Hefner’s brand lives on, as a shadow of itself

Playboy Enterprises has outlived the founder of its iconic magazine, though largely as a shadow of its former self.

Hugh Hefner’s Playboy, a magazine founded to celebrate his “Playboy Philosophy” of sexual freedom, influenced sexual mores and popular culture for decades. A business empire grew out of that, but it’s shrunk considerably over the years. It now lives on primarily as a set of bunny ears slapped on products around the world. Hefner died last week at 91. The magazine itself, whose circulation peaked in the 1970s at seven million, is now seen as more of a marketing tool that supports the licensing operations at the heart of the modern company.

“The magazine is sort of the tiny part of the equation now,” said Samir Husni, director of the Magazine Innovation Center at the University of Mississippi.

Playboy, born in 1953, is still putting out print issues. But today its circulation has fallen below 500,000, according to industry tracker the Alliance for Audited Media.

The free-for-all of internet publishing that has squeezed the newspaper and magazine industries has done likewise for Hefner’s brainchild. Pornography for just about any taste or flavor is now available for free online.

In 2011, as Hefner and private equity firm Rizvi Traverse Management arranged to take Playboy private, then-CEO Scott Flanders highlighted its transition to a “brand management company.” In October 2015 it declared that the magazine would no longer publish the nude photos it was famous for.

The magazine reversed itself on its nonudes policy earlier this year, saying nudity was part of its identity.