Playboy Is Relying on Millennials to Save It

The magazine barely has any employees on its staff over age 35

Playboy's 2018 Playmate of the Year Celebration
2018 Playmate of the Year Nina Daniele's cover. (Charley Gallay/Getty for Playboy)
Getty Images for Playboy

Playboy, as your grandfather, father and perhaps even yourself knew it, no longer exists.

Now a quarterly magazine which does not contain ads (but, after a brief hiatus, does contain nudes), Playboy is edited by a team of millennials including Shane Singh, 31 Erica Loewy, 26, and Anna Wilson, 29.

For the first time in the magazine’s history, no one with the last name Hefner is involved with the publication, and, according to a company spokeswoman, no one in the Hefner family still has a financial stake, either.

In the magazine’s summer issue, there’s an interview with the activist who founded the #MeToo movement, Tarana Burke, and the fall issue will include a photo essay showcasing female pubic hair.

As noted above, this is not the sort of content longtime Playboy readers are used to, but it is the kind of content the ‘zine’s millennial staff wants to publish in the hope of saving the publication from going under. It’s also the type of content the staff hopes will help them achieve their long-term goal: reaching an audience that is 50 percent female.

“This is a newer, woke-er, more inclusive Playboy — if you believe what company executives tell you, and if you are inclined to give an aging brand yet another chance at reinvention,” according to The New York Times.

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