PLAYBOY: End of an Era

When Playboy announced back in October that its namesake magazine would no longer feature nudity but rather go the PG-13 route, numerous questions arose: Would the magazine survive without one of its most iconic features?  How will men react if forced to read Playboy for the articles?  And what would the final issue with nudity be like?  The latter question was answered this month, as the January/February 2016 Playboy issue ends the magazine's tradition.

It makes sense that their cover star would be the woman who's been on the cover more times than anyone else: Pamela Anderson.  She also not only posed in a revealing photo shoot, but was also interviewed by James Franco.  There are also two monthly centerfolds (since this issue covers two months), an overview of all the Playmates in 2015 (they're nude here but the winner won't be in 2016; go figure), and some naughty images in their "Year in Sex" review.

For those who want to get ahead on focusing on the other parts of the magazine, this Playboy features its usual cartoons (love Gahan Wilson!) and page of jokes.  There are also interviews with Samantha Bee, Ron Howard, and the Duplass Brothers (plus the aforementioned interview with Pamela Anderson).

At the end of the issue, instead of the usual preview for the next issue this Playboy simply professes, "The Icon Evolves..."  I suspect this more modest move is less evolution and more of a last-ditch attempt to survive an environment where print magazines are struggling and nudity (and more) is readily available online.  Still, Pamela Anderson was a perfect choice to wrap up this part of history, and this Playboy wrapped up with a, er, visual bang.

Written by James Lynch