When Hugh Hefner founded Playboy in 1953, he called it a sexually liberated alternative to America’s repressed, conservative culture. Now the men’s magazine is taking a step back, with a redesign intended to appease online viewing platforms that prohibit nudity.
Playboy attracts millions of readers online each month, many coming for articles on entertainment, politics, tech reviews and more, according to Wired. But with the popularity of online social sharing, the magazine has decided to abandon its core identity of nude photos for a tamer look that will no longer include any nudity.
The move follows a decision by the magazine last year to launch a “safe-for-work” site that has drawn significant numbers of readers, including millions of younger readers.
Content restrictions are common with new technologies. Facebook and Twitter both restrict nudity, the latter requiring a warning on posts with nude images. A “free the nipple” campaign aimed at Instagram has failed to move the company from its prohibitions, and Apple also tells developers that pornographic images will lead to rejection of their apps.
Given the decline of print media, Playboy’s capitulation seems inevitable. The influence of social sharing means that print content will likely end up online, so to capture that wider audience, the magazine was forced to change with the times.