Going Backward

[Brian Sorgatz]

NYT's Frank Rich wrote:
>In the mainstream movie industry, paradoxically enough, sexual content
>is actually declining: the number of studio movies rated R for sex (as
>opposed to violence) is down to eight this year, a fall of more than
>50 percent from last year, The Wall Street Journal reported. In other
>words, porn-industry product is eroding the market for conventional
>sexy movies to the point where an adult visitor to the multiplex may
>have to settle for either the sex-free "Pirates of the Caribbean" or
>head to the video store for a hard-core rental.
>
>Surely there's still a lucrative market for adults who want something
>between these two extremes, a whiff of that all-encompassing R-rated
>body heat of yesteryear. This, of course, may be exactly what that
>cunning master of the market, Jerry Bruckheimer, has in mind as he
>prepares to sell America his idea of prime-time "Skin" this fall.

These last two paragraphs reinforce my belief that PLAYBOY should run a 
TV-commercial campaign presenting itself as the only major 
adult-entertainment venue that is *both* daring *and* classy, not just one 
or the other.  Comedy Central, for one, would certainly be willing to run 
these commercials.  It recently ran the R-rated South Park feature film 
without censoring any of the profanity, so it obviously has no fear of p.c. 
feminists or Bible thumpers.  Eventually, other TV networks would probably 
be emboldened to run the ads by Comedy Central's example.

By the way, I think this ad campaign could also turn the magazine's long 
history into a selling point.  They could stir people's romantic feelings 
about the classic and the traditional.  Think of the Jim Beam magazine ads 
that said, "You always go back to the basics," for example.  I suspect that 
the conventional wisdom that younger adults never appreciate tradition could 
be just a stereotype.

Brian Sorgatz