We’ve known for a while that Playboy was going downhill. They can’t pull in the big names anymore and have to resort to the desperate for publicity (Heidi Montag), the desperate for publicity (Aubrey O’Day), and the desperate for publicity (Kim Kardashian). And there’s not even that much nudity most of the time. So, while once again failing to nab who the public really wants to see, like Lindsay Lohan or Megan Fox, Playboy has hit the last resort: cartoon nudity. Or make that implied cartoon nudity. God, when you can’t even get a cartoon to show her poon, there’s seriously something wrong. The Chicago Sun-Times reports:
The magazine, which appears on newsstands Oct. 16, will feature Simpson in a three-page pictorial that a Playboy spokeswoman described as “sexy” with “implied nudity.” Subscribers, who make up 40 percent of Playboy’s readership, will get a celebrity on the cover rather than Marge.
The Marge Simpson centerfold is “obviously somewhat tongue-in-cheek,” [new CEO Scott] Flanders said in an interview Thursday. “It had never been done, and we thought it would be kind of hip, cool and unusual.”
The idea is to attract readers in their 20s — an appealing demographic compared with the average Playboy reader’s age of 35, Flanders said.
Wait, Playboy thinks that Marge Simpson will appeal to readers in their 20s? WTF kind of logic is that? To our understanding the average Simpsons fan is at least 34 and only watched maybe two episodes last season. The Simpsons has been around so long at this point, anyone under the age of 30 probably lumps it into the same category as radio, CDs, email, and land lines: for old people. But we guess when your company is headed by someone older than Mr. Burns, he’s probably too busy wondering why those whippersnappers are so hip on the Lindy Hop and ending Prohibition.
8 Comments
Stupid Flanders.
meh says that if this is how they’re going to take it, then it is good that meh hasn’t renewed his subscription.
Actually, these guys were doing cartoon nudity for some time, and I don’t just mean the little chick in black stockings on the back of every centerfold either. They had a couple of game avatars go naked. At least those were decent nudes. This is just…wrong. Might as well have Maude Flanders naked in some hither-to unknown shots before she met Ned. (And wouldn’t that be a shock for all!)
Makes me wonder if maybe I should’ve not consider that multi-year subscription.
I better see some blue curly hair down south or I am cancelling my subscription!!!
I bet you she has a landing strip. Now show me some Mrs. Krabapple and I’ll drop hard earned cashed for a subsription and special editions.
Definitely the wrong demographic. The 20-somethings want to see Lois Griffin. (And Seth Green would probably let them do full nudity!)
@ Jamie: You sir, win the the internet.
@ bobo:
Seth MacFarlane is the creator of “Family Guy” and voices nearly half the characters on there. Seth Green just voices Chris Griffin.
Screw Lois and Marge. Where’s the fabled Futurama [i]Leela[/i] spread?