This is pretty dumb but amusing. Playboy made a “When you should catcall” flowchart. I actually love that in a world of sex-positive feminism, Playboy is making a dedicated effort to stay current with the times.
As for the chart, it’s corny, but amusing. I am now officially in need of a cadre of attractive women with whom to make a mutually beneficial and reciprocal contract to consensually sexually harass each other in public.
I wonder it’s because Marc Bernadin is some kind of editor now. He’s in tune with the female geeks so maybe he’s responsible for bringing more current culture to them. I looked the Playboy twitter feed yesterday, hours before the Emmys, and it was pic after pic of expressionless dolls. They looked like props not models.
There was an article a couple weeks ago (I think) that I meant to comment on and never got around to. Basically it claimed that playboy was making a dedicated attempt to “clean-up” their web image a bit.
It makes sense. Print sales are WAY down across the magazine industry in general and they certainly can’t compete with actual porn on the internet. So entering the Salon/Maxim space but with tasteful playboy style nudity is a nice niche to shoot for.
Exactly. They aren’t what they used to be despite the fact that they did have more credible photographers and journalists at a point. Of course that was decades ago. But I also think they need to start showing models more as people to expand the audience. People looking for naked can find it anywhere. They need a reason why “those girls” are more interesting that “those girls”. Maybe I’m wrong about the market but that’s what I’d want.
I think they’re likely in a weird place. They know they need to change with the times to survive. But they can’t just “become Maxim” because they do have something of an audience let to support and Maxim already is Maxim (which is why FHM failed in the US). I do think they’re maybe on the right track lately though.
Clearly the secret is for them to hire us as the new editorial control.
I agree with this hypothesis. It should be tested.
I want to frame that and hang it up
Ugh, Maxim is so gross. I hope Playboy isn’t shooting for Maxim.
Jenie: I’m curious. In what ways do you find Maxim grosser than Playboy?
http://tinyurl.com/flips-facebook-buttons
I find Maxim grosser than Playboy, too. Most of the articles about men and their relationship with women in Maxim presuppose that relationships are an inconvenience you have to put up with to have sex. The articles are also frequently misogynistic and racist in a way that Playboy never embraced.
I kind of love it.
Also I totally read Playboy for the articles. 😀
Pretty much what Keith said. Plus the images are just skeezy.