changes

[Mark Tomlonson]

Dan Stiffler wrote:

>On 4/16/03 4:31 PM, "Mark Tomlonson" <tomlonson@wmich.edu> wrote:
>
>>Dan Stiffler wrote:
>>>C)  This might be my most radical--and reluctant--suggestion, but I know the
>>>concept is on the table anyway, so I am going to address it: kill explicit
>>>nudity in the magazine.
>>>
>>If Dan means going back to the standard of nudity that Playboy had in
>>the early Seventies, then I agree with him that this may be a good
>>avenue for Playboy to explore. If he means the type of nudity in an "Oil
>>of Olay" ad, then we part company.

>Mark, I used the phrase "explicit nudity."  Of course, I also gave as an
>example the modest pin-ups of the fifties.  I don't really know where the
>line might be drawn but I know what wouldn't be shown and, I imagine, so do
>you.

Thanks for clearing that up, at least in my mind (other minds may not 
have been so foggy).

>The one way to increase marketplace that I didn't suggest is to chase after
>every hot property that comes down the celebrity trough.  That indeed seems
>to be the track the new editorship is on (and, to be fair, the old
>editorship was also on, to a somewhat lesser degree).  What this means
>*fundamentally* is that PLAYBOY no longer chooses its featured models.  The
>larger media does.  Now, instead of finding a playmate at the record shop in
>Pittsburgh (Linda Gamble), the editors will be hanging out by the TV,
>waiting for E! channel to anoint the next potential PLAYBOY cover girl.
>
>This is not leadership.

Here we agree. I think this is probably the biggest difference between 
New Playboy and Old Playboy. The seeds for this have always been present 
- viz. Zahra Norbo, Yvette Vickers, Mara Corday - but the really 
memorable Playmates have been the "record shop" finds - Dorothy 
Stratten, DeDe Lind, Jenny McCarthy, Pam Anderson. Perhaps the reason 
they are memorable is because they we just girls looking for a little 
fun or to start a career, rather than looking for a way to further an 
established career. They were amateurs, not pros.

Mark Tomlonson
Kalamazoo MI