Satire - Playboy for a New Generation

After decades of presenting presumably a male-dominated audience with lush, mostly-nude figures, the magazine has decided to retract its long-standing tradition and present its audience with something different, less risque -- even though it didn't have to.

Dr. Shelp Altzver, an associate professor in geology, from the University of Omaha explained the change this way, "Playboy had reached a dead end. After fifty years or so of presenting bare boobs, the magazine realized it was time for a change. It's sales were down. Penthouse has gone out of business. The younger generation was craving something new and different. Playboy got the writing on the wall, and decided to re-create its magazine, which it really had no choice but to do. The newer generation is not as turned on by looking at a woman's figure. It's just not interesting to them. No matter how artfully photographed and retouched, the typical Playboy woman has become a bore. So, the magazine, if it wanted to stay in print had no choice but to alter its entire concept."

And indeed the magazine has changed. Once the leader in men's magazines, the struggling publication has steered wildly from its long-standing symbol of presenting female pin-ups and exotic material.

The change is radical, and it remains to be seen whether the new approach will be successful or not.

Those among our own staff were divided. Some found the new approach to be a cop-out, an abandonment of a good, old tradition, while others (mostly female) thought the new look was more appropriate and clever.

Will the new approach succeed? Only time will tell, but it is certainly a wide departure from the standard.

Only you as an individual can decide.

In this editor's opinion, it appears to be a giant leap backward. Playboy always presented artful renditions of the female form. Replacing this with pictures of bent nails or tree trunks just doesn't give me the same impetus. Call me sexists, but I used to find beauty in Playboy's retired female repertoire. The times are changing so we just have to bend with the curve, but I find it regrettable that Playboy felt the need to abandon its old form.