-22T17:22:55Z")
> [@Lamoral](#): > > The brand could absolutely be rebooted and bounce back. Don’t overthink the existential gender-relations aspect of it, and forget about the nudity. Midcentury-modern aesthetics and “cocktail culture” are back in a big way. _Mad Men_ helped bring this about, but there’s also been a general rediscovery and appreciation for the way things looked back then, among my generation, people in their 30s. There’s also growing interest in finely crafted consumer goods and vintage analog technology, especially stereo equipment and cameras. And God knows there’s plenty of political and social commentary to go around. Some few people are ‘back in a big way’ to the trappings of the past in an IRONIC way. Like playing dressup. Like when young boys (in the past of course). played Cowboys and Indians…There are young girls like to wear bonnets and play store like they do in Little House On The Prairie. Plenty of young women like to play ‘50’s dressup’ with red lipstick, 50’s girdles and full skirts, wearing aprons and cooking with vintage pyrex. Untold numbers of all kinds of people are enamored of Star Wars and Harry Potter stuff. It’s fun, a little hobby, an escape from modern life… Playing Mr. Suave, with an ascot, a martini, and lounge music is fun. But real life takes over, who are these Playboy wanna-bes who are buying finely crafted goods and collecting vintage technology? A few filthy rich snobbish frat boys living off their parents. Posers. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2020, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playboy-to-cease-publication/849778/69 "2020-03-22T17:35:36Z")
…or that should be una_bash_ed dictionary… Weird seeing the Lennon i-view just after he was shot. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2020, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playboy-to-cease-publication/849778/70 "2020-03-22T19:25:46Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > Plenty of young women like to play ‘50’s dressup’ with red lipstick, 50’s girdles and full skirts, wearing aprons and cooking with **vintage pyrex**. DO NOT badmouth vintage Pyrex. That shit’s gold. The current versions are shit in comparison. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2020, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playboy-to-cease-publication/849778/71 "2020-03-22T19:30:28Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > They were very 1950s in their outlook. > Porn, tasteful and otherwise, is free. No magazine, even the _New Yorker_, can attract advertisers with articles any more. Their interviews were good, and so was their fiction. But it’s a dead market. The _New Yorker_, AFAIK, is doing OK or at least holding its own. I think this is a combination of consistent high quality writing and reporting and the lack of very much serious competition, other than the _Atlantic_ and perhaps some of the _New York Times_ offshoot magazines. They have, however, toughened their soft paywall, which means they either want more money or need more money to stay afloat. But _Playboy_ was mired in a bygone era whose time has come and gone. The best I can say for it is that Heffner really did make a largely successful effort to attract some really good writers and interviewees, in part I think by paying very generously. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2020, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playboy-to-cease-publication/849778/72 "2020-03-22T20:38:29Z")
Circa five decades ago in San Francisco the first MrsRico and I (long story) attended gatherings of youngish adults in a nearby Methodist church where books, music, films, and the latest issue of PLAYBOY were discussed. PB was that vanilla even then. It was quite irrelevant not much later. Ian Shoales (I GOTTA GO) dismissed PB in 1983. > [@](#): > > _Playboy_ likes to think it appeals to men who like to think they’re hip and attractive, but hip and attractive men don’t spend their free time gawking at gauzy pictures of naked women. Hip and attractive men gawk at gauzy pictures of men’s clothing and stereo component systems. > > _Playboy_ gives us the squarest of music tips, excerpts from the most boring best-sellers, stupid cartoons, and tips on the new electronics that are roughly six months out of date. But the nekkid wimmens! Airbrushed, shooped, denatured into innocence. Sure, there was all that great literature, the fine interviews, the music polls, the… nekkid wimmens! All that remains is a stack of old centerfolds stuffed in a manila folder. Time marches on. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2020, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playboy-to-cease-publication/849778/73 "2020-03-24T01:24:12Z")
> [@Guest-starring\_Id](#): > > I’ll wager that you were whooshed. At least I’ll pray **JAQ** was sarcastic. Playboy, on the other hand, didn’t fare too badly with contributors like, oh - Updike, Cheever, Joyce Carol Oates, Mailer, Shirely Jackson… NO, I mean Penthouse Forum was all made up. Just like pro rasslin’. Even though every one started with “I never used to believe forum letters, until ONE DAY…” they still aren’t true. Like the guy, who is probably a best selling novelist now, who wrote a gem of a tale about having immoral congress with the chicken he was preparing for a get together, and how everyone complemented him on the unique flavor of his stuffing. Well written, but somehow I don’t believe it was true. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playboy-to-cease-publication/849778.md?page=3)