Playboy magazine was founded in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and focused on featuring nude women through photos and journalism. It grew tremendously successful but also faced criticism and bans in some areas. The iconic Playboy bunny logo was created for the second issue and the magazine established itself through in-depth interviews of celebrities and cultural figures.

1. PLAYBOY MAGAZINE
Background
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism
and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a
$1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with a
presence in nearly every medium. Playboy is one of the world's best known brands. [4] In addition to the
flagship magazine in the United States, special nation-specific versions of Playboy are published
worldwide.
Playboy features monthly interviews of notable public figures, such as artists, architects, economists,
composers, conductors, film directors, journalists, novelists, playwrights, religious figures, politicians,
athletes and race car drivers. The magazine generally reflects a liberal editorial stance.
History
1953, Hugh Hefner a 1949 University of Illinois psychology graduate who had worked in Chicago for
Esquire magazine writing promotional copy; Publisher's Development Corporation in sales and
marketing; and Children's Activities magazine as circulation promotions manager. Had planned out the
elements of his own magazine, that he would call Stag Party. He formed HMH Publishing Corporation,
and recruited his friend Eldon Sellers to find investors. However, the publisher of an unrelated men's
adventure magazine, Stag, contacted Hefner and informed him it would file suit to protect their
trademark if he were to launch his magazine with that name.[13][16] Hefner, his wife Millie, and Sellers
met to seek a new name, considering "Top Hat", "Gentleman", "Sir'", "Satyr", "Pan" and "Bachelor"
before Sellers suggested "Playboy"
The first issue, in December 1953, was undated; as Hefner was unsure there would be a second. He
produced it in his Hyde Park kitchen. The first centerfold was Marilyn Monroe, although the picture used
originally was taken for a calendar rather than for Playboy. The first issue sold out in weeks. Known
circulation was 53, 991. [17] The cover price was 50¢. Copies of the first issue in mint to near mint
condition sold for over $5,000 in 2002. The novel Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, was serialized in the
March, April and May 1954 issues of Playboy.
The logo, the stylized profile of a rabbit wearing a tuxedo bow tie, was originally designed by art
designer Art Paul for the second issue to be used as an endnote, but was adopted as the official logo and
has appeared ever since. A running joke in the magazine involves hiding the logo somewhere in the
cover art or photograph. Hefner said he chose the rabbit for its "humorous sexual connotation", and
because the image was "frisky and playful".
1966-1976, Robbie McCauley was the Fiction Editor at Playboy. Since reaching 1970 Playboy has seen a
decline in circulation and cultural relevance because of competition in the field it founded—first from
Penthouse, Oui (which was published as a spin-off of Playboy) and Gallery in the 1970s; later from
pornographic videos; and more recently from lad mugs such as Maxim, FHM, and Stuff. . In response,

2. Playboy has attempted to re-assert its hold on the 18–35 male demographic through slight changes to
content and focusing on issues and personalities more appropriate to its audience—such as hip-hop
artists being featured in the "Playboy Interview".
1988, Christie Hefner, daughter of the founder Hugh Hefner, joined Playboy in 1975 and became head of
the company.
In 1986, the American convenience store chain 7-Eleven removed the magazine. The store returned
Playboy to its shelves in late 2003. 7-Eleven had also been selling Penthouse and other similar magazines
before the ban.
In 1995 Playboy was returned to shelves in Republic of Ireland after a 36-year ban, despite staunch
opposition from many women's groups
2000-2010, the magazine celebrated its 50th anniversary with the January 2004 issue. Celebrations were
held at Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York, and Moscow during the year to commemorate this event. The
magazine runs several annual features and ratings. One of the most popular is its annual ranking of the
top "party schools" among all U.S. universities and colleges. For 2009, the magazine used five
considerations: bikini, brains, campus, sex and sports in the development of its list. The top ranked party
school by Playboy for 2009 was the University of Miami. On July 12, 2010, Playboy Enterprises Inc.
announced Hefner's $5.50 per share offer ($122.5 million based on shares outstanding on April 30 and
the closing price on July 9) to buy the portion of the company he did not already own and take the
company private with the help of Rizvi Traverse Management LLC. The company derives much of its
income from licensing rather than the magazine.[25] On July 15, Penthouse owner Friend Finder
Networks Inc. offered $210 million (the company is valued at $185 million), though Hefner, who already
owned 70 percent of voting stock, did not want to sell.[26] In January 2011, the publisher of Playboy
magazine agreed to an offer by Hefner to take the company private for $6.15 per share, an 18 percent
premium over the price of the last previous day of trading.[27] The buyout was completed in March
2011.
Playboy rabbit logo
The rabbit, the bunny, in America has a sexual meaning, and I chose it because it's a fresh animal, shy,
vivacious, jumping - sexy. First it smells you then it escapes, then it comes back, and you feel like
caressing it, playing with it. A girl resembles a bunny. Joyful, joking. Consider the girl we made popular:
the Playmate of the Month. She is never sophisticated, a girl you cannot really have. She is a young,
healthy, simple girl - the girl next door . . . we are not interested in the mysterious, difficult woman, the
femme fatale, who wears elegant underwear, with lace, and she is sad, and somehow mentally filthy.
The Playboy girl has no lace, no underwear, she is naked, well-washed with soap and water, and she is
happy

3. The Playboy Interview
Besides its centerfold, a major part of Playboy for much of its existence has been the Playboy Interview,
an extensive (usually several thousand-word) discussion between a notable individual and an
interviewer (historian Alex Haley, for example, served as a Playboy interviewer on a few occasions; one
of his interviews was with Martin Luther King Jr.; he also interviewed Malcolm X, then coauthored his
autobiography). One of the magazine's most notable interviews was a discussion with then-presidential
candidate Jimmy Carter in the November 1976 issue in which he stated "I've committed adultery in my
heart many times."[David Sheaf’s interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono appeared in the January
1981 issue, which was on newsstands at the time of Lennon's murder; the interview was later published
in book format. Another interview type section, entitled "20Q" (a play on the game of Twenty
Questions), was added in October 1978. Cheryl Tiegs was the first interviewee for the section
The best-selling Playboy edition was the November 1972 edition, which sold 7,161,561 copies. One-
quarter of all American college men were buying the magazine every month. [32] On the cover was
model Pam Rawlings, photographed by Rowland Scherman.
Perhaps coincidentally, a cropped image of the issue's centerfold (which featured Lena Söderberg)
became a de facto standard image for testing image processing algorithms. It is known simply as the
"Lenna" (also "Lena") image in that field. In 1970, Playboy became the first gentleman's magazine to be
printed in Braille
Bans on the sale of Playboy
Many in the American religious community opposed the publication of Playboy. The Louisiana pastor
and author L. L. Clover wrote in his 1974 treatise Evil Spirits Intellectualism and Logic that Playboy
encouraged young men to view themselves as "pleasure-seeking individuals for whom sex is fun and
women are play things.
In many parts of Asia, including India, mainland China, Myanmar, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and
Brunei, sale and distribution of Playboy is banned. In addition, sale and distribution is banned in most
Muslim countries (except Lebanon [36] [37] and Turkey) in Asia and Africa, including Iran, Saudi Arabia
and Pakistan. Despite the ban on the magazine in these countries, the official Playboy brand itself can
still appear on various merchandise such as perfume and deodorants.
While banned in mainland China, the magazine is sold in Hong Kong. In Japan, where genitals of models
cannot be shown, a separate edition is published under license by Shueisha. [Citation needed] An
Indonesian edition was launched in April 2006, but controversy started before the first issue hit the
stands. Though the publisher said the content of the Indonesian edition will be different from the
original edition, the government tried to ban it by using anti-pornography rules.[citation needed] A
Muslim organization, the Islamic Defenders Front (IDF), opposed Playboy on the grounds of
pornography. On April 12, about 150 IDF members clashed with police and stoned the editorial offices.
Despite this, the edition quickly sold out.

4. On April 6, 2007 the chief judge of the case dismissed the charges because they had been incorrectly
filed. Playboy was not sold in the state of Queensland, Australia during 2004 and 2005 but returned as of
2006. Due to declining sales, the last Australia-wide edition of Playboy was the January 2000 issue.
Litigation
On the January 14, 2004, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that Playboy Enterprises Inc.'s
(PEI) trademark terms "Playboy" and "Playmate" should be protected in the situation where a user
typing "Playboy" or "Playmate" in a browser search was instead shown advertisements of companies
that competed with PEI. (The decision reversed an earlier district court ruling.) The suit started on April
15, 1999, when Playboy sued Excite Inc. and Netscape for trademark infringement.
NB :
The success of Playboy magazine has led PEI to market other versions of the magazine, the Special
Editions (formerly called News Stand Specials), such as Playboy's College Girls and Playboy's Book of
Lingerie, as well as the Playboy video collection.
The growth of the Internet prompted the magazine to develop an official web presence called Playboy
Online or Playboy.com, which is the official website for Playboy Enterprises, and an online companion to
Playboy magazine. The site has been available online since 1994.[68] As part of the online presence,
Playboy developed a pay web site called the Playboy Cyber Club in 1995 which features online chats,
additional pictorials, videos of Playmates and Playboy Cyber Girls that are not featured in the magazine.
Archives of past Playboy articles and interviews are also included. In September 2005, Playboy launched
the online edition of the magazine Playboy Digital.
The National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS) has published a Braille
edition of Playboy since 1970. [69] The Braille version includes all the written words in the non-Braille
magazine, but no pictorial representations. Congress cut off funding for the Braille magazine translation
in 1985, but U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Hogan reversed the decision on First Amendment grounds.
In 2010 Playboy introduced "The Smoking Jacket", a safe-for-work website designed to appeal to young
men, while avoiding nude images or key words that would cause the site to be filtered or otherwise
prohibited in the workplace.
In May 2011 Playboy introduced i.playboy.com, a complete, uncensored version of its near 700 issue
archive, targeting the Apple iPad. By launching the archive as a web app, Playboy was able to circumvent
both Apple's App Store content restrictions and their 30% subscription fee.

5. Strategy Marketing
1. First life style magazine with entertaining feature.
2. Use adult men sex appeal as market advantage
3. Try to explore the taboo side of social phenomena
4. Bring great chance to professional modeling in express the style
5. Expanding the chance to penetrate foreign country market
6. Optimize in facing different culture
Strategy SWOT
I. EXPANSION Supporting offensive strategy
Market expansion targeting foreign country with low interest in sexual entertainment issue.
II. STABILITY Supporting rationalization strategy
Consistency in giving most factual and actual fresh information for reader.
III. RETRENCHMENT Supporting defensive strategy
Since it was in mass media field
Retrenchment in producing and distributing magazine. But now they use e-magazine to easy
access
IV. COMBINATION Supporting diversification strategy
Combine with some modeling agency to find good model for
fresh hot playboy cove
Implementation of strategy
1. Playboy to Revive Club and Bunnies in Vegas
6 year after it closed the last of its famed Playboy Clubs in the U.S., Playboy Enterprises Inc. thinks
it's time for a revival of the Playboy Bunny. The adult-magazine publisher expects to announce as
soon as today plans to open a Playboy-themed nightclub at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas.
There once were 40 Playboy Clubs world-wide, from London to Osaka. In the 1960s and 1970s,
traveling businessmen were the chain's core customers
The club will be complete with waitresses in some version of the vintage skimpy bunny costumes.
Construction has already begun at the hotel for a new tower, the club is set to occupy part of the
top floors of the hotel addition, which is due to open in early 2006
Playboy which has een exploring the nigtclub market in recenth month, expect the venue its core
company wide demographic of young men ages 18-34
2. Playboy Radio on SIRIUS Hits One Million Subscriber Milestone; Satellite Radio Channel Enjoys
Extraordinary Growth Since March Launch
June 26, layboy radio has been burning up the airwaves and continues to increase in popularity as
more the one million subscribers have opted to tune in to the station.

6. Playboy radio on SIRIUS features a full range of live programming that leverages the company’s vast
array of assets including personalities and elemts from playboy magazine, playboy.com, and playboy
TV. Playboy playmates, playboy magazine editors and playboy TV talent are also regularly featured
on the channel.
Playboy radio choose SIRIUS for its home on satelite radio, because they believed they could bring
listeners break-through programming they had never heard before.
Information is available at http://www.playboyradio.com or by calling 866-527-8633
Playboy enterprises,inc. is brand-driven, international multimedia entertainment company that
publishes edition playboy magazine around the world. Operates playboy and spice television
networks and distributes programming globally via DVD and a network of websites including
playboy.com, a leading men’s lifestyle and entertainment website.
3. Television broadcasting companies ; playboy club cancun exciting nightlife and gaming to one of the
world’s most popular travel destination.
The venue's intricate custom design details include an authentic Mexican hand-punched metallic
wall featuring the iconic Playboy Rabbit Head Design; select pieces from Playboy's multi-million
dollar art ccollection ; and a specially commissioned illustration of the Cancun Playboy Bunny by
famed pinup artist Don Lewis.
Dec 18, 2010. Playboy enterprises, inc. announced the opening of playboy club Cancun, a boutique
gaming and entertainment venue that features a restaurant, nightclub, casino, sport gaming, ad
sport lounge. The new property is located in the renowned hotel zone district of cancun, mexico.
With the opening of this striking new venue, playboy will continue to growth successful licensing
and location based entertainment business around the world.
Playboy club cancun will be owned and operated under license by entertenimiento de Mexico S.A.
De C.V, a leading mexican casino company that operates and licenses over 18 gaming venues
throughout the country under the palmas group.
4. Playboy to open first Eurpean concept outique in london
Dec 19, playboy enterprises, inc announced that it will open a freestanding playboy concept
boutique on london’s popular oxford street, next spring.
Reflecting the global fashion-lifestyle brand’s retail strategy to launch at least three stores per year
over the next few years, playboy’s up scale shopping destination will be owned and operated under
license by Global designe Brands (GDB), one of biggest fashion capitals in the world.
Playboy’s growing retail success at london’s preeminent retailers has demonstated consumer
demand to expand confidently to a freestanding playboy concept boutique in this desirable market.

7. The playboy concept boutique in london will be the eight in the world following store opening in
Tokyo (2002), which was recognized as one of 40 top stores in the world by the retail leaders
association
Las vegas (may 2005), the first U.S retail location at the forum shops
Melbourne (september 2005), in australia’s fashionable chapel street area
Hong kong (january 2006), in causeway by’s upscale fashion walk area
Kuala lumpur (july 2006), in utama shopping mall, malaysia’s premier fashion area
Bangkok (august 2006), in the new centralworld plaza mall
Auckland (spring, 2007), in sylvia park, the country’s largest shopping center in the addition to the
playboy concept boutiques, a high-end retail boutique opened in june 2006 in the pals casino resort
in las vegas.
The playboy concept boutique in london will offer a unique shopping experience to style-consious
men and women, as well as to playboy enthusiasts.
Celebrities and fashion influencers spotted wearing playboy fashions and accessories include britney
spears, jennifer lopez, janet jackson, jade jagger, snoop dogg, and lenny kravitz.
5. Palyboy TV intenational and kabel deutschand sign deal to launch playboy TV in germany.
Playboy TV international (PTVI) a leading provider of high-quality, adulut entertainment
programming and kabel deutschlan Gmbh (KDG) seigned a deal to launch playboy TV september 27th
marking playboy TV’s entry into one of the largest media markets in the world.
Playboy is a household name and well-known brand.