Playboy

This article is about the magazine. For the lifestyle that inspired the magazine's name, see Playboy (lifestyle).

Playboy was a monthly American men's magazine. It was founded by Hugh Hefner in Chicago, Illinois in 1953. Marilyn Monroe was the magazine's first cover model. The logo was created by Art Paul.

Playboy

Editor-in-Chief	Hugh Hefner
Categories	Men's magazine
Frequency	Monthly
Circulation	800,000[1]
Publisher	Playboy Enterprises, Inc.
Founder	Hugh Hefner
Year founded	1953
First issue	December 1953
Country	United States
Based in	Chicago, Illinois
Language	English
Website	Playboy.com
ISSN	0032-1478
OCLC number	3534353

Brazilian playmates, in 2009

The magazine featured articles about men's interests including clothing, sports, consumer goods, men's health, politics, and public figures. The magazine always showed large pictures of nude women, except for one year in 2016–2017.^[2]

In each issue, a provocatively posed "Playmate of the Month" was featured in a pictorial several pages in length at the center of the magazine with an accompanying "centerfold" photograph. Unlike traditional pin up art, Playboy humanized their models by describing their real world jobs, accomplishments, and goals.^[3]

In 1963 Hefner was arrested for obscenity in Chicago after publishing nude photos of actress Jayne Mansfield that were taken on the set of Promises! Promises! He was acquitted at trial by a hung jury.

Starting with the March 2016 issue, the magazine no longer had pictures of nude women. According to the company, "times change."^[4] Times changed again in February 2017 when nudity returned. In March 2020 the company announced that it would stop publishing the magazine on paper and only use digital copies instead.^[5] Between 1970 and 1985 Playboy was also printed in braille.^[6][7] It is also one of the few magazines whose microfilm format was in color, not black and white.^[8]