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Playgirl June (magazine)

History

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1973–1976: Rise to prominence

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The magazine's first edition sold more than 600,000 copies in its first four days.[1]

Within a year of its launch, Playgirl ranked as the eighth-best-selling magazine in retail, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations.[2]

1977–1985: Rise to prominence

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1980s Anti porn[3]

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Following a personal dispute with Geller, Ritter resigned as publisher in early 1986.[4][5] Although a deal was already in place to sell the magazine to a group of 11 investors, Geller stayed on to lead a staff of 50 members.[4][5][6] Geller then sued Ritter and his wife for $5 million, accusing them of misappropriating company funds and leaving the business financially crippled.[5][6] Dismissing the lawsuit as "inappropriate" and driven by greed, Ritter sold his interest in Ritter Geller Communications, the operator of Playgirl.[5] That June, the magazine filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New York.[7][8] By then, its circulation had dropped 60 percent from its 1973 debut to 575,000, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations.[7][8][3] Its largest creditor was its New York-based newsstand distributor, Warner Publishing, which was owed $1.3 million.[7][8]

The magazine was briefly owned by New York publisher Carl Ruderman's Lusso Enterprises, which also owned men's magazine High Society.[8] Just a month after the purchase, Lusso filed for bankruptcy,[9] and ownership shifted to Ruderman's Drake Publishers.[10][11] Playgirl was featured in the Meese Report, an official US government study on the impact of pornography in July 1986.[9] The report cited the magazine as "sexually explicit" but drew no conclusion on whether it was pornographic.[9] In 1987, under editor-in-chief Nancie Martin, the magazine briefly banned full-frontal male nudity, shifting toward more sensual, less blatant centerfolds.[9][12][13][14] Martin believed that women were uncomfortable with explicit imagery and that female sexuality differed from men's.[9][15][13][14] However, reader complaints and a slight drop in sales quickly convinced her to reverse the decision.[15] The magazine's offices were later relocated from Century City to Manhattan.[10]

American actor Brad Pitt (pictured in 2007) was among the celebrities who sued Playgirl for unauthorized publication in the late 1990s

In February 1993, Drake Publishers merged into Crescent Publishing Group.[16] Crescent began registering domain names in 1995, and by August 1996, it launched the Playgirl website.[16] For the remainder of the decade, Playgirl faced well-publicized legal troubles for publishing unauthorized celebrity nudes.[17] In July 1997, Brad Pitt sued the magazine for publishing nude paparazzi photos of him and his then-girlfriend Gwyneth Paltrow as its August cover story.[18][19] Although the issue had already sold out and shipped to subscribers, a judge ordered the magazine to halt any further distribution of the edition.[18][19] Months later, Antonio Banderas won an undisclosed settlement after Playgirl published nude photos of a look-alike in its February 1997 issue,[17][20] falsely claiming it was the actor.[21][22][23]

Playgirl faced further undisclosed out-of-court settlements from actors Leonardo DiCaprio[24][20][25] and Tyson Beckford,[26][27] both of whom sued over the unauthorized use of their photos. The controversy led editor-in-chief Ceslie Armstrong to resign in protest of the owners' plans to print the unauthorized nude pictures of DiCaprio, saying "It goes against my ethics... It's an invasion of privacy".[17][28] NFL player Robert Griffith threatened to sue Playgirl for featuring him in its October 1997 issue without payment, though the magazine denied the claim.[29]

In 2000, Crescent Publishing Group was consumed by a $200-million federal credit-card-fraud suit.[10][30] The company was accused of repeatedly billing thousands of consumers unauthorized monthly charges after they provided their credit card numbers to access advertised free tours of adult websites.[31][30] The Federal Trade Commission and the New York Attorney General filed a lawsuit to halt the illegal billing practices and requested a freeze on Crescent's assets pending trial to ensure consumer redress.[30][11] Crescent eventually settled the lawsuit for $30 million,[31][30] and rebranded as Blue Horizon Media.[10][11] Playgirl staff members shared offices with Blue Horizon's other publications in an building near Grand Central Terminal.[32]

2003–2019: Brand expansion and digital shift

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In 2003, Blue Horizon expanded the Playgirl brand by launching Playgirl TV, the first adult pay-per-view network tailored for women, reaching two million subscribers monthly through cross-promotion with the magazine and other company titles.[33][34] The 24-hour network featured adult films, male model profiles, and female-perspective content.[33][34] In 2006, Playgirl TV signed a five-year deal with Wicked Pictures to exclusively distribute uncut versions of its productions on DVD.[35][36] Three years later, the brand introduced PlaygirlMobile.com, an integrated site offering pay-per-download mobile videos and live video chat.[37] The brand also expanded into live entertainment, partnering with nightclubs nationwide, including Las Vegas's Sapphire and New York's Webster Hall.[36]

After a one-year hiatus, the February 2010 quarterly relaunch issue featured Levi Johnston (pictured in 2008) on the cover.

Under Blue Horizon Media, management made advertising choices that targeted gay men, despite the magazine's editorial content remaining strictly female-focused.[38][32] The female editors frequently clashed with male executives who resisted their efforts to give the publication editorial heft.[32] With no budget allocated for marketing or public relations, the editors hosted promotional parties at a Lower East Side bar by themselves to revive the Playgirl brand.[32] When the company denied funding for an official blog, the magazine's senior editor, Jessanne Collins, built one independently on the free blogging platform WordPress.[32] In early 2008, subscription cards were removed as a cost-cutting measure, and the publication schedule was scaled back to a bimonthly basis.[32]

In August 2008, Blue Horizon Media announced that it was shutting down the print edition of Playgirl to shift exclusively online, with the final print issue dated January/February 2009.[32][39] According to editor Nicole Caldwell, the closure stemmed from the rising production costs and the paucity of advertisements, despite the growing newsstands sales.[32][38][40] "It would be impossible to sustain a magazine on the quantity of ads Playgirl sold", Collins said.[32] Writer Matthew Rettenmund noted that the closure was further driven by the explosion of free internet pornography, which drove a widespread decline in adult magazine sales.[10] By the time it shut down, the magazine sold 600,000 copies per issue worldwide and was run by a crew of just three editors, supplemented by freelancers and unpaid interns.[32][38]

The magazine was then published exclusively online, without the involvement of the editors from the print publication.[32][41] The subscription website was owned by Trans Digital Media, an affiliate of Blue Horizon Media.[40][41] In late 2009, Trans Digital Media began considering special issues of Playgirl, and brought in consultant Daniel Nardicio, who described Playgirl as "the porn equivalent of Coca-Cola."[41][42] His first major pitch was to have Levi Johnston, Bristol Palin's fiancé, pose nude.[41] Photographed by Greg Weiner, Johnston's photoshoot was published in the relaunch issue in February 2010, with 112,000 copies printed.[41][43] It was one of Playgirl's most high-profile nude photo spreads at the time, and marked the return to print issues after a one-year hiatus.[11][43] The magazine pulled out all the stops to promote Johnston's cover,[10][41] hosting issue-release parties and releasing a behind-the-scenes tape of the shoot on cable on-demand.[43][44] His photos drew a peak of 800 paying subscribers daily on the Playgirl website.[43]

Despite the headlines Johnston's cover generated, Playgirl ceased regular print publication for the second time, shifting to a quarterly or less frequent schedule each year while relying more heavily on its website.[10][42] In 2011, Magna Publishing Group acquired the print rights of Playgirl along with other Blue Horizon Media titles.[45] However, because Trans Digital Media continued to operate the website and cable TV platform, the magazine's print content was unavailable online.[45][46] The magazine continued in print until 2016,[47] by which time it had no full-time staff, appeared only quarterly or biannually, and vanished from major New York City magazine retailers.[46]

2020–present: Relaunch

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Audience

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By 2003, Zipp reported that gay men made up about 30% of the magazine's readership.[1] Along with females, Graff also said the network will all tap an underserved audience of homosexual men. "Fifty percent of Playgirl's readership is male, so it's an interesting way of tapping into the gay market without having to scream, 'We have a gay channel.' "[34] an identity split between gay male and female audiences that ultimately confused advertisers.[8]

Content

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1970s–1990s

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By the 2000s, Crescent Publishing had increased explicit content in the print magazine. the graphic content is geared more toward gay men In contrast to much of the slender offerings of pornography aimed at women, which tends to be softer and more story-driven than that marketed toward men, Playgirl was in-your-face.[32] the magazine’s formula of male nudity failed to draw an audience of 1980s career women.[7][8]

2000s–present

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Celebrities pictorials

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Leo,

Notable celebrities who posed for Playgirl pictorials
Issue date Name Detail
June 1973 Lyle Waggoner

Impact

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Awards

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Other versions

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See also

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Ref

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  1. 1 2 Lindsay, Erin (2 November 2020). "Playgirl: The unexpected magazine revival of 2020". Image. Archived from the original on 18 January 2022. Retrieved 2 November 2025.
  2. ↑ Hanley, Edward (March 31, 1975). "Playgirl Ranked 8th". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. p. 9C. Retrieved March 31, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. 1 2 Kristof, Nicholas D. (October 5, 1986). "X-rated Industry in a Slump". The New York Times. p. 1. Archived from the original on 31 October 2019. Retrieved October 5, 2025.
  4. 1 2 "Playgirl ponders offers after publisher's resignation". San Francisco Examiner. Santa Monica. March 20, 1986. p. C3. Retrieved June 2, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Playgirl magazine reported to be sold". The State Journal-Register. Santa Monica. March 21, 1986. p. 25. Retrieved June 2, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. 1 2 "Playgirl magazine will be sold to 11 investors". Los Angeles Times. March 24, 1986. Archived from the original on 7 December 2025. Retrieved March 24, 2026.
  7. 1 2 3 4 "Playgirl Magazine Files for Bankruptcy Protection". Santa Monica: Associated Press. June 12, 1986. Archived from the original on 11 December 2022. Retrieved June 12, 2026.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Gellene, Denise (June 12, 1986). "'Playgirl' faces financial hard times". The Bulletin. Santa Monica. p. A-9. Retrieved June 12, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 Bornfield, Steve (November 16, 1986). "Magazine that revealed it all for women decides exposing less is more sexy". The Standard-Star. pp. E1–E2. Retrieved June 2, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Rettenmund, Matthew (June 24, 2017). "A Penis on Every Page: The Rise and Fall of Playgirl". Esquire. Archived from the original on 25 June 2017. Retrieved June 24, 2025.
  11. 1 2 3 4 Fraser, Kristopher (June 12, 2023). "What Happened to Playgirl? 50 Years of Scandals, Centerfolds and Revolutionizing What Women Read". Women's Wear Daily. Archived from the original on 12 June 2023. Retrieved June 12, 2025.
  12. ↑ "Playgirl coverup". New York: United Press International. October 13, 1986. Archived from the original on 13 June 2026. Retrieved October 13, 2025.
  13. 1 2 Bailey, Moira (January 7, 1987). "New Playgirl gambles big on a real cover-up". The Orlando Sentinel. p. E-1. Retrieved January 7, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. 1 2 Leidiger, Lynda (December 27, 1986). "What's 'Playgirl' hiding?". Iowa City Press-Citizen. p. 1B. Retrieved January 7, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. 1 2 Purdy, Martha Sullivan (August 12, 1988). "Playgirl magazine editor says looking at men just a job to her". The Pantagraph. p. A3. Retrieved August 12, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. 1 2 "Crescent Publishing Group, Inc., et al.; Bruce A. Chew; and David Bernstein" (PDF). Federal Trade Commission. August 2000. p. 5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 August 2016. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
  17. 1 2 3 Baird, Kirk (June 2, 2003). "The Man Show: At age 30, Playgirl remains the answer to Playboy". Las Vegas Sun. Archived from the original on 27 August 2010. Retrieved June 2, 2026.
  18. 1 2 "Brad Pitt Sues Playgirl Over Nude Photographs". The New York Times. July 15, 1997. p. 14. Archived from the original on 30 April 2009. Retrieved July 15, 2025.
  19. 1 2 "Judge Orders Playgirl with Pitt Recalled". The Ann Arbor News. Los Angeles. August 8, 1997. p. 6. Retrieved August 8, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. 1 2 Errico, Marcus (March 26, 1998). "DiCaprio Sues Playgirl Over Nude Spread". E! News. Archived from the original on October 12, 2019. Retrieved October 12, 2019.
  21. ↑ Harshman, Elaine (February 3, 1997). "Banderas No Pinup". USA Today. p. 8A. Retrieved February 3, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. ↑ "Banderas: Playgirl photo a fraud". The St. Augustine Record. Los Angeles. January 26, 1998. p. 2. Retrieved February 3, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. ↑ Sommer, Constance (January 27, 1997). "Banderas denies posing nude for Playgirl". Hanford Sentinel. Los Angeles. p. 2. Retrieved February 3, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  24. ↑ "DiCaprio fights to keep nude photo out of Playgirl". Sun Journal. Los Angeles. March 28, 1998. p. 2. Retrieved February 3, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  25. ↑ "Playgirl settles nude photo row with Leonardo DiCaprio". BBC News. July 1, 1998. Archived from the original on 7 December 2008. Retrieved July 1, 2025.
  26. ↑ "Beckford, Playgirl settle". Jackson Citizen Patriot. October 2, 1999. p. 2. Retrieved February 3, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  27. ↑ "Playgirl magazine settles suit with model". The Vicksburg Post. October 1, 1999. p. 8. Retrieved February 3, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  28. ↑ "Quit Or Fired, Editor of Playgirl Is Out". Chicago Tribune. March 16, 1998. Archived from the original on 27 June 2025. Retrieved March 16, 2026.
  29. ↑ "Viking plays rough after his Playgirl photoshoot". Star Tribune. September 21, 1997. p. B4. Retrieved February 3, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  30. 1 2 3 4 "Playgirl.com Operators to Pay $30 Million to Settle FTC Charges" (Press release). Federal Trade Commission. November 5, 2001. Archived from the original on 19 November 2025. Retrieved February 15, 2025.
  31. 1 2 Brunker, Mike (February 15, 2005). "Alleged mobsters guilty in vast Net, phone fraud". NBC News. Archived from the original on 2 November 2020. Retrieved February 15, 2025.
  32. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Buckley, Cara (November 14, 2008). "They Couldn't Get Past the 'Mimbos'". The New York Times (New York ed.). p. ST2. Archived from the original on 18 April 2017. Retrieved November 14, 2025.
  33. 1 2 "Playgirl TV knows what women want". Chicago Tribune. May 5, 2004. Archived from the original on 26 June 2025. Retrieved May 5, 2026.
  34. 1 2 3 Umstead, R. Thomas (16 November 2003). "A 'Playgirl' for Adult TV". Multichannel News. Archived from the original on 9 August 2011. Retrieved 9 August 2025.
  35. ↑ Stanton, Thomas J. (February 9, 2006). "Wicked to Distribute Playgirl TV Line". AVN. Archived from the original on 31 May 2026. Retrieved February 9, 2026.
  36. 1 2 "Playgirl Enters Strategic Alliances". New York: XBIZ. May 12, 2005. Archived from the original on 13 July 2025. Retrieved May 12, 2026.
  37. ↑ Rodriguez, Ariana (September 17, 2009). "Playgirl Launches Mobile Site". San Diego: XBIZ. Archived from the original on 14 March 2026. Retrieved September 17, 2025.
  38. 1 2 3 "Editor mourns end of Playgirl magazine". CBC Arts. December 4, 2008. Archived from the original on 19 May 2026. Retrieved December 4, 2025.
  39. ↑ Sullivan, David (August 5, 2008). "'Playgirl' Goes Web-Only". AVN. Archived from the original on 19 May 2026. Retrieved August 5, 2025.
  40. 1 2 Collins, Jessanne (November 10, 2009). "Jessanne Collins: The Truth About 'Playgirl' and Levi Johnston". The Awl. Archived from the original on 23 November 2010. Retrieved November 10, 2025.
  41. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Bernstein, Jacob (November 5, 2009). "Levi Unzipped: Inside Playgirl's Big Stunt". The Daily Beast. p. 1. Archived from the original on 8 January 2010. Retrieved November 5, 2025.
  42. 1 2 Rovzar, Chris (November 6, 2009). "Getting Levi Johnston Naked". New York. Archived from the original on 27 November 2010. Retrieved November 6, 2025.
  43. 1 2 3 4 "Levi Johnston's Playgirl cover to hit stands". Today. February 10, 2010. Archived from the original on 14 August 2022. Retrieved February 10, 2026.
  44. ↑ Caplan, David (February 8, 2010). "Finally! Levi Johnston's Playgirl Cover Revealed". People. Archived from the original on 8 January 2011. Retrieved February 8, 2026.
  45. 1 2 Johnson, Bob (April 25, 2011). "Magna Publishing Acquires Blue Horizon Titles, Internet Rights". Paramus, NJ: XBIZ. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved April 25, 2026.
  46. 1 2 Stiller, Cleo (19 May 2016). "How did 'Playgirl' magazine go from feminist force to flaccid failure?". Fusion.net. Archived from the original on 26 July 2016. Retrieved 26 July 2025.
  47. ↑ Bell, Laura (October 18, 2024). "Raise a Glass in the Village to Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Playgirl Magazine". The Village Voice. Archived from the original on 3 November 2024. Retrieved October 18, 2025.
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