PLAYBOY ENTERPRISES

Playboy Enterprises

Playboy Enterprises

Introduction

In 1959, Hefner began a syndicated television program to show men what the bachelor pad lifestyle could be like. Every week, a party was in progress, and Hefner, wearing a tux, invited viewers inside to meet his pals and mingle with "the girls." (James, 2005)

That was his idea- So was he really on a crusade to rewrite the system of sexual ethics for our day? Absolutely, he made that abundantly clear. His goal was to free men from self-restraint and eliminates what he called “the evils of sexual inhibition.” (Allyn, 2000)

Discussion

In 1962, with one of the fastest-selling magazines in publishing history, Hefner wrote “The Playboy Philosophy “a manifesto attempting to explain how Puritanism had led our nation into sexual repression that demanded a transformation. But Hefner stopped composing his credo when he saw the cultural transformation he was demanding well on its way-much faster than he thought (Vancore, 2010). By the mid-I 970s, his empire included not only his magazine, but also movie production, casinos, resorts, and an international chain of private clubs where waitresses dressed as “bunnies” complete with ears and tail. The rabbit head Playboy logo appeared on countless mainstream products-even air fresheners, hanging from the rearview mirrors in cars of men who were “hip” like Hef. (Escoffier, 2003)

But during the l980s, cracks appeared in Playboy's airbrushed facade that would eventually reveal what was beneath the subtle and sophisticated surface of Hefner's cultural empire (Seib, 2008). Competing magazines offered men far more graphic pictorial spreads, The publisher of Penthouse, Bob Guccione, is proud of his own contribution to the sexual “liberation” of Western civilization: “We were the first to show full-frontal nudity.” From Hefner's view, Penthouse, not Playboy, was now leading the way. (Synge, 2007)

Then Playboy's sales began to slide, the cover of Newsweek put it plainly: “Playboy-The Pally's over.”1 But behind the scenes the party was only beginning for Hefner. His dream of moral and cultural upheaval was becoming a powerful reality-and the declining sales of his soft porn magazine were an indicator. Why? Because the “liberated” man of Hefner's world wanted more than scantily clad, airbrushed blondes. Turned out, he didn't want to leave anything to the imagination. (Synge, 2005)

Even before technological advancements in the mid-19th century made it easier to reproduce photographic images, pornography as an industry had been a part of U.S. culture, albeit not without periods of marginalization. Politicians and ...