Playboy Will Stop Featuring Nude Pictures - But Not For The Reason You Think

And sadly, it doesn't seem that feminism featured in the equation

Playboy magazine has announced that it will stop publishing pictures of nude women as part of its redesign - but for commercial rather than moral reasons.

The magazine's owners say that the nudity in the title now looks outdated due to porn and nakedness being readily available on the internet, and that this has impacted their sales.

The circulation of the magazine has dropped millions - from nearly 6 million in the 1970s, to less than a million in 2015.

The decision was reached last month in a meeting attended by magazine executives and Playboy founder and current editor-in-chief Hugh Hefner, who is 89 years old.

According to the New York Times, senior executives at the magazine feel that the changes they pioneered have now overtaken them.

'That battle has been fought and won,' Playboy chief executive Scott Flanders said. 'You're now one click away from every sex act imaginable for free. And so it's just passé at this juncture.'

The decision was also made clear when traffic to its website quadrupled after nudity was banned. Playboy will still include women in provocative poses, but now they won't be fully nude.

The magazine has certainly had a colourful history, featuring countless iconic cover stars from Kate Moss to Marilyn Monroe, and has also included some infamous articles in its 60 years on the planet - such as Jimmy Carter's admission that he 'looked on a lot of women with lust' and had 'committed adultery in [his] heart many times'. 

The company makes most of its money from licensing out its famous rabbit head logo, selling numerous products around the world including jewellery, drinks and clothing. The rabbit logo also appears on every single cover - though it can be hard to spot at times. 

Apparently Hefner fully approves of the no-nakedness decision, although he probably has more than enough nudity to keep him occupied in the Playboy mansion.