Honor Thy Playmate

[Donna Tavoso]

I'm going to apologize in advance for the tone of this note, because I
am just getting a little annoyed by the constant bashing of Playboy
today compared to the glory days of things gone by when everything was
done right.  It wasn't always right then and it won't always be right
now.  But the fact of the matter is that everyone has to wake up and
join us in the year 2003 -- because

1. It is a different world today and as much as it has changed the
world we live in, it has also changed the women who are Playmates.
This means a great number want to go on want to go on Howard Stern.
These women aren't forced to do anything the don't want to do and
because I work within the industry I can tell you they expect to be
paid a great deal more for everything they do.  And I think they
should be, but before you say that Playboy has devalued the Playmate
you should actually know the facts.  If you look at the Playmate
appearence calendar on the site over half of the appearences the
Playmates make are booked and paid for by Playboy or through Playboy
affiliate actions.  More than ever Playmates are appearing in ads for
products in the magazine, do you think is happening without people at
the magazine pushing for them to get those jobs.  And for god sake
don't mention taking the PMOY off the cover, because it was and still
is a smart savvy business move by the magazine -- guess what they are
in this to make money and as a shareholder I respect that.  Oh, by the
way, she did Howard Stern.

2. Before you make a statement be sure of your facts, the Playmates do
still make numerous on-campus appearences - maybe not to the extent
that this woman did but hey maybe that's due to the fact Playboy is
not as well received on campuses as it was in the early sixties, count
the women's movement, the conservative right, and a decrease in the
appeal of the magazine to young men among the reason -- wait maybe
that's why they hired Jim Kaminsky.

3. Also, Playboy had in the sixties and still has today a very active
on-campus program.  Currently the program has reps on over 150
campuses across the country who frequently do host parties and such
that the Playmates attend.  Maybe not the same type of events that
this Playmate went to, but again events and signings that will appeal
to college students today are different than they were in the sixties.

4. The magazine will never regain it's high point of 7 million readers
-- it's called competition and not just from other magazines but from
100s of other media outlets, stop pointing it out and holding it up as
source that shows the magazine was better then, every major magazine
that had huge circulation in the sixties and the seventies has lowered
its circ numbers, some to a much greater extent than Playboy.  Today
Playboy is the number one circulation men's magazine in the world, but
to hold onto the position it needs to gather new readers (and yes a
large percentage of the current ones)

This is the reality of today -- you can like it or not.

And on a final note to David Reeves and this actually has nothing to
do with the above note but actually just a note of reference for you,
Pam Anderson was not PMOY.

Donna