Tuesday, May 11, 2010

(T)here Is Hope!

The June, 2010, edition of Playboy magazine will feature a centerfold model whose picture was taken with a 3-D camera, and a pair of 3-D glasses, the first time the magazine has done such a thing. The edition will be on newsstands Friday May 14.

"What would people most like to see in 3-D?" asked Playboy founder Hugh Hefner. "Probably a naked lady."

Hefner makes no secret of hoping to capitalize on the popularity of 3-D movies such as "Avatar" and "How to Train Your Dragon," even as he makes no secret of not quite getting what all the fuss is about.

"I'm not a huge enthusiast of 3-D," he said in a telephone interview. "I leave real life to go to the movies and 2-D is fine with me."

If the thought of grown men sitting back in their recliners with a pair of 3-D glasses doesn't quite say "Playboy," it should be noted that a few months ago the magazine put Marge Simpson -- yes, the blue-haired animated mother of Bart -- on the cover and in a two-page centerfold.

"In today's print environment you have to create newsstand events," said the editorial director of the Chicago-based magazine, Jimmy Jellinek. "Marge Simpson was one of those."

Playboy certainly must do something to get more people, especially younger people, to buy a magazine that has seen circulation plummet from 3.15 million in 2006 to 1.5 million today.

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