Playboy is in bad shape. Could Penthouse be its savior?
Remember back when everyone used to read Playboy for the articles? Neither do we.
It doesn’t come as much of a surprise that Irin Carmon at Jezebel is proclaiming the death of the “classy” sex magazine. Playboy is losing money by the second. In what appears a last-ditch effort, Hugh Hefner recently announced that he would be willing to take Playboy private by buying the remainder of the company’s shares for $5.50 a share.
Not to be outdone, Marc Bell, owner of the FriendFinder network, which owns Penthouse, announced that he’d be making a bid for Playboy. Hefner says he’s not interested in selling to a third party, laughing off Bell’s proposed bid as a way of stealing some publicity.
Regardless of what happens, both magazines are struggling. With each brand, the irony is just too rich.
Penthouse has fewer than 400,000 subscribers, but it’s held afloat by the FriendFinder network. FriendFinder is a collection of dating sites ranging from BigChurch.com, a site designed for Christian singles, to Likemynudephoto.com, which requires no explanation.
Back in 2007, Penthouse tried to become a little more respectable—or, probably, a little less unrespectable. They hired Mark Healy from GQ as the editor, which seemed like a prudent first step. That was all until Healy hired the self-proclaimed heir to Andy Warhol, Terry Richardson, who may be the worst human being to ever walk this Earth. Not surprisingly, the entire operation imploded, ending with Healy resigning and being escorted out of the Penthouse offices.
Now Penthouse is back to doing what it does best—whatever that actually was.
Playboy never stooped to the levels of Penthouse. There was a time, long ago, when the magazine actually featured some unbelievable writers, along with the occasional nude photo. There were always going to be men attracted to naked photos of famous women, but there were also men who subscribed because of both the writing and the photos. No other magazine had that combo.
Then the internet came and stole subscribers away. With it, other men’s magazines have produced better writing (hint: you’re reading one). Playboy is irrelevant. The magazine industry is getting older, but Hugh Hefner stays the same age. Playboy‘s attempts at diversification have been shallow. No one was exactly shocked that E!-viewers weren’t the right target demographic.
Oh, well. For some reason I think we’ll be just fine without them.
—Ryan O’Hanlon
Who is Tony Richardson? Is he related to Terry?
Paul,
curious comment – I’m wondering what, exactly, you find objectionable about GMPM / Ryan reporting on the demise of playboy and calling it irrelevant? Is that really “giving voice” to playboy? or is it giving voice to the idea that men aren’t really interested in playboy anymore? and if the latter is the case, then doesn’t that kinda fall into the category of things that we talk about here? Unless it’s just that you object to the use of the image and talking about Playboy at all….
genuinely curious to hear you explain a little more about your objection…
Sad to see GMP give voice to a magazine that was the precursor to and major mover within the pornography industry. Porn continues to grip many men and, sadly, identify us to those looking into the male gender and lobbing “perception” grenades. I know Don Corleone suggested keeping our enemies close, but, I think this site would have been just fine without this post.
I believe Playboy targeted E! as part of its brand and thereby merchandising strategy, particularly the bunny head logo, not necessarily meant to intersect with or attract purchasers of the magazine. There was a time when adolescent boys’ first glimpses of the naked female form came via Playboy and magazines like it, and the bunny head logo marketed to females played off that, also riding on the relative pornification of youth culture. But that strategy has a limited lifetime, as those days are gone. IMO, the magazine content – for what it ever was – has gone well downhill too,… Read more »
I stopped reading Playboy over 30 years ago and it’s still sad that it’s dying out. Adieu, Playboy. It was real.