How would you save Playboy?

[eelcat]

In a similar vein, I'd like to answer with a rhetorical question.
How can you make The Rolling Stones more popular?

• They've grown old and stale.
• They were once at the vanguard of their field.
• Young people aren't going to embrace them as recent releases are shithouse.
• There are better bands out there that can give what the punters what they want.
• They are only still going due to the few die hard fans that are completists and will continue to buy any old dross that is churned out.

[billybunter]

I wouldn't. It was always shite.

[surfpunk]

I wonder what all these people who think that playboy is not worth saving are doing on a vintage erotica site.

[billybunter]

Originally Posted by surfpunk

I wonder what all these people who think that playboy is not worth saving are doing on a vintage erotica site.

Because there are far better sources out there.

[goonerkev]

Originally Posted by eelcat

In a similar vein, I'd like to answer with a rhetorical question.
How can you make The Rolling Stones more popular?

• They've grown old and stale.
• They were once at the vanguard of their field.
• Young people aren't going to embrace them as recent releases are shithouse.
• There are better bands out there that can give what the punters what they want.
• They are only still going due to the few die hard fans that are completists and will continue to buy any old dross that is churned out.

Of course, you are right in what you are saying, but who wouldn't have got a bit stale after getting on for half a century of recording and touring. Their gigs, for years, have drawn a mixed age group, and naturally it's the older stuff that everyone goes for. Must say that although Mick can still strut his stuff at 66, it's more a nostalgia kick they are on now, and I think its probably time they called it a day. Same applies to Paul McCartney. Everything has to move on ....

[al_the_bundy]

I wouldn't miss it at all. Thousands of people's trying to get a dime for it over ebay. Burn it along with other crap.

[smutwerx]

Originally Posted by Ellie

[I][B]NOTE:

1. Only allow natural Playmates, with naturally amazing bodies that you don't find on any old internet porn site.

2. Stop with the plastic looking photography effects. It makes the PM's look unreal. And if they don't look like real women, they're not as sexy.

3. Bring back personal pictures in the Playmate spreads. Again, it makes the girls seem more accessible and real.

4. Use more feminine settings again. In the 80s they used bedrooms full of pink and white and silk, beautiful gardens, dance studio's, etc, and it was all very gentle and feminine.

5. Give a little more variety. A big problem for PB is that most of the people my age just think Playmates are bleach blonde chicks with fake boobs and no pubs, and that's not really a popular look with everyone!




xxxxXxxxXxxxx

Great question. If you've read some of my other posts, you know I have a special insight into this. You're right on point 1 and point 2. Point 3 certainly can't hurt. Point 4, I'd actually ad that the old Playboy had the girls in natural outdoor settings, which I miss. In my memory they were always on a beach or ski slope. And point 5 is right also. A few people also said the magazine needs more photos, which is true as well. Because Christie Hefner hates porn, her distaste filtered through the company over the years. If she could have made the magazine into Maxim, with no nudity at all, she would have. So her departure is a needed event. But the rest of the production staff needs to go too. They're too old, and too comfortable, and too insulated from society. Consider this: Playboy drifted from the girl next door type to plastic pros, and didn't think about bringing back natural girls until Perfect 10 had that market cornered. Now girls have stopped waxing as much and again Playboy has no clue. In short, they react too late to what's happening with young men and women. So the guys who should be buying the magazine never see any reflection of reality in its pages. That's a staffing problem. The old staff are great for publishing the literary content of the magazine, but the visual content should be turned over people in their twenties and thirties.

But there's one other problem that can't be fixed. In the sixties and seventies Hef was a huge figure for women's liberation. Women mainly saw his magazine as a positive thing. That started to change in the mid-seventies, and now that porn has gotten so hardcore, it's seen as a force that oppresses females, and Playboy just can't escape that. Hef helped open the door to sexual liberation for women, but also helped open the door for everything else we see. So the people who say Playboy's time has passed are right too. It's a different world, and that idea of guiltlessly celebrating female beauty is gone. To greater society, there is no healthy way to look at naked women. Times change, and it's good to change too, but there's a limit to how much one can adapt.

[parffait]

Hef's death is the only thing that will save this mag

[Ellie]

Great post, smutwerx, and thank you for making an effort to actually focus on the threads original question\purpose

Lots of great posts, guys. I think everyone knows Playboy is not gonna survive unless it makes some serious changes.

I'd like to stress one more time though ( and then I'm gonna leave it because if people don't get it by now they're not gonna get it!) this thread was made to discuss the question of what would you do to save Playboy if you were in the position, not to debate if it should or can be saved. It was to discuss what is currently good\bad\missing in the magazine.

The ' should\can it be saved' question is really for another thread Although unfortunatly it's taken over this thread!

Love,
xxXxx

P.S: Eelcat, a lot of people my age love The Rolling Stones. I would totally go to one of their concerts, and so would 90% of my friends. The main problem is that they sold-out years ago and so their new younger audience can't afford to buy a ticket to see one of their freaking shows! Lol! But most of my friends love them. Retro sh*t is a trend these days, you know? lol! I don't think that trend could possibly work in Playboy's case though!

[scoundrel]

Originally Posted by Ellie

The ' should\can it be saved' question is really for another thread Although unfortunatly it's taken over this thread!

Alas, for all that our forum is widely populated with well disposed, intelligent and interesting people, this is a common problem. Free discussion does mean we explore allied and related topics, and thats good. It also means we have to cope with opinions which conflict with our own. All you can do is argue your own case. But of course all opinions, yours and all those contrary to yours, will be expressed courteously and on a basis of full mutual respect. I have complete confidence.