Playboy Drops Nudity Because, Well, Porn Is Already Everywhere

Playboy magazine—one of the most recognizable brands in the world—recently announced that it will stop publishing nude photos. In an interview with The New York Times, the magazine’s CEO said, “You’re now one click away from every sex act imaginable for free. And so [nudity is] just passé at this juncture.” The market Playboy created is now essentially consuming it, so the magazine that helped build a consumeristic sex culture in America is moving toward less explicit, more “PG-13” images. This new strategy doesn’t change Playboy’s fundamental ethic in the least: Dropping nudity, according to its CEO, is just brand positioning for a porn-saturated world.