Quote:
Originally Posted by Platapus
He was an innovator in marketing. We studied his company and magazine (not the photographs) in business school.
Every detail about how a playboy magazine was designed was well thought out and planned.
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Yeah, yeah, we know you were "only getting it for the articles" (nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more...)...
Playboy actually was one of the leading publications to give voice to issues and persons who were blocked out of mainstream exposure. Back in high school, I was part of the tournament debate team and, one year, the assigned tournament topic was the Warren Commission report. Mark Lane, the noted JFK assassination researcher and Warren Commission critic, had given an interview to Playboy. There was much agonizing over whether to cite some of Lane's discussion as reference in the debates since Playboy was still considered a bit of a social pariah in the late 60s. We finally did go ahead and use the interview as part of our sources. We would have never been able to find such good, first hand, info if not for Playboy's active pursuit of giving voice to persons and issues who would have been silenced otherwise. The impact of Playboy on the culture of the US, particularly in the 60s and 70s, was significant and Hugh Hefner was able to elevate the magazine above being just another 'girlie mag'. Although, it was a surprise to find out actual women didn't have staples in the navels...
RIP, Hugh Hefner...
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