Playboy50 digest, Vol 1 #68 - 6 msgs

Donna Tavoso dtavoso@earthlink.net
Wed, 21 May 2003 14:17:02 -0500 (EST)


Diane wrote --
> The Playmates are (sorry, Donna) such an integral part of the
> magazine, and they truly did work so very hard in the early days,
> (totally volunteer - we even had to drive there on our own) when we
> visited Veteran's Hospital patients, who were OUR age (avg. 21) who
> were delighted to see us, but we had to cover our horror, as we
> cheerfully took a polaroid of ourselves with an arm around their
> shoulders, pretending it wasn't true, that he didn't have another arm.
> We never had any training for this, folks.

Please don't put words in my mouth that I didn't say.  I never said
that the Playmates weren't an integral part of the magazine, I just
said it was important to keep in mind that as crucially important as
the Playmates are they other parts of the magazine are equally
important.  Without the Playmates, Playboy would be a poor imitation
of The New Yorker and without the other aspects of the magazine
Playboy would be a quaint version of Penthouse.  The fact is both
parts need to work for the magazine to be successful.

My point, and you actually made it best for me when you wrote that you
drove yourself and volunteered to do things - is that Playmates today
have different expectations than you did - and while they do volunteer
for some charity work, for the most part they get paid for appearences
(as they should, they are personalities), they can be demanding and
quite a few see this as a stepping stone for a acting career (again
not critisizing that) - just pointing out with those goals in mind they
often quickly tire of doing work for Playboy, which doesn't mean
Playboy doesn't value them it just means they have made other choices.
For some, the money they make doing appearences lets them start
businesses, etc, to that end they are happy to go on Howard Stern and
get paid not only by Playboy but an additional $2000 by the show for
putting on a bikini.  Does that mean that Playboy is devaluing them by
allowing them to do it, or does it mean that we recognize that they
are grown-ups and have a right to make choices that help them reach
their career objectives. Everyone will have their own opinion --

Unlike everyone else here, I don't see the celebrity pictorials as
competition for the Playmates.  I see them as two very different
things -- and again I think both are important to the success of the
magazine in today's marketplace.  Having Sarah or any other reality
star on the cover doesn't take anything away from the Playmate, she is
and will always be someone who is an American Icon - does most of the
world understand the difference, no, they think anyone who poses is a
Playmate, but they also think any Playmate can be a Playboy Bunny.
Neither is true, but that doesn't mean doing away with celebrity
pictorials will make that point clear.

Love it or hate it, the celebrity pictorials are here to stay and when
the opportunity presents itself for Playboy to capitalize on the girl
of the moment who is willing to pose and they know she will sell at
newsstand they would be foolish to pass on it -- mostly because it's
good business but also because they truly believe that once someone
reads the magazine they will learn how much more there is to it and
come to love all of it and yes become a subscriber.

I don't discount your impact on the lives of the men you wrote to, if
you look at the June issue you can see guys oversees today still
writing about how much they love Playboy.  But you are wrong if you
think it's enough, it's not.  My father is a life long subscriber to
Playboy, I grew up with it in my house, my parents went to the clubs.
I have two brothers, both Ivy League graduates, who are well rounded
smart sophisticated men (hey they are my brothers), neither of whom
read Playboy and they both read Maxim, why because it is more
appealing to them.  That is the issue Playboy faces in today's world,
and that is why I stress that it will take more than just the
Playmates to keep the magazine going, it takes the whole package.

Donna