Playboy the magazine? Is it still going? Oh, yes.  I had no idea. It’s been a long time since I’ve come across a copy of Playboy. That’s not what I heard.  Oh, grow up. I have. That’s why I read Playboy – for its many knowledgeable articles about culture, style and sport.  Related: Hugh Hefner follows Rupert Murdoch by covering up female models  And its pictures of naked women. Once, maybe, but they’re getting rid of all that.  What? Playboy with no centrefold? Why? Over the years, Playboy’s circulation has dwindled from a high of 7m (an issue in 1972) to about 800,000 today. The modern sophisticated gentleman seems to be accessing his pornography elsewhere.  The internet, you mean. Yup. “You’re now one click away from every sex act imaginable for free,” said Playboy CEO Scott Flanders. “And so it’s just so passé at this juncture.” From next March, the women who pose for Playboy’s print edition will no longer be fully nude.  Playboy founder Hugh Hefner must be turning in his grave. He’s not, because he’s alive. And the 89-year-old editor-in-chief agreed to the change.  But without naked women, what has Playboy got? In short, a brand. These days the company derives the bulk of its income from licensing its name. Naked women undermine the brand when it comes to advertisers and Playboy’s target demographic: young urban males.  Related: Playboy, sans nudes? When 'I read it for the articles' becomes editorial policy | Clem Bastow  Will this work? Last year, Playboy eliminated nudity from its website. Traffic jumped and there was a drop in the average age of visitors. It means to entice men aged 18 to 30 with investigative journalism, interviews, humour and articles about gaming.  So it will be like a more uncool Vice? “The difference between us and Vice,” said Flanders, “is we’re going after the guy with a job.”  I’m sure this is a victory for somebody but I’m not sure who or what. I know what you mean – if it’s possible to eliminate a sexist, outmoded practice for all the wrong reasons, this is it.  Do say: “We may have called time on a great masturbatory tradition, but we’ve retained a bunny logo we can stick on keychains.”  Don’t say: “Congratulations, Mr Murdoch. When it comes to nudity, you’re the only game in town.”
The magazine is dropping the photographs of women with no clothes on, in a bid to attract a younger, more sophisticated audience (who are apparently accessing their pornography elsewhere)