Hugh Hefner might have been knocked off the top of the ‘men other men want to be’ list by Dan Bilzerian, but his empire still commands respect around the world.

All is not entirely peachy however, the iconic Playboy magazine seeing its circulation plummet from 5.6 million in the 1970s to the current 800 000. This has led to a rethink in policy, with one shift in particular a big change of heart. Here’s the BBC:

Playboy magazine is to stop publishing images of naked women as part of its redesign…Its US owners say the internet has made nudity outdated, and pornographic magazines are no longer so commercially viable….

The decision was apparently taken last month at a meeting attended by Playboy founder and current editor-in-chief Hugh Hefner…

However, the magazine will still feature women in provocative poses – though not fully nude.

If you can be sure of one thing – it’s that the number of people saying they just buy the magazine to read the articles will now soar. Apparently Hef and Playboy chief executive Scott Flanders believe the proliferation of filth on the internet is to blame for the plummeting figures, everyone ‘now one click away from every sex act imaginable for free’.

I did some quick research and they are in fact correct, the internet is rife with naughty videos. The policy shift has already been implemented online and has seen results:

Playboy’s website has already banished nudity, partly to give it access to social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. And its popularity has soared, with web traffic quadrupling.

Good luck out there Hef, no one wants to see an 89-year-old man suffer the ignominy of only having two girlfriends more than 50 years his junior.

[source:bbc]