Suggestions for the Future

SEE ALSO: 10 Changes to Make a Difference; Challenge to PLAYBOY's Editors

From: Raymond Benson <rbinperson@comcast.net>, 9 Nov 2002
Subject: Points & future

PLAYBOY should retain its attitude of freedom—in expressing political views, sexual views, lifestyle views...

While PLAYBOY's marketing demographics most certainly target the male between the ages of 18 and 30, perhaps they should think about what they can do to cater to us older guys too. Sometimes when I look at PLAYBOY (especially since 1990), I feel like an old man. The girls are young enough to be my daughters. The fashions and lifestyle stuff caters to college age guys. I wouldn't mind pictorials of older women every once in a while. They've done it before, but not often enough. Why they ever stopped the Playmate Revisited pictorials, I'll never understand. These were great and appealed to us over-40 crowd who find the Playmates we knew as younger men even sexier now!

PLAYBOY should not be afraid to take chances. It seems in recent years the publication has played it safe in keeping to an established format and form. While I'm not advocating PLAYBOY to become the next Maxim or FHM, PLAYBOY could experiment with visual styles and editorial content. What do I mean by this? THIS IS THE NEXT TOPIC FOR DISCUSSION! :) :) In other words, how could PLAYBOY experiment in order to break out of what might be perceived today as "old fashioned?"


From: Albert Joson <albs007@yahoo.com>, 13 Nov 2002
Subject: Future of PLAYBOY

Here are my ideas for changes and thoughts on the future of PLAYBOY magazine. I most certainly agree with Peggy that some of the layout and design in the magazine needs a major makeover. Some of the spreads—mainly the ones that Peggy mentioned—look a bit too "circusy" or "cartoony". Being someone wanting to go into the magazine layout thing, my favorite magazines (besides PLAYBOY) are the arty mags like Flaunt and Blackbook. It would be wonderful to see Playboy use a layout similar to these mags, but put that PLAYBOY style in the mix.

Also, in agreement with Raymond, I would love to see "older women" in the pages of PLAYBOY. I mean that probably part of the reason that I was pulled into the magazine in the first place when I was in my teens. Now being a bit older (I'm 21), I do find women in their 40s, 50s and some women in their 60s very sexy. Women like Raquel Welch or Cheryl Ladd I find extremely sexy.

Recently, I have become a big fan of Alberto Vargas and his work. I would love to see a form of this return—be it the works of Jennifer Janesko, Sorayama, Olivia, or Victoria Fuller and other talented artists. It would be great to put a little more culture into not only PLAYBOY but the world as well.


From: Alfred Urrutia <rampagingsloth@yahoo.com>, 14 Nov 2002
Subject: Future of PLAYBOY

Not that I'm against beautiful older women but think back to when you were in your teens, in college. Were you hoping for older women then, like in their 40s? Probably not. PLAYBOY must stay consistent. Now, it can be argued that it hasn't been. But asking for a style change when many of us are already not too happy with the amount of changes that have already taken place is a bit counter-productive.

[Re: Vargas-like art] Ya, I'd love to see that. One of the few good things about Penthouse is that for a while now every month they've had at least one Sorayama painting in there. Of course, they always pick the S&M weird fetish ones and they almost always use two pages the long way, screwing up the middle of the painting because it's hidden in the binding. Can't they do anything right?


From: Peggy Wilkins <mozart@lib.uchicago.edu>, 03 Feb 2004
Subject: Request for comments

I would like to close with a positive, practical suggestion along the lines suggested by my writing. The clearest problem I identified in contributing to the public's perception of PLAYBOY as tired today is their long term editorial policy of stagnation, one example of which is the "geezer yuks" as the Chicago Tribune Art Director condescendingly called the Party Jokes page. I think a joke page belongs in PLAYBOY, but it hasn't changed in either appearance or location since the mid-50s: a dead certain recipe for being considered "tired". Here's a thought: why not move the Party Jokes page off of the back of the centerfold and into the After Hours section? It certainly fits in the humorous nature of that section. Expand the presence of the Femlin from the jokes page to appearing throughout the After Hours section; she would make a fun mascot there. This might involve redesigning the After Hours layout to fit her in; I think it would be worth the effort. This leaves the back of the centerfold vacant, so what to put there? How about putting pin-up art there? This could be a showcase for both established artists like Olivia, and for new ones—the perfect excuse to go looking for some new artists. It would also give that artwork the higher quality paper that is used for the centerfold, and advantage for presenting art. This change might cause other issues, like would the full page cartoon still work opposite the artwork? That is just the kind of change to start stirring up the whole mix.


Peggy Wilkins
Last modified: Mon Apr 5 03:43:39 CDT 2004