Feature

Is Playboy irrelevant?

The classic men's magazine confronts the causes of its decline

“The clock's ticking on Playboy, folks," said Robin Wauters in TechCrunch. The granddaddy of men's magazines is losing money thanks to the advertising slump, online competition, and other factors. And if anything will seal the monthly print magazine's doom, it's interim CEO Jerome Kern's misguided plan to win back fleeing subscribers by charging more and printing fewer issues per year.

Kern isn't just hiking the $5.99-an-issue price and combining the July and August issues to save printing costs, said Lisa Gutierrez in the Kansas City Star. He's also updating the magazine to "attract young readers."  Playboy playmates may indeed be the next victims of the recession, but the magazine won't give up without a fight.

Playboy's problem runs deeper than printing costs and the ad slump, said Jonathan Berr in Daily Finance. The magazine is battling its own irrelevance, and this fight will be tougher than the ones against feminism and censorship. Playboy was once "the symbol of everything cool and desirable" for young men, but now there is free adult content available on the Internet and Playboy founder Hugh Hefner is in his 80s. "The world has changed."

Recommended

Nvidia joins the trillion-dollar club
Nvidia
Feature

Nvidia joins the trillion-dollar club

When corporate pride goes south
Protestors and Pride merch at Target
Briefing

When corporate pride goes south

A terrible time management idea
An hourglass on a office table.
Feature

A terrible time management idea

Zoomers at work
Man on phone in an office.
Briefing

Zoomers at work

Most Popular

Is Trump's wall working?
International Border Wall Between Tecate California and Tecate Mexico.
Briefing

Is Trump's wall working?

Can Chris Christie make a comeback?
A black and white photo of Chris Christie waving
Profile

Can Chris Christie make a comeback?

YouTube to stop deleting false claims about 2020 election
The YouTube logo seen in London in 2019.
Reversing Course

YouTube to stop deleting false claims about 2020 election