From: Peggy Wilkins <mozart@lib.uchicago.edu>, 06 Mar 2003
Subject: Change is bad!
To me, the idea behind PLAYBOY is as valid today as it was when PLAYBOY began, and it will continue to be so: while times change, the vision remains the same. It is the vision of what PLAYBOY is that should drive its content. Hence, as far as I'm concerned, the look and content of the magazine is free to change, as long as it is the expression of the good vision that is behind it as the prevalent force. They could benefit greatly by working on precisely articulating that vision—the traditional vision—while innovation can be applied in any particular ways that vision is expressed. For example, I think the Interview can be today as important as it ever was, but why not add a color portrait, or some additional component to the feature? There is room for growth and improvement while still preserving the best qualities that have been there all along. It's the content, not the appearance, that is the important factor. So work on both: articulate the vision, and express it in new, innovative ways.
If they stick to the PLAYBOY vision, changing the specific content shouldn't matter that much. I don't think that the issue is, should they make new issues carbon copies of old ones; to me, the issue is to make the new issues faithful to the vision that I and many others have lived with and loved for so long.