[3] Known for its centerfolds of nude and semi-nude[4] models (Playmates), Playboy played an important role in the sexual revolution[5] and remains one of the world's best-known brands, with a presence in nearly every medium.

[6] In addition to the flagship magazine in the United States, special nation-specific versions of Playboy are published worldwide, including those by licensees, such as Dirk Steenekamp's DHS Media Group.

[7][8][9][10][11] The magazine has a long history of publishing short stories by novelists such as Arthur C. Clarke,[12] Ian Fleming,[12] Vladimir Nabokov,[13] Saul Bellow, Chuck Palahniuk, P. G. Wodehouse,[12] Roald Dahl,[14] Haruki Murakami, and Margaret Atwood.

[12] With a regular display of full-page color cartoons, it became a showcase for cartoonists such as Jack Cole,[15] Eldon Dedini,[16] Jules Feiffer,[17] Harvey Kurtzman, Shel Silverstein,[18] Doug Sneyd, Erich Sokol,[12] Roy Raymonde,[19] Gahan Wilson, and Rowland B.

[28] Hefner chose what he deemed the "sexiest" image, a previously unused nude study of Monroe stretched with an upraised arm on a red velvet background with closed eyes and mouth open.

[29] The heavy promotion centered on Monroe's nudity on the already-famous calendar, together with the teasers in marketing, made the new Playboy magazine a success.

[42] In February 1974, Ratna Assan became the first women of Indonesian descent to be featured, shortly after a positively received role in the film Papillon (1973).

She said that the election of Barack Obama as the next President had inspired her to give more time to charitable work and that the decision to step down was her own.

On August 11, 2009, London's Daily Telegraph newspaper reported that Hugh Hefner had sold his English manor house (next door to the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles) for $18 m ($10 m less than the reported asking price) to another American, Daren Metropoulos, the President and co-owner of Pabst Blue Ribbon, and that due to significant losses in the company's value (down from $1 billion in 2000 to $84 million in 2009), the Playboy publishing empire was for sale for $300 million.

[51] In January 2011, the publisher of Playboy magazine agreed to an offer by Hefner to take the company private for $6.15 per share, an 18 percent premium over the price of the last previous day of trading.

[55] Company CEO Scott Flanders acknowledged the magazine's inability to compete with freely available internet pornography and nudity; according to him, "You're now one click away from every sex act imaginable for free.

[58] Josh Horwitz of Quartz argued that the motivation for the decision to remove nudity from the magazine was to give Playboy Licensing a less inappropriate image in India and China, where the brand is a popular item on apparel and thus generates significant revenue.

Furthermore, for its March/April issue, it reestablished some of its franchises, including the Playboy Philosophy and Party Jokes, but dropped the subtitle "Entertainment for Men", inasmuch as gender roles have evolved.

[61] In early 2018, and according to Jim Puzzanghera of the Los Angeles Times, Playboy was reportedly "considering killing the print magazine", as the publication "has lost as much as $7 million annually in recent years".

[76]The jaunty rabbit quickly became a popular symbol of extroverted male culture, becoming a lucrative source of merchandizing revenue for the company.

[78] The magazine interviewed then-presidential candidate Jimmy Carter in the November 1976 issue, in which he stated "I've committed adultery in my heart many times.

[83] The photographers who have contributed to Playboy include Mario Casilli,[84] Ana Dias,[85] Richard Fegley,[86] Arny Freytag,[87] Ron Harris,[88] Tom Kelley,[89] Annie Leibovitz,[90] Ken Marcus,[89] David Mecey,[91] Russ Meyer,[92] Helmut Newton,[90] Pompeo Posar,[93] Suze Randall,[94] Herb Ritts,[90] Ellen von Unwerth,[95] Stephen Wayda,[90][96] Sam Wu,[97] and Bunny Yeager.

Congress cut off funding for the braille magazine translation in 1985, but U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Hogan reversed the decision on First Amendment grounds.

[120] In 2010, Playboy introduced The Smoking Jacket, a safe-for-work website designed to appeal to young men, while avoiding nude images or key words that would cause the site to be filtered or otherwise prohibited in the workplace.

The Louisiana pastor and author L. L. Clover wrote in his 1974 treatise, Evil Spirits, Intellectualism and Logic, that Playboy encouraged young men to view themselves as "pleasure-seeking individuals for whom sex is fun and women are play things.

"[125] In many parts of Asia, including India, mainland China, Myanmar, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, and Brunei, sale and distribution of Playboy is banned.

In addition, sale and distribution is banned in most Muslim countries (except Lebanon[126][127] and Turkey) including Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan.

[citation needed] A Muslim organization, the Islamic Defenders Front (IDF), opposed Playboy on the grounds of pornography.

[133] In March 2018, Playboy announced that they would be deactivating their Facebook accounts due to the "sexually repressive" nature of the social media platform and their mismanagement of user data resulting from the Cambridge Analytica problem.

[138] While her parents were still together, Jennifer and her sister would spend a good amount of time at the mansion with their father, having a plethora of adult experiences sprung on them at a young age.

[140] A specific story that Jennifer references in her memoir is, again, at the age of six when she ventures to the mansion for the first time, meeting Hugh Hefner, and is left to her own devices by her father.

Once getting to the pool, Jennifer discovered a secret tunnel under the water, leading to an underground Jacuzzi in a separate section of the house.

"[138] Jennifer's experiences display just one of the hidden stories of the Playboy Mansion that haven't been addressed or brought to light for the masses.

[142] In the documentary, Theodore spoke about the pressure she felt to engage in sexual acts, not only with Hefner, but also with other men and women who frequented the house.

[143] Many other former bunnies called out Theodore saying that she was "chasing fame" and alleging that her accusations were false due to the fact that she didn't speak out for years.