Gran Turismo 5 (グランツーリスモ 5, Guran Tsūrisumo Faibu, commonly abbreviated as GT5) is a 2010 racing simulation video game developed by Polyphony Digital and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 3. It is the fifth main installment and the tenth overall in the Gran Turismo series. It was released on November 24, 2010, in Europe and North America, and November 25, 2010, in Japan and Australasia.[3][2] It was preceded by the Prologue version and is the first main entry of the series to be released for the PlayStation 3.
The game marks the first entry in the series with online races with support for up to 16 players. A damage model has been included with variations of damage depending on the car. Over 1,000 cars, 29 different locations, 77 different tracks, and a track generator are available in the game.[4] Dynamic time and weather effects make their debut in the series. World Rally Championship, NASCAR and Super GT licenses are utilized for the first time in the Gran Turismo series.[5][6]
Gran Turismo 5 was well-received critically and a commercial success, becoming the second best-selling PlayStation 3 game, the best-selling PlayStation 3 exclusive and the third best-selling game in the series with nearly 12 million copies sold.[7] The game also won multiple awards and turned some players into real-life professional racing drivers with the GT Academy competition.[8][9][10][11]
An example of both damage rendering and overturning, features new to Gran Turismo
Gran Turismo 5 is the first game in the franchise to provide a damage model, with variations of damage depending on the car. The game also features weather effects, which are available on certain circuits. Optional stereoscopic-3D resolution and karting found a place in the game.[12] Furthermore, new visual effects have been introduced, including dynamic skid marks, dust and the ability for drivers to flash their headlights. A course editor which allows the player to create new circuits by using tools that randomly generate track-parts according to certain player-selected specifications, including the number of corners, the time of day and the number of sectors. There are a variety of themes the player can choose from to act as a base for each circuit design. Themes also have an effect on track length and highest elevation.[13]
The physics are significantly revised compared with Gran Turismo 4. Cars no longer instantly turn-in but realistically must load up the outside wheel first, and destabilizing effects (such as under braking) have greater influence.[14]
Gran Turismo 5 is the first game in the franchise to include both mechanical and external damage modelling, including a real-time deformation engine that processes model deformation according to the speed and angle of impact.[15] It is also possible to overturn cars for the first time in the series.[16] The cars in GT5 are separated into "premium" and "standard" vehicles. Premium vehicles are more detailed and include a fully-detailed cockpit view, while standard vehicles are less detailed. Standard cars initially could not receive aftermarket wheels, however, as of the version 2.02 update this is no longer the case. Gran Turismo 2 previously included damage, but was limited to mechanical failures only.
Gran Turismo 5 allows players to drive 31 different locations or "scenery" and 81 different track layouts (the previous iteration in the main numbered series, Gran Turismo 4, included 51 tracks total).[4]Dunsfold Aerodrome, located in the United Kingdom – the test track of the British automotive television show Top Gear – is included in the game.[17] The playable demo of Gran Turismo 5 at Gamescom 2009 featured the Tokyo Route 246 track, seen in previous incarnations of the game.[18][19] Various real-life circuits return from previous games in the series. These include (among others) Nürburgring, Circuit de la Sarthe, Tsukuba Circuit, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca[20] and Suzuka Circuit.[21] New real-life circuits included in the game include (among others) Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Monza Circuit, Daytona International Speedway and two new Rome and Madrid city circuits. Many fictional circuits return from previous games in the series including 'Trial Mountain', 'Deep Forest Raceway' and 'Autumn Ring'. An official list of all tracks available in the game has been released by Polyphony Digital.[22]
The "Track Pack" downloadable content, includes Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps (with weather change) and Kart Space I/II. On January 17, 2012, Polyphony Digital released the "Speed Test Pack" that includes "Special Stage Route X". In June, Twin Ring Motegi returned to the series as DLC after the 2012 GT Academy.[23]
Customization in GT5 ranges from engine tune-ups to body effects to improve aerodynamics, as shown on this Dodge Challenger SRT-8.
Gran Turismo 5 provides a total of 1,089 cars.[24]Ferrari, Lamborghini and Bugatti make their first main release appearance in the franchise. The new "gullwing" Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG appeared, along with the Ferrari 458 Italia and the Lexus LFA supercar. McLaren also made their first appearance as a native manufacturer with the inclusion of the McLaren F1 road car, the F1 GTR race edition, and the MP4-12C road car. It is the first main release in the series to feature licensed Formula One cars, with the Ferrari F2007 and F10 included. Le Mans spec cars made a return appearance. Hybrid cars such as the Toyota Prius and the Honda Insight are included in the game. The series' creator Kazunori Yamauchi mentioned that the latest hybrid and electric cars would be included, including the Tesla Roadster (2008) and Mitsubishi i-MiEV.[5][25] At Gamescom 2010, it was also revealed that GT5 would include the Jaguar XJ13 race car prototype, as well as the Ferrari 330 P4 and the Ford Mark IV race cars, and as the developers put it, "will allow players to create the race that never came to be", since the XJ13 program was canceled before the car was ready for competition. Additionally, in association with Red Bull Racing, the development team worked on a new prototype car called the "X2010 Prototype" which was designed with the idea of, "If you built the fastest racing car on land, one that throws aside all rules and regulations, what would that car look like, how would it perform, and how would it feel to drive?" This car was worked on by Polyphony Digital and Red Bull's aerodynamics expert, Adrian Newey, and is one of the cars in the game.[26] Up to 16 cars or 32 karts would be able to race on track at once whereas previous installments allowed only six cars per race max. Polyphony Digital released the official vehicle list which also shows which vehicles were to be standard or premium.[27]
The cars in GT5 are separated into two categories, premium and standard. Premium cars are highly detailed and thus have high polygon counts, high texture resolution, feature headlights capable of high and low beams, detailed interior camera views, and detailed damage models. Premium cars also have working windshield wipers which are operated on tracks with rain or snow. Standard cars have lower polygon counts and texture resolution, standard headlights and basic damage modelling. After the Spec 2.0 update they feature simplified interior camera views. For open-topped cars, they have a functioning steering wheel and working gauges. Around 25% of all cars in the game fall into the "premium" category.[28]
The game was first revealed at E3 2005 under the name Vision Gran Turismo. This was not GT5 but simply Gran Turismo 4 (for the PlayStation 2) with more cars on track and PC-rendered footage. The PlayStation 3 would not be released until November 11, 2006, and with no Gran Turismo game in the console's launch line-up. Various bits of information and news was revealed about the game from then on, but it was not for another three years that the public got a chance to have a proper look at GT5.
At Sony's E3 2009 Press Conference, a trailer for Gran Turismo 5 was shown, revealing the inclusion of Super GT, NASCAR and WRC but no release date was revealed.[30] Yamauchi said that "We've actually reached a point where we can probably release [GT5] anytime, except that you can also keep working as long as you want to as well, it's just a matter of timing".[31] Yamauchi later explained that "Deciding a release date for a game is always difficult, as it's not something I can decide on my own. The agreement on a date comes between various parties at Sony, and it's not necessarily a date I would be hoping for. March would've been too early. We could have produced the game in time to make that deadline, but the finished product wouldn't have had everything that I wanted to include". Sony Computer Entertainment has certain control over the release dates of their games, which could be one of the contributing factors delaying Gran Turismo 5.[32]Gran Turismo 5 was shown off extensively at E3 2010 including a new trailer, a North and Latin American release date, playable demos on the show floor and various private press conferences revealing new information about the game. Alongside the original release, two collector's editions were released; one featuring some extra bonus content and the other, more expensive option containing extra paraphernalia such as further reading on car racing.
Overall, Gran Turismo 5 took more than five years to complete, with a total cost estimated at $60 million, although Polyphony Digital did release four other games during this period.[33] The first game in the series had also taken five years.[34] Yamauchi has expressed the difficulty of developing for the PlayStation 3, specifically mentioning how the extensively different (at the time) architecture of the Cell processor had made programming extremely challenging and time-consuming.[35] This greater than expected difficulty to program for the Cell processor is speculated by some people to also be part of the reasons why Gran Turismo 5 was delayed a number of times.[35]
All downloadable contents were removed from sale on April 30, 2014. The online servers were shut down on May 30 the same year.[36] On April 29, Sony announced the final online event for Gran Turismo 5, which started on April 30 and ended with the shutdown of the online servers. Players were awarded with five cars in Gran Turismo 6 for participating in the event.[37]
GT5 Time Trial Demo with Sony Bravia at the 2011 Taipei Game Show
The GT5 Time Trial Demo was released on December 17, 2009, on the PlayStation Network; it was only playable while the user was signed into the PlayStation Network. It was not so much a demo of GT5 itself, but as the first part of the 2010 GT Academy, with the fastest drivers from the time trial eventually getting the chance to drive a real racing car in a real racing series. Nevertheless, it showed what progress had been made since Polyphony Digital's previous game, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue in terms of graphics, physics and other aspects of game-play and design. It featured stock and tuned versions of the Nissan370Z. The track featured in the demo was the Indianapolis GP circuit, which is new to the Gran Turismo series.[38] This demo was praised for its graphics and updated physics, however it has been criticized for its stiff camera, and confusion over what aspects of the final game the demo represents. The Time Trial demo is no longer playable since the 2010 GT Academy was finished.
On November 16, 2010, it was revealed that the GT Academy would return for a third year, this time for drivers in the USA. GT Academy is a three-phase competition with the winner being trained and enrolled as a professional racing driver in preparation for a major race event next year. A reality TV show on sports channel SPEED chronicled the competition. The preliminary virtual rounds tested of driving skills in Gran Turismo 5 using pre-selected Nissan vehicles and all entrants would receive free digital content for playing. The top 32 drivers were then invited to a live GT5 National Finals, with the 16 leading players taken to the GT Academy Boot Camp.[39][40] The second round of the competition was scrapped due to the widespread use of cheating.[41]
Sony and Polyphony Digital have confirmed that the Gran Turismo 5 Academy events would be available for European players to participate in from March 4, 2011.[42]
At E3 2010, a new trailer was shown revealing various aspects about GT5 including a release date. The song used for the trailer was by Japanese composer Daiki Kasho; many fans wanted to know the name of the song, but it was untitled. Polyphony Digital recognised this and started a competition open to all fans around the world, to submit a name for the song. The winner would have their name immortalised in Gran Turismo 5s credits and their title become the official name of the music track.[43] The winner was chosen by Yamauchi out of 5,444 entries: it was "50UL 0N D!SPLAY" (a stylised form of "Soul On Display") submitted by a fan from Argentina.[44]
Kazunori Yamauchi promised that Gran Turismo 5 could have some compatibility with the PlayStation Portable version. He stated, "we're going to make it so that you can actually export the cars for the PSP version into Gran Turismo 5, so you can export your garage".[45]
The game was reported by media in September 2009 to allow head tracking using the PlayStation Eye, though no official confirmation came in the following months. This feature would allow the player to move their head naturally while sitting down, upright, and have the view around the 3D cockpit change accordingly.[46]
Officially announced in conjunction with Toyota in January 2010 was a GPS-based device which, when loaded into the game, would create a 'ghost' lap of a run through a race circuit in real life if equipped for data recording, allowing someone to view or race against their real life driving.[47] This became available for tracks which exist in real life, but there was no information on which or how many circuits in total would support the feature.
The game supports up to six different views that can be presented on six or more PS3 consoles. Two left views, two right views, server view (front with dials), and a front view without any dials all can be duplicated on an extra PS3 console if they are on the same LAN.
The game has been updated and expanded several times in its lifespan.[48] Many of the updates have improved the multiplayer racing, including weight and power restrictions on which cars can be driven in an online session, a car performance rating system, handicaps such as ballast and engine restriction, mechanical damage, and the ability to use the built-in course maker in online multiplayer races. Physics updates have not been documented in the update logs, however many users have noted changes to the physics once updates are installed. Other updates have included additional events, an online car dealership, removal of the copy protection for saved games, friend rankings, and various adjustments to the rewards and restrictions in the game.[49][50][51][52][53]
The final update (v2.16) was released on May 31, 2014, which permanently disabled all online features such as online play and Seasonal events. On July 21 another patch (v2.17) was released, which removed the online requirement for installing the downloadable content after the servers went offline.
A new update for Gran Turismo 5, called Spec 2.0 was released on October 11, 2011, featuring 11 new NASCAR vehicles, a new downloadable opening movie[54] (no longer available after the server shutdown in 2014), the ability to save during endurance races, weather intensity control and AI improvements. Along with the release of Spec 2.0, Yamauchi also announced that four DLC packs would be available on October 18. These packs featured 15 new vehicles, two new tracks, 20 new driver costumes and 100 new paint colors.[55] The packs were released on October 18, while the North American release was delayed until October 25.[56] PD stated that all following DLC packs would be released in a two-month time frame.[57]
A second car pack was released on December 20, 2011, that features four new vehicles: the Mini Cooper S, Volkswagen Golf VI R, Volkswagen Scirocco R and the Nissan GT-R Black Edition.
GT Academy was released on May 1, 2012, as a free standalone title on the PlayStation Network as a collaboration between Nissan and Polyphony Digital. A key feature was the ability to unlock exclusive "academy cars" for use in Gran Turismo 5 as well as a special racing suit for anyone who completed all challenges. The rewards for the game were handed out on July 4.
A fourth downloadable-content pack featuring Twin Ring Motegi along with a free Scion FR-S was released on 26 June 2012.[23]
A fifth pack added three individual cars: a Honda Weider HSV-010 '11 Super GT car, the Subaru BRZ, and the Nissan GT-R N24 GT Academy '12 race car. It was released on September 25, 2012.[29]
A free DLC with Corvette C7 Test Prototype was released on 28 November 2012.[59]
A free DLC with the Corvette C7 Final Prototype was released on January 15, 2013, revealing the Corvette C7's body and interior.[60]
A new cumulative package which contains all the aforementioned content was released sometime in Q2 2015.
As of today, all downloadable content has been permanently removed from PlayStation Store.
Gran Turismo 5 also featured an online mode. Players would meet in 'lounges' or 'race rooms' and give away (and/or share) cars, car parts and trained AI drivers to friends. They could also share game pictures and designed tracks.
All online activity closed on May 20, 2014,[61] but a special event was held from April 30 to May 30 that allowed players to unlock five additional cars for Gran Turismo 6.[62]
Gran Turismo 5's marketing campaign started on November 18, 2010, with a TV commercial featuring the fictional marketing character Kevin Butler as part of Sony Computer Entertainment's It Only Does Everything advertising campaign for their video game products in North America. The commercial depicts Butler as the 'VP of Add More Awesome' explaining how he made Gran Turismo 5 "more awesome" by adding more features that were previously thought impossible.[63]
On November 14, it was revealed that Sony had teamed with Swiss watchmaker Tissot to host the official countdown timer for the launch of Gran Turismo 5. To promote the relationship, Tissot gave away one customized, GT5 edition Tissot PRS 516, every day up until the release date.[67] In February 2011, a real version of the Polyphony Digital-designed Citroën GT was floated by the Rialto Bridge in Venice, recreating a location in Gran Turismo 4.[68]
After promising that GT5 would be released in 2010 after missing its initial March 2010 Japanese release date, Sony announced at E3 2010 that Gran Turismo 5 would be officially launched in North and Latin America on November 2, in Europe and Japan on November 3 and in Australia on November 4, 2010,[69] but was later revealed that the game would not meet its November release date and would instead be released later in the "holiday season".[70] Sony producer Taku Imasaki said that the reason for the delay was that series creator Kazunori Yamauchi and Polyphony Digital want to "make certain they are creating the perfect racing experience". In addition, the Sony spokesman Makiko Noda said that the reason of the delay was due to production reasons. Later, Sony stated that the game would be released "before Christmas" [2010].[71]
The actual reason for the delay turned out to be on the production side. Gran Turismo 5 missed its production window by three days. Kazunori Yamauchi publicly apologized via his Twitter account and explained that with such a complex game, a lot has to be ironed out. He finished his Tweet with, "Wait a little longer".[72][73] It was later claimed by a Blu-ray forum moderator that the delay was due to Sony's decision to release the game under the newer 3.50 SDK firmware standard (to combat piracy), rather than 3.41 as originally intended.[74][75] While at the Specialty Equipment Market Association Show on November 2, 2010, Yamauchi confirmed to automotive blog Jalopnik that GT5 had entered final production for release.[76]
After weeks of speculation, it was officially announced that Gran Turismo 5 would be released on November 24 for Asia, North America and Europe[3][2] and November 25 for Japan and Australia.[1][77]
Jessica Marie Alba (/ˈælbə/AL-bə; born April 28, 1981)[2] is an American actress. She began her acting career at age 13 in Camp Nowhere (1994), followed up by The Secret World of Alex Mack (1994), and rose to prominence at age 19 as the lead actress of the television series Dark Angel (2000–2002), for which she received a Golden Globe nomination.[3][4][5]
In 2011, Alba co-founded The Honest Company, a consumer goods company that sells baby, personal and household products.[7] A number of magazines, including Men's Health, Vanity Fair and FHM, have included Alba on their lists of the world's most beautiful women.
Jessica Marie Alba was born in Pomona, California[8] on April 28, 1981, to Catherine Louisa (née Jensen) and Mark David Alba. Her mother has Danish, Welsh, German, English and French ancestry, while her paternal grandparents, who were born in California, were children of Mexican immigrants.[9] She has a younger brother, Joshua. Her third cousin, once removed, is writer Gustavo Arellano.[10] Her father's Air Force career took the family to Biloxi, Mississippi, and Del Rio, Texas, before they settled in Claremont, California when she was nine years old.[4] Alba has described her family as "very conservative… a traditional, Catholic, Latin American family", and herself as very liberal; she says she identified as a "feminist" as early as age five.[11]
Alba's early life was marked by a multitude of physical maladies. During childhood, she suffered from pneumonia four to five times a year and had partially collapsed lungs twice as well as a ruptured appendix and tonsillar cyst. She has also had asthma since she was a child.[4] She became isolated from other children at school because she was hospitalized so often, no one knew her well enough to befriend her.[12] She has said that her family's frequent moving also contributed to her isolation from her peers.[11] She graduated from Claremont High School at age 16 and subsequently attended the Atlantic Theater Company.[13]
Alba expressed an interest in acting from age five. In 1992, the eleven year old Alba persuaded her mother to take her to an acting competition in Beverly Hills, where the grand prize was free acting classes. She won the grand prize, and took her first acting lessons. An agent signed her nine months later.[4][14] Her first film appearance was a small role in the 1994 feature Camp Nowhere as Gail. She was originally hired for two weeks but her role turned into a two-month job when one of the prominent actresses dropped out.[3]
Alba appeared in two national television commercials for Nintendo and J. C. Penney as a child. She was later featured in several independent films. She branched out into television in 1994 with a recurring role as the vain Jessica in three episodes of the Nickelodeon comedy series The Secret World of Alex Mack.[15] She then performed the role of Maya in the first two seasons of the 1995 television series Flipper.[3][15] Under the tutelage of her lifeguard mother, Alba learned to swim before she could walk, and was a PADI certified scuba diving skills which were put to use on the show, which was filmed in Australia.[15][16]
Her big break came when James Cameron picked Alba from over 1000 candidates for the role of the genetically engineered super-soldier Max Guevara on the FOX sci-fi television series Dark Angel.[19] The series ran for two seasons, until 2002, and earned Alba critical acclaim, a Golden Globe nomination, the Teen Choice Award for Choice Actress, and a Saturn Award for Best Actress.[6][20] Her role has been cited as a feminist character and is considered a symbol of female empowerment. Writing for the University of Melbourne, Bronwen Auty considered Max "the archetypal modern feminist hero—a young woman empowered to use her body actively to achieve goals", citing Max's refusal to use firearms and instead using martial arts and knowledge as weapons.[21] In 2004, Max was ranked #17 in TV Guide's list of "25 Greatest Sci-Fi Legends".[22][23] Her Dark Angel role led to significant parts in films. She had her big screen breakthrough in 2003 when she starred as an aspiring dancer-choreographer in Honey.[24]Rotten Tomatoes' critical consensus was: "An attractive Jessica Alba and energetic dance numbers provide some lift to this corny and formulaic movie".[25] Budgeted at US$18 million, the film made US$62.2 million.[26]
Alba portrayed the Marvel Comics character Invisible Woman in Fantastic Four (also 2005), alongside Ioan Gruffudd, Chris Evans, Michael Chiklis, and Julian McMahon.[31]The Guardian, in its review for the film, noted: "Feminists and non-feminists alike must absorb the Fantastic Four's most troubling paradox: having been admitted to the story on the grounds of her beauty, [Alba's] superpower is to be invisible".[32] The film was a commercial success despite negative reviews, grossing US$333.5 million worldwide. At the 2006 MTV Movie Awards, Alba earned nominations for Best Hero and Best On-Screen Team. Her last 2005 film was the thriller Into the Blue, where she portrayed, opposite Paul Walker, one half of a couple who find themselves in trouble with a drug lord after finding the illicit cargo of a sunken airplane. The film saw moderate box office returns, with a US$44.4 million worldwide gross.[33] She hosted the 2006 MTV Movie Awards and performed sketches spoofing the movies King Kong, Mission: Impossible III and The Da Vinci Code.[34]
Alba reprised her role in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, released in June 2007. According to Alba, Tim Story's direction during an emotional scene almost made her quit acting. "[He told me] 'It looks too real. It looks too painful. Can you be prettier when you cry? Cry pretty, Jessica.' He was like, 'Don't do that thing with your face. Just make it flat. We can CGI the tears in.'" According to Alba, this experience filled her with self-doubt: "And then it all got me thinking: Am I not good enough? Are my instincts and my emotions not good enough? Do people hate them so much that they don't want me to be a person? Am I not allowed to be a person in my work? And so I just said, 'Fuck it. I don't care about this business anymore.'"[35] The film grossed US$290 million globally.[36]
In Good Luck Chuck (also 2007), Alba portrayed the love interest of a womanizer dentist. She posed for one of the Good Luck Chuck's theatrical posters parodying the well-known Rolling Stone cover photographed by Annie Leibovitz featuring John Lennon and Yoko Ono in similar poses. While the film was heavily panned by critics, it made almost US$60 million upon its release.[37] Her third starring vehicle in 2007 was the psychological thriller Awake, portraying the girlfriend of a wealthy man who is about to have a heart transplant.[38] Reviews were lukewarm, but Roger Ebert praised her performance,[39] and budgeted at around US$8 million, the film made US$32.7 million.[40]
While Alba did not have any film release in 2009, five high-profile films released throughout 2010 featured her in significant roles. Her first role in the year was that of a prostitute in The Killer Inside Me, an adaptation of the book of the same name, opposite Kate Hudson and Casey Affleck, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival to polarized reactions from critics.[49][50][51] Her next film was the romantic comedy Valentine's Day, in which she played the girlfriend of a florist as part of a long ensemble cast consisting of Jessica Biel, Bradley Cooper, Taylor Lautner and Julia Roberts, among others. Despite negative reviews, the film was a commercial success, with a worldwide gross of US$216.5 million.[52] In the action film Machete, Alba reunited with director Robert Rodriguez, taking on the role of an immigration officer torn between enforcing the law and doing what is popular in the eyes of her family. Machete made over US$44 million globally.[53]
The drama An Invisible Sign of My Own, which Alba filmed in late 2008, premiered at the Hamptons Film Festival. In it, she portrayed a painfully withdrawn young woman.[54][55][56] Her last 2010 film was the comedy Little Fockers, in which she played an extrovert drug representative, reuniting with Robert De Niro, who was also in Machete. Despite negative reviews from critics, the film grossed over US$310 million worldwide.[57] For all her 2010 roles, she received a Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actress.[58]
2011–present: action and independent media productions[edit]
In 2011, Alba worked for the third time with Robert Rodriguez in the film Spy Kids: All the Time in the World, portraying a retired spy who is called back into action. To bond with her new stepchildren, she invites them along.[59] The film paled at the box office in comparison to the previous films in the franchise, but was still a moderate success, taking in US$85 million around the globe.[60] Alba next appeared with Adam Scott, Richard Jenkins, Jane Lynch, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and Catherine O'Hara in the comedy A.C.O.D. (2013), portraying what the Washington Post described as a "fellow child of divorce", with whom Scott's character "almost cheats on" her girlfriend.[61]ScreenRant critic Ben Kendrick wrote: "[Winstead] and [Alba] also deliver in their contributions – though both of their characters are mainly designed to be mirrors for Carter to examine his own life and choices."[62]A.C.O.D. received a limited theatrical run in North America.[63] In 2013, Alba also made her voice acting debut in the moderately successful animated film Escape from Planet Earth.[64]
Alba worked once again with director Rodriguez for two film sequels. She reprised her role of an Immigration Officer, in an uncredited cameo appearance, in Machete Kills (2013), which flopped with critics and audiences,[65] and her much larger role of stripper Nancy Callahan, seeking to avenge her late protector, in Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, which was released in August 2014, on 2D and 3D.[66][67][68] Unlike the first film, A Dame to Kill For was a commercial failure, grossing US$39 million against its US$65 million production budget,[69] and received mixed reviews from film critics. Variety felt it was a "late, limp attempt to turn Alba's character from an exploited figure into an empowered one".[70] She next took on the roles of a cabaret show performer in the dramedy Dear Eleanor (2014), the athletic girlfriend of a successful and well-respected English professor in the romantic comedy Some Kind of Beautiful (2014), a receptionist at a limo company in the thriller Stretch (also 2014), an emotionally vulnerable weapons trafficker in the crime comedy Barely Lethal (2015), and that of a documentary filmmaker in the horror film The Veil (2016); all films were released for limited theatrical runs and VOD.[71][72][73]
In the action film Mechanic: Resurrection (2016), alongside Jason Statham, Alba played the girlfriend of a retired hitman. She did Krav Maga to get into shape for the film,[74] and was drawn to the strength her character exhibited, remarking: "I think for these types of movies you don't often get to see the female romantic lead kind of kick butt. I mean, it's usually she's being saved by the guy, and so it's nice that I got to come to the table with a toughness, and a real heart".[75] The film made US$125.7 million worldwide.[76]
She will star in and executive produce a new documentary series for Disney+ called Parenting Without Borders (working title) which will focus on families around the world and their beliefs and culture.[77]
In January 2012, Alba and business partner Christopher Gavigan launched The Honest Company, selling a collection of household goods, diapers, and body care products.[7] The company was successful, and was valued at US$1 billion as of 2014[update].[78]
In early 2013, Alba released her book, The Honest Life, based on her experiences creating a natural, non-toxic life for her family. The book became a New York Times Best Seller.[79][80] In October 2015, Alba launched a collection of skin care and beauty products called Honest Beauty.[81][82]
As of April 2022, Alba owned 6.5 percent of the company. She was employed as the company's chief creative officer, receiving an annually base salary of $700,000 and restricted stock valued $1,500,000.[83] Alba stepped down as chief creative officer in April 2024.[84]
Alba posed for a bondage-themed print advertising campaign by Declare Yourself, a campaign encouraging voter registration among youth for the 2008 United States presidential election. The ads, photographed by Mark Liddell,[85][86] feature Alba wrapped in and gagged with black tape, and drew national media attention.[86] Alba said of doing the advertisements that "it didn't freak me out at all." Alba also said, "I think it is important for young people to be aware of the need we have in this country to get them more active politically...People respond to things that are shocking."[86]
In June 2009, while filming The Killer Inside Me in Oklahoma City, Alba was involved in a controversy with residents when she pasted posters of sharks around town.[89] Alba said that she was trying to bring attention to the diminishing population of great white sharks. Media outlets speculated that Alba would be pursued and charged with vandalism.[90] On June 16, 2009, Oklahoma City police said that they would not pursue criminal charges against Alba, because none of the property owners wanted to pursue it.[91][92] Alba apologized in a statement to People magazine and said that she regretted her actions.[91] She later donated an undisclosed amount of money (over US$500)[93] to the United Way, whose billboard she had obscured with one of the shark posters.[94][95][96][97]
In 2011, Alba participated in a two day lobbying effort in Washington D.C. in support of the Safe Chemicals Act, a revision of the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976.[98][99] Alba returned to Capitol Hill in 2015 to lobby lawmakers as they once again debated a replacement for the 1976 Substances Control Act.[100] She has also been a strong supporter of gay rights and on June 27, 2013, she expressed her delight with the Supreme Court's decision to strike down DOMA on her Twitter account. She tweeted "#equality #love".[101]
Alba's charity work has included participation with Clothes Off Our Back, Habitat for Humanity, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Project HOME, RADD, Revlon Run/Walk for Women, SOS Children's Villages, Soles4Souls, Step Up and Baby2Baby.[102][103] Alba is an ambassador for the 1Goal movement to provide education to children in Africa.[104] She has also served as a Baby2Baby "angel" ambassador, donating and helping to distribute items such as diapers and clothing to families in Los Angeles.[105]
In 2015, Alba and The Honest Company sponsored a laboratory at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. The lab was announced to be a specialized room designed to keep out dust and particles, where a team of epidemiologists would research links between household chemicals and autism.[106]
Cookie Monster is a blue Muppet character on the PBS/HBO children's television show Sesame Street. He is best known for his voracious appetite and his famous eating catchphrases, such as "Me want cookie!" As his name suggests, his preferred food is cookies; though he eats almost anything, including inedible objects. Chocolate chip cookies are his favorite kind. His speech is often grammatically nonstandard; for example, he always uses "Me" to refer to himself in place of "I", "My", and "Mine".[2] Despite his voracious appetite for cookies, Cookie Monster shows awareness of healthy eating habits for young children and also enjoys fruits and vegetables.
In a song in 2004, and later in an interview in 2017, Cookie Monster revealed his real name as "Sid,"[3][4][5][6] though in the first season he was referred to as both "tiny" and "Harry."[7] He is known to have a mother, a younger sister, and a cousin, identical in design, who does not like cookies. All three share his characteristic blue fur and "googly eyes". He also has a father, who appeared in a Monsterpiece Theater sketch promoting energy conservation, water conservation and environmentalism. Cookie Monster's mother and father both share his enormous appetite and craving for cookies.
The book Jim Henson's Designs and Doodles explains Cookie Monster's origin as follows: "In 1966, Henson drew three monsters that ate cookies and appeared in a General Foods commercial[8] that featured three crunchy snack foods: Wheels, Crowns and Flutes. Each snack was represented by a different monster. The Wheel-Stealer was a short, fuzzy monster with wonky eyes and sharply pointed teeth. The Flute-Snatcher was a speed demon with a long, sharp nose and windblown hair. The Crown-Grabber was a hulk of a monster with a Boris Karloff accent and teeth that resembled giant knitting needles."[9]
"These monsters had insatiable appetites for the snack foods they were named after. Each time the Muppet narrator, a human-looking fellow, fixes himself a tray of Wheels, Flutes and Crowns, they disappear before he can eat them. One by one, the monsters sneak in and zoom away with the snacks. Frustrated and peckish, the narrator warns viewers that these pesky monsters could be disguised as someone in your own home, at which point the monsters briefly turn into people and then dissolve back to monsters again."[9]
As it turns out, these commercials were never aired — but all three monsters had a future in the Muppet cast. The "Crown-Grabber" was used in a sketch on The Ed Sullivan Show, in which he ruins a girl's beautiful day. Known from then on as the Beautiful Day Monster, he made a number of appearances on Sesame Street and The Muppet Show. The "Flute-Snatcher" turned into Snake Frackle, a background monster from The Great Santa Claus Switch and The Muppet Show.[citation needed]
In 1967, Henson used the "Wheel-Stealer" puppet for an IBM training film, Coffee Break Machine. In the sketch, "The Computer Dinner", the monster (with frightening eyes and fangs) devours a complex coffee-making machine as it describes its different parts. When he is finished, the machine announces the monster has activated the machine's anti-vandalism system, which contains the most powerful explosives known to man. The monster promptly explodes. This sketch was also performed in October 1967 on The Ed Sullivan Show. It was also later performed on the George Burns episode of The Muppet Show using the Luncheon Counter Monster.[citation needed]
Two years later, Henson used a similarly-designed and equally hungry monster for three commercials selling Munchos, a Frito-Lay potato snack. This time, the puppet was named Arnold, the Munching Monster. After the three ads were produced, Henson had the opportunity to renew the contract. He chose not to, because at that point he was working on Sesame Street — and that monster puppet was moving on to the next stage in his career.[citation needed] According to Frank Oz, in a later routine the then unnamed monster won a quiz show and for winning was "given the choice of $10,000 cash, a new car, a trip to Hawaii, or a cookie." He took the cookie and from then on he was Cookie Monster.[10]
Cookie Monster, still unnamed, made his Sesame Street debut in the first episode, interfering with Kermit the Frog's "famous W lecture" by eating a model "W" bit by bit. He turns it into an "N", a "V", and finally an "I", to Kermit's frustration. He then tries to eat Kermit.[citation needed]
It was during the first season that Cookie Monster got his name and began using the growly vernacular (e.g., "Me eat cookie!") that would become part of his character. His signature song, "C Is For Cookie", was first aired during the 1971–72 season, and it became one of the best-known songs from Sesame Street.[citation needed]
Over the years, different approaches to the cookies have been tried. The cookies must be thin and soft so they shatter satisfactorily, preferably into many pieces.[11] They must also not make a mess on the expensive puppet.[11] The ones made of rice crackers crumbled well, but the crumbs tended to stick to Cookie Monster's fur.[11] Artificial foam cookies did not look like cookies when they broke apart.[11] In 2000, Lara MacLean developed a fat-free cookie recipe with no added sugar.[11] The main ingredients are dry pancake mix, puffed rice, Grape-Nuts cereal, and instant coffee (for color), mixed together with water and decorated with brown hot glue (to look like chocolate chips or raisins).[11] The glue is inedible, and the edible parts of the cookie do not have an appealing flavor.[11]
In 2005, in response to growing concerns about record levels of childhood obesity in the United States, Sesame Street began airing segments titled Healthy Habits for Life. In these segments, the Muppet characters of Sesame Street talk about healthy habits, such as eating properly and exercising. The Healthy Habits for Life segments spawned Internet rumors that Cookie Monster's name had been changed to Veggie Monster or would be taken off the show entirely.[12][13] Since then, Cookie Monster has eaten not only cookies (and the plate they are served on) but also fruits and vegetables.[11] There is a small hole in the puppet's mouth, so that something like an apple or banana can be "swallowed" by the puppet.[11]
In a 2007 appearance on Martha Stewart's TV program, Cookie Monster explained his new philosophy that "Cookies are a sometimes food."[14]
On February 10, 2008, NPR host Elizabeth Blair interviewed Cookie Monster for the All Things Considered segment In Character. He answered the Proust Questionnaire, as well as revealing some of his favorite and non-favorite things.[12][15]
In a June 19, 2008, appearance on The Colbert Report, Cookie Monster again explained that "Cookies are a sometimes food." Colbert had asked agitatedly why Cookie Monster had "abandoned the pro-cookie agenda" and thus caused fruit to become the favorite snack of American children, according to a study Colbert had heard. Colbert criticized Cookie Monster for not wearing a cookie lapel pin. Cookie Monster also claimed to have "crazy times during the '70s and '80s", referring to himself as "the Robert Downey Jr. of cookies." After eating a cookie to prove he still likes cookies, Cookie Monster asked if the Peabody Award, a round medallion on a small pedestal, was a cookie.[16] When Colbert returned to speak to Cookie Monster at the end of the show, the award had disappeared and Cookie Monster was wiping his mouth with a napkin.[16]
On November 24, 2010, Cookie Monster started a Facebook page as part of a campaign to host Saturday Night Live.[17] Though his bid to host Saturday Night Live failed, he was allowed to appear with Jeff Bridges when Jeff hosted the show and sang the Christmas song "Silver Bells".[18]
Rudman officially became Cookie Monster's performer in Sesame Street's 2002 season (taped 2001). Oz continued to occasionally perform Cookie Monster until 2004.[19]
Various toys and other icons of the Cookie Monster have been produced over the years. The most obvious is a cookie jar, of which numerous types have been available.
Numerous children's books featuring Cookie Monster have been published over the years:
In 1990 U.S. Budget Director Richard Darman wrote an introduction to the federal budget with a section "Green Eyeshades and the Cookie Monster" in which he called Cookie "the quintessential consumer", and the enormous budget "the Ultimate Cookie Monster."
As all monsters are, Cookie Monster is initially intimidating. His manner is gruff. His clumsiness occasionally causes damage. But quickly, Cookie Monster comes to be seen as benign—indeed, downright friendly. He has a few bad habits. He cannot resist gobbling up anything and everything that might be consumed, especially cookies. And he cannot quite control the way he spews forth crumbs. He is the quintessential consumer... The budget, for all its intimidating detail, might be seen similarly: as the Ultimate Cookie Monster. ... Its massive presence might be understood as little more than a compilation of cookies received, cookies crumbled, and crumbs spewed forth. Yet, apt though the Cookie Monster perspective may be, it does not suffice...
— U.S. Budget Director Richard Darman, unpublished version of the introduction to President Bush's 1991 Federal budget[20][21]
In the Food Network program Good Eats episode "Three Chips for Sister Marsha" (first aired December 13, 2000), a puppet named Maj. Wilfred D. Cookie who looks like a green version of Cookie Monster appears. Asked about his well-known "brother", he responds, "I told you never to mention that ruffian. All he knows about cookies is how to shovel them into his face."[22] In the Fox animated series Family Guy episode "Model Misbehavior", Cookie Monster is shown in a psychiatric hospital, repeatedly foiling drug rehab-styled efforts to cure his cookie addiction.[23]
In the Sesame Street parody Avenue Q, the character of Trekkie Monster is loosely based on Cookie Monster, sharing his speech pattern and addictive personality.
We wanted his name to indicate that he was obsessed, like Cookie Monster is obsessed with cookies. So we used "Trekkie" both because it sounded like "cookie" and because Trekkies are, by definition, obsessive fanatics.
John Lennon's song "Hold On", recorded in 1970 (only a year after Sesame Street debuted), features Lennon shouting "Cookie!" in Cookie Monster's voice, in the middle of the instrumental break in an otherwise calm, quiet song. Ringo Starr, aware of Lennon's love for Cookie Monster, also screams "Cookie!" in Cookie Monster's voice in his song "Early 1970", released in 1971.
Cookie Monster also appears in Mad, first in "Mouse M.D", a parody of House M.D., then as the main character in "Cookie Blue", a parody of Rookie Blue.[citation needed]
When the Apple personal assistant Siri is asked the question, "what is zero divided by zero", Siri responds with the answer: "Imagine that you have zero cookies and you split them evenly among zero friends. How many cookies does each person get? See? It doesn’t make sense. And Cookie Monster is sad that there are no cookies, and you are sad that you have no friends."[29][30]
On March 16, 2016, Apple released an ad titled "Timer" starring Cookie Monster, where he uses the "Hey Siri" feature in the iPhone 6S to set a timer and play an album while he waits for cookies to bake.[31]
A popular internet parody of The Great Wave off Kanagawa, titled "Sea is for Cookie", was created for a RedditAdobe Photoshop competition. The piece features the wave with googly eyes and cookies in the crest, resembling Cookie Monster eating cookies.[32]
^Sesame Street - "The First Time Me Eat Cookie". May 4, 2007. Event occurs at 0:30. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Me was just a mild-mannered little kid. In fact, back then, me think me name was Sid. Yeah, yeah.
^"Cookie Monster: Me wasn't ..."Sesame Street (sesamestreet) on Twitter. 10 August 2010. Me wasn't born with name "Cookie Monster." It just nickname dat stuck. Me don't remember me real name… maybe it was Sidney?
Playboy (stylized in all caps) is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother.[3]
Known for its centerfolds of nude and semi-nude[4] models (Playmates), Playboy played an important role in the sexual revolution[5] and remains one of the world's best-known brands, with a presence in nearly every medium.[6] In addition to the flagship magazine in the United States, special nation-specific versions of Playboy are published worldwide, including those by licensees, such as Dirk Steenekamp's DHS Media Group.[7][8][9][10][11]
Playboy features monthly interviews of public figures, such as artists, architects, economists, composers, conductors, film directors, journalists, novelists, playwrights, religious figures, politicians, athletes, and race car drivers. The magazine generally reflects a liberal editorial stance, although it often interviews conservative celebrities.[21]
After a year-long removal of most nude photos in Playboy magazine, the March–April 2017 issue brought back nudity.[22]
By spring 1953, Hugh Hefner—a 1949 University of Illinois psychology graduate who had worked in Chicago for Esquire magazine writing promotional copy; Publisher's Development Corporation in sales and marketing; and Children's Activities magazine as circulation promotions manager[23]—had planned out the elements of his own magazine, that he would call Stag Party.[24] He formed HMH Publishing Corporation, and recruited his friend Eldon Sellers to find investors.[24] Hefner eventually raised just over $8,000, including from his brother and mother.[25] However, the publisher of an unrelated men's adventure magazine, Stag, contacted Hefner and informed him it would file suit to protect their trademark if he were to launch his magazine with that name.[23][26] Hefner, his wife Millie, and Sellers met to seek a new name, considering "Top Hat", "Gentleman", "Sir'", "Satyr", "Pan" and "Bachelor" before Sellers suggested "Playboy".[26][27]
The first issue, in December 1953, was undated, as Hefner was unsure there would be a second. He produced it in his Hyde Park kitchen. The first centerfold was Marilyn Monroe, although the picture used originally was taken for a calendar rather than for Playboy.[28] Hefner chose what he deemed the "sexiest" image, a previously unused nude study of Monroe stretched with an upraised arm on a red velvet background with closed eyes and mouth open.[29] The heavy promotion centered on Monroe's nudity on the already-famous calendar, together with the teasers in marketing, made the new Playboy magazine a success.[30][31]
The first issue sold out in weeks. Known circulation was 53,991.[32] The cover price was 50¢. Copies of the first issue in mint to near-mint condition sold for over $5,000 in 2002.[33]
An urban legend started about Hefner and the Playmate of the Month because of markings on the front covers of the magazine. From 1955 to 1979 (except for a six-month gap in 1976), the "P" in Playboy had stars printed in or around the letter. Urban legend stated that this was either a rating that Hefner gave to the Playmate according to how attractive she was, the number of times that Hefner had slept with her, or how good she was in bed. In truth, stars, between zero and 12, indicated the domestic or international advertising region for that printing.[35]
The editorial board of Playboy in 1970. Back, left to right: Robie Macauley, Nat Lehrman, Richard M. Koff, Murray Fisher, Arthur Kretchmer; front: Sheldon Wax, Auguste Comte Spectorsky, Jack Kessie.
In the 1960s, the magazine added "The Playboy Philosophy" column. Early topics included gay rights,[36] women's rights, censorship, and the First Amendment.[36]Playboy was an early proponent of cannabis reform and provided founding support to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws in 1970.[37]
In 1968, at the feminist Miss America protest, symbolically feminine products were thrown into a "Freedom Trash Can". These included copies of Playboy and Cosmopolitan magazines.[39] One of the key pamphlets produced by the protesters was "No More Miss America!", by Robin Morgan, which listed 10 characteristics of the Miss America pageant that the authors believed degraded women;[40] it compared the pageant to Playboy's centerfold as sisters under the skin, describing this as "The Unbeatable Madonna–Whore Combination".[41]
Macauley contributed all of the popular Ribald Classics series published between January 1978 and March 1984.[citation needed]
After reaching its peak in the 1970s, Playboy saw a decline in circulation and cultural relevance due to competition in the field it founded—first from Penthouse, then from Oui (which was published as a spin-off of Playboy) and Gallery in the 1970s; later from pornographic videos; and more recently from lad mags such as Maxim, FHM, and Stuff. In response, Playboy attempted to re-assert its hold on the 18–35-year-old male demographic through slight changes to content and focusing on issues and personalities more appropriate to its audience—such as hip-hop artists being featured in the "Playboy Interview".[42] In February 1974, Ratna Assan became the first women of Indonesian descent to be featured, shortly after a positively received role in the film Papillon (1973).[43]
Christie Hefner, daughter of founder Hugh Hefner, joined Playboy in 1975 and became head of the company in 1988. She announced in December 2008 that she would be stepping down from leading the company, effective in January 2009, and said that the election of Barack Obama as the next President had inspired her to give more time to charitable work, and that the decision to step down was her own. "Just as this country is embracing change in the form of new leadership, I have decided that now is the time to make changes in my own life as well", she said.[44] Hefner was succeeded by company director and media veteran Jerome H. Kern as interim CEO, who was in turn succeeded by publisher Scott Flanders.[45][46]
The magazine celebrated its 50th anniversary with the January 2004 issue. Celebrations were held at Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York, and Moscow during the year to commemorate this event. Playboy also launched limited-edition products designed by fashion houses such as Versace, Vivienne Westwood and Sean John. As a homage to the magazine's 50th anniversary, MAC Cosmetics released two limited-edition products, namely a lipstick and a glitter cream.[47]
The printed magazine ran several annual features and ratings. One of the most popular was its annual ranking of the top "party schools" among all U.S. universities and colleges. In 2009, the magazine used five criteria: bikini, brains, campus, sex and sports in the development of its list. The top-ranked party school by Playboy for 2009 was the University of Miami.[48]
In June 2009, the magazine reduced its publication schedule to 11 issues per year, with a combined July/August issue. On August 11, 2009, London's Daily Telegraph newspaper reported that Hugh Hefner had sold his English manor house (next door to the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles) for $18 m ($10 m less than the reported asking price) to another American, Daren Metropoulos, the President and co-owner of Pabst Blue Ribbon, and that due to significant losses in the company's value (down from $1 billion in 2000 to $84 million in 2009), the Playboy publishing empire was for sale for $300 million.[49] In December 2009, the publication schedule was reduced to 10 issues per year, with a combined January/February issue.
On July 12, 2010, Playboy Enterprises Inc. announced Hefner's $5.50 per share offer ($122.5 million based on shares outstanding on April 30 and the closing price on July 9) to buy the portion of the company he did not already own and take the company private with the help of Rizvi Traverse Management LLC. The company derived much of its income from licensing, rather than from the magazine.[50] On July 15, Penthouse owner FriendFinder Networks Inc. offered $210 million (the company is valued at $185 million), though Hefner, who already owned 70 percent of voting stock, did not want to sell.[51] In January 2011, the publisher of Playboy magazine agreed to an offer by Hefner to take the company private for $6.15 per share, an 18 percent premium over the price of the last previous day of trading.[52] The buyout was completed in March 2011.[53]
2016–2018 changes and brief ending of full-frontal nudity[edit]
This is what I always intended Playboy Magazine to look like.
— Hugh Hefner, when asked about ending nudity in Playboy[54]
In October 2015, Playboy announced the magazine would no longer feature full-frontal nudity beginning with the March 2016 issue.[55] Company CEO Scott Flanders acknowledged the magazine's inability to compete with freely available internet pornography and nudity; according to him, "You're now one click away from every sex act imaginable for free. And so it's just passé at this juncture".[56] Hefner agreed with the decision.[57] The redesigned Playboy, however, would still feature a Playmate of the Month and pictures of women, but they would be rated as not appropriate for children under 13.[57] The move would not affect PlayboyPlus.com (which features nudity at a paid subscription).[58] Josh Horwitz of Quartz argued that the motivation for the decision to remove nudity from the magazine was to give Playboy Licensing a less inappropriate image in India and China, where the brand is a popular item on apparel and thus generates significant revenue.[59]
Among other changes to the magazine included ending the popular jokes section and the various cartoons that appeared throughout the magazine. The redesign eliminated the use of jump copy (articles continuing on non-consecutive pages), which in turn eliminated most of the space for cartoons.[60] Hefner, himself a former cartoonist, reportedly resisted dropping the cartoons more than the nudity, but ultimately obliged. Playboy's plans were to market itself as a competitor to Vanity Fair, as opposed to more traditional competitors GQ and Maxim.[54]
Playboy announced in February 2017, however, that the dropping of nudity had been a mistake and furthermore, for its March/April issue, reestablished some of its franchises, including the Playboy Philosophy and Party Jokes, but dropped the subtitle "Entertainment for Men", inasmuch as gender roles have evolved. The announcement was made by the company's chief creative officer on Twitter with the hashtag #NakedIsNormal.[61]
In early 2018, and according to Jim Puzzanghera of the Los Angeles Times, Playboy was reportedly "considering killing the print magazine", as the publication "has lost as much as $7 million annually in recent years".[62] However, in the July/August 2018 issue a reader asked if the print magazine would discontinue, and Playboy responded that it was not going anywhere.
Following Hefner's death, and his family's financial stake in the company, the magazine changed direction. In 2019, Playboy was relaunched as a quarterly publication without adverts. Topics covered included an interview with Tarana Burke, a profile of Pete Buttigieg, coverage of BDSM and a cover photo representing gender and sexual fluidity.[1]
In March 2020, Ben Kohn, CEO of Playboy Enterprises, announced that the spring 2020 issue would be the last regularly scheduled printed issue and that the magazine would now publish its content online. The decision to close the print edition was attributed in part to the COVID-19 pandemic which interfered with distribution of the magazine.[63]
In autumn 2020, Playboy announced a reverse merger deal with Mountain Crest Acquisition Corp.—a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). In February 2021, the stock of a combined company, PLBY Group, began trading on the Nasdaq exchange as "PLBY".[64][65]
In 1971, Playboy had a circulation rate base of seven million, which was its high point.[66] The best-selling individual issue was the November 1972 edition, which sold 7,161,561 copies. One-quarter of all American college men were buying or subscribing to the magazine every month.[67] On the cover was model Pam Rawlings, photographed by Rowland Scherman. Perhaps coincidentally, a cropped image of the issue's centerfold (which featured Lena Söderberg) became a de factostandard image for testing image processing algorithms. It is known simply as the "Lenna" (also "Lena") image in that field.[68] In 1972, Playboy was the ninth highest circulation magazine in the United States.[69]
The 1975 average circulation was 5.6 million; by 1981 it was 5.2 million, and by 1982 down to 4.9 million.[66] Its decline continued in later decades, and reached about 800,000 copies per issue in late 2015,[56] and 400,000 copies by December 2017.[70]
In 1970, Playboy became the first gentleman's magazine to be printed in braille.[71] It is also one of the few magazines whose microfilm format was in color, not black and white.[72]
Playboy's enduring mascot, a stylized silhouette of a rabbit wearing a tuxedo bow tie, was created by Playboyart directorArt Paul for the second issue as an endnote, but was adopted as the official logo and has appeared ever since.[73][74] A running joke in the magazine involves hiding the logo somewhere in the cover art or photograph. Hefner said he chose the rabbit for its "humorous sexual connotation", and because the image was "frisky and playful". In an interview Hefner explained his choice of a rabbit as Playboy's logo to the Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci:
The rabbit, the bunny, in America has a sexual meaning; and I chose it because it's a fresh animal, shy, vivacious, jumping - sexy. First it smells you then it escapes, then it comes back, and you feel like caressing it, playing with it. A girl resembles a bunny. Joyful, joking. Consider the girl we made popular: the Playmate of the Month. She is never sophisticated, a girl you cannot really have. She is a young, healthy, simple girl - the girl next door ... we are not interested in the mysterious, difficult woman, the femme fatale, who wears elegant underwear, with lace, and she is sad, and somehow mentally filthy. The Playboy girl has no lace, no underwear, she is naked, well washed with soap and water, and she is happy.[75]
The jaunty rabbit quickly became a popular symbol of extroverted male culture, becoming a lucrative source of merchandizing revenue for the company.[76] In the 1950s, it was adopted as the military aircraft insignia for the Navy's VX-4 fighter-evaluation squadron.
Besides its centerfold, a major part of Playboy for much of its existence has been the Playboy Interview, an extensive (usually several-thousand-word) discussion between a publicly known individual and an interviewer. Writer Alex Haley served as a Playboy interviewer on a few occasions; one of his interviews was with Martin Luther King Jr.; he also interviewed Malcolm X and American Nazi Party founder George Lincoln Rockwell.[77] The magazine interviewed then-presidential candidate Jimmy Carter in the November 1976 issue, in which he stated "I've committed adultery in my heart many times."[78][79]David Sheff's interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono appeared in the January 1981 issue, which was on newsstands at the time of Lennon's murder; the interview was later published in book format.
Another interview-type section, entitled "20Q" (a play on the game of Twenty Questions), was added in October 1978. Cheryl Tiegs was the first interviewee for the section.[80]
"Rock the Rabbit" was an annual music news and pictorial feature published in the March edition.[81] The pictorial featured images of rock bands photographed by music photographer Mick Rock. Fashion designers participated in the Rock the Rabbit event by designing T-shirts inspired by Playboy's rabbit head logo for each band. The shirts were sold at Playboy's retailers and auctioned off to raise money for AIDS research and treatment at LIFEbeat: The Music Industry Fights AIDS.[81] Bands who were featured include: MGMT, Daft Punk, Iggy Pop, Duran Duran, Flaming Lips, Snow Patrol, and The Killers.[82]
Set in the fantasy world of Spira, a setting influenced by the South Pacific, Thailand and Japan,[2] the game's story revolves around a group of adventurers and their quest to defeat a rampaging monster known as Sin. The player character is Tidus, a star athlete in the fictional sport of blitzball, who finds himself in Spira after Sin attacked his home city of Zanarkand. Shortly after arriving to Spira, Tidus becomes a guardian to summonerYuna to destroy Sin upon learning its true identity is that of his missing father, Jecht.
Development of Final Fantasy X began in 1999, with a budget of more than $32.3 million ($59.1 million in 2023 dollars) and a team of more than 100 people. The game was the first in the main series not entirely scored by Nobuo Uematsu; Masashi Hamauzu and Junya Nakano were signed as Uematsu's fellow composers. Final Fantasy X was both a critical and commercial success, shipping over 8.5 million units worldwide on PlayStation 2. It is considered to be one of the greatest video games of all time. It was followed by Final Fantasy X-2 in March 2003, making it the first Final Fantasy game to have a direct game sequel. As of September 2021, the Final Fantasy X series had sold over 20.8 million units worldwide,[3] and at the end of March 2022 had surpassed 21.1 million.[4]
Like previous games in the series, Final Fantasy X is presented in a third-person perspective, with players directly navigating the main character, Tidus, around the world to interact with objects and people. Unlike previous games, however, the world and town maps have been fully integrated, with terrain outside of cities rendered to scale. As Tidus explores the world, he randomly encounters enemies. When an enemy is encountered, the environment switches to a turn-based battle area where characters and enemies await their turn to attack.[5]
The gameplay of Final Fantasy X differs from that of previous Final Fantasy games in its lack of a top-down perspectiveworld map. Earlier games featured a miniature representation of the expansive areas between towns and other distinct locations, used for long-distance traveling. In the game, almost all the locations are essentially continuous and never fade out to a world map. Regional connections are mostly linear, forming a single path through the game's locations, though an airship becomes available late in the game, giving the player the ability to navigate Spira faster. Like previous games in the series, Final Fantasy X features numerous minigames, including the underwater sport blitzball.[6]
A boss battle screen showing a heads-up display to illustrate battle information
Final Fantasy X introduces the Conditional Turn-Based Battle (CTB) system in place of the series' traditional Active Time Battle (ATB) system first used in Final Fantasy IV. Whereas the ATB concept features real-time elements, the CTB system is a turn-based format that pauses the battle during each of the player's turns. Thus, the CTB design allows the player to select an action without time pressure.[7] A graphical timeline along the upper-right side of the screen details who will be receiving turns next, and how various actions taken will affect the subsequent order of turns. The ordering of turns can be affected by a number of spells, items, and abilities that inflict status effects upon the controlled characters or the enemies.[8] The player can control up to three characters in battle, though a swapping system allows the player to replace them with a character outside the active party at any time. "Limit Breaks", highly damaging special attacks, reappear in Final Fantasy X as "Overdrives". In this incarnation of the feature, most of the techniques are interactive, requiring button inputs to increase their effectiveness. While initially the Overdrives can be used when the character receives a significant amount of damage, the player is able to modify the requirements to unlock them.[9]
Final Fantasy X overhauled the summoning system employed in previous games of the series. Whereas in previous titles a summoned creature would arrive, perform one action, and then depart, the "Aeons" in X arrive and replace the battle party, fighting in their place until either the aeon wins the battle, is defeated itself, or is dismissed by the player. Aeons have their own statistics, commands, special attacks, spells, and Overdrives. The player acquires five aeons over the course of the game through the completion of Cloister of Trials puzzles; three additional aeons can be obtained by completing various side-quests.[6]
As with previous titles in the series, players can develop and improve their characters by defeating enemies and acquiring items, though the traditional experience point system is replaced by a new system called the "Sphere Grid". Instead of characters gaining pre-determined statistic bonuses for their attributes after leveling up, each character gains "Sphere Levels" after collecting enough Ability Points (AP). Sphere Levels allow players to move around the Sphere Grid, a pre-determined grid of interconnected nodes consisting of various statistic and ability bonuses. "Spheres" are applied to these nodes, unlocking its function for the selected character.[7]
The Sphere Grid system allows players to fully customize characters in contrast to their intended battle roles, such as turning the White Mage-roled Yuna into a physical powerhouse and the swordsman Auron into a healer. The International and PAL versions of the game include an optional "Expert" version of the Sphere Grid; in these versions, all of the characters start in the middle of the grid and may follow whichever path the player chooses. As a trade-off, the Expert grid has fewer nodes in total, thus decreasing the total statistic upgrades available during the game.[10]
Blitzball is a minigame that requires strategy and tactics. The underwater sport is played in a large, hovering sphere of water surrounded by a larger audience of onlookers.[8] The player controls one character at a time as they swim through the sphere performing passes, tackles, and attempts to score. The gameplay is similar to that of the main game in the way that the controlled character moves through the area until they encounter an enemy. In this case, the enemy is a member of the opposing team. Status effects are also implemented in the minigame as each player can learn techniques that are equivalent to abilities in the main game.[11]
Blitzball is introduced in the beginning of the game during one of the early cinematic sequences in which Tidus, the main character who is described as a star blitzball player, is part of an intense game. It is the only minigame that plays a role in the overall plot line as it is a main part of Tidus's character, and is in the first scene where the game's main antagonist, Sin is shown.[8] Unlike with the other minigames, playing blitzball is mandatory near the beginning of the game, but it is later optional.[11]
Final Fantasy X is set in the fictional world of Spira, consisting of one large landmass divided into three subcontinents, surrounded by small tropical islands. It features diverse climates, ranging from the tropical Besaid and Kilika islands, to the temperate Mi'ihen region, to the frigid Macalania and Mt. Gagazet areas. Spira is very different from the mainly European-style worlds found in previous Final Fantasy games, being much more closely modeled on Southeast Asia, most notably with respect to vegetation, topography, architecture, and names.[2]
Spira features a variety of races, though predominantly populated by humans. Among them are the Al Bhed, a technologically advanced but disenfranchised sub-group of humans with distinctive green eyes and unique language.[12][13] The Guado, which are less human in appearance, with elongated fingers and other arboreal features. Still less human are the lion-like Ronso and the frog-like Hypello. A subset of Spira's sentient races are the "unsent", the strong-willed spirits of the dead that remain in corporeal form. In Spira, the dead who are not sent to the Farplane by a summoner come to envy the living and transform into "fiends", the monsters that are encountered throughout the game;[14] however, unsent with strong attachments to the world of the living may retain their human form. Other fauna in Spira, aside from those drawn from real animals, such as cats, dogs, birds, and butterflies, include the gigantic, amphibious shoopufs (which are similar to elephants); and the emu-like chocobo, which appears in most Final Fantasy games.
Tidus waits with his allies outside the ruins of an ancient city. He narrates the events that led to the present, spanning most of the game's storyline.[20] It begins in his home city, the high-tech metropolis of Zanarkand, where he is a renowned blitzball player and son of the famous blitzball star Jecht, an abusive father who disappeared 10 years prior.[21] During a blitzball tournament, the city is attacked by an immense creature that Auron, a man not originally from Zanarkand, calls "Sin".[22] Sin destroys Zanarkand and takes Tidus and Auron to the world of Spira.[12] Upon arriving in Spira, Tidus is rescued by Al Bhed salvagers, with the young Rikku explaining that Sin destroyed Zanarkand 1,000 years ago.[23] After Sin attacks again, Tidus is separated from the divers and drifts to the tropical island of Besaid, where he meets Wakka, captain of the local blitzball team.[17] Wakka introduces Tidus to Yuna, a young summoner about to go on a pilgrimage to obtain the Final Aeon and defeat Sin[15][24] with her guardians Lulu, a mage of black magic, and Kimahri, a member of the Ronso tribe. The party travels across Spira to gather aeons, defending against attacks by Sin and its "offspring" called Sinspawn.[25] Tidus meets Auron again, who convinces Tidus to become Yuna's guardian upon revealing that Jecht is Sin's true identity.[26] Ten years ago, Auron and Jecht bodyguarded Yuna's late father Braska to defeat Sin but Jecht became a new Sin.[19] As Yuna's party continues their pilgrimage, Tidus reunites with Rikku, who the party learns is Yuna's cousin.[27]
When the party arrives in the city of Guadosalam, the leader of the Guado and major clergy member Seymour Guado, proposes to Yuna, saying that it will ease Spira's sorrow.[28] At Macalania Temple, the group discovers a message from the spirit of Seymour's father, Lord Jyscal; he declares that he was killed by his own son, who now aims to destroy Spira.[29] The group reunites with Yuna and kills Seymour in battle;[30] soon afterward, Sin attacks, separating Yuna and sending the others to the arid Bikanel Island.[31] While searching for Yuna at the island's Al Bhed settlement,[31] Tidus has an emotional breakdown when he learns that summoners die after summoning the Final Aeon, leading to his desire to find a way to defeat Sin while keeping Yuna alive.[32][33] The group finds Yuna in Bevelle, the center of the clergy’s power, where she is being forced to marry the unsent Seymour.[34][35] They crash the wedding, after which Seymour reveals his plan to become Sin with Yuna's help.[34] The party defeats him a second time and escapes with Yuna.[36] The group heads toward the ruins of Zanarkand, seen in the introduction of the game.[20][24][37]
Shortly before arriving, Tidus learns that he, Jecht, and the Zanarkand they hail from are summoned entities akin to aeons based on the original Zanarkand and its people.[38] Long ago, the original Zanarkand battled Bevelle in a machina war, in which the former was defeated.[39] Zanarkand's survivors became "fayth" so that they could use their memories of Zanarkand to create a new city in their image, removed from the reality of Spira.[39][40] Once they reach Zanarkand, Yunalesca—the first summoner to defeat Sin and unsent ever since[41]—tells the group that the Final Aeon is created from the fayth of one close to the summoner. After defeating Sin, the Final Aeon kills the summoner and transforms into a new Sin, which has caused its cycle of rebirth to continue.[42] The group decides against using the Final Aeon, due to the futile sacrifices it carries and the fact that Sin would still be reborn.[43] Yunalesca tries to kill Tidus' group, but she is defeated and vanishes, ending hope of ever attaining the Final Aeon.[44]
After the fight, the group learns that Yu Yevon — the deity of the Yevon religion who was a summoner from Zanarkand before losing his humanity and mind — is behind Sin's cycle of rebirth.[45] This leads the group to infiltrate Sin's body in order to find Yu Yevon. Inside Sin, the party finds the unsent Seymour, who had been absorbed by Sin and intends to control it from within. Yuna defeats him for the final time before sending him to the Farplane.[46] Shortly after, the group reaches the core of Sin and finds Jecht's imprisoned spirit.[47] Tidus and Jecht come to terms with the latter's abuse. Jecht transforms into his Final Aeon form, asking the party to defeat him and end the cycle; they do so. With Sin's host defeated, Yuna summons and the group defeats each aeon after Yu Yevon possesses each one until finally they vanquish Yu Yevon himself.[48]
Sin's cycle of rebirth ends when Yuna sends Sin and the Aeons to the farplane, and the spirits of Spira's fayth are freed from their imprisonment. Auron, who had been revealed to be unsent, is sent to the Farplane.[49][50] Dream Zanarkand and Tidus disappear, now that the freed fayth stopped the summoning.[51] Afterward, in a speech to the citizens of Spira, Yuna resolves to help rebuild their world now that it is free of Sin.[52] In a post-credits scene, Tidus awakens under water and swims towards the ocean surface.
Final Fantasy X's development began in 1999, costing approximately ¥4 billion (approximately $32.3 million, or $59.1 million in 2023 dollars)[53] with a crew of over 100 people, most of whom worked on previous games in the series. Executive producer Hironobu Sakaguchi has stated that although he had concerns about the transition from 2D to 3D backgrounds, the voice acting, and the transition to real-time story-telling, the success of the Final Fantasy series can be attributed to constantly challenging the development team to try new things.[2] Producer Yoshinori Kitase was also the chief director of Final Fantasy X, while the direction of events, maps and battles was split up between Motomu Toriyama, Takayoshi Nakazato and Toshiro Tsuchida, respectively.[54][55][56][57] The development of the script for the game took three to four months, with the same amount of time dedicated to the voice recording afterwards.[58]Tetsuya Nomura and Kazushige Nojima collaborated with Daisuke Watanabe, Toriyama and Kitase on writing the scenario for Final Fantasy X.[56][58] Nojima was particularly concerned with establishing a connection in the relationship between player and main character. Thus, he penned the story such that the player's progress through the world and growing knowledge about it is reflected in Tidus' own understanding and narration.[59]
According to the Square Enix companion bookFinal Fantasy Ultimania Archive Volume III, 17 SEVEN TEEN was a temporary title early in Final Fantasy X's production.[60]17 SEVEN TEEN's story differed from the final version: the protagonist, who looked similar to Tidus,[61] traveled the world seeking a cure for a pandemic that killed people when they reached the age of seventeen. This inevitable death motif was later carried over to Yuna's fate as a summoner.
The development team was interested in giving the game a tropical flair, basing the game's setting, Spira, on locations like Okinawa in southern Japan.
Character designer Tetsuya Nomura has identified the South Pacific, Thailand and Japan as major influences on the cultural and geographic design of Spira, particularly concerning the geographic location of the southern Besaid and Kilika islands. He has also said that Spira deviates from the worlds of past Final Fantasy games in the level of detail incorporated, something he has expressed to have made a conscious effort to maintain during the design process.[62] Kitase felt that if the setting went back to a medieval European fantasy, it would not seem to help the development team advance. While he was thinking of different world environments, Nojima suggested a fantasy world that incorporated Asian elements.[2]
Sub-character chief designer Fumi Nakashima's focus was to ensure that characters from different regions and cultures bore distinctive characteristics in their clothing styles, so that they could be quickly and easily identified as members of their respective sub-groups. For example, she has said that the masks and goggles of the Al Bhed give the group a "strange and eccentric" appearance, while the attire of the Ronso lend to them being able to easily engage in battle.[2] Tidus was originally envisioned to be a plumber as to connect to the underwater elements used in the game, according to Nojima, but they later made him into a blitzball athlete, helping to distinguish his character from prior Final Fantasy protagonists; Tidus' final outfit still incorporated elements of the original plumber outfit they had designed for him.[63]
Tidus' relationship with his father Jecht was based on "stories throughout the ages, such as the ancient Greek legends". This would eventually reveal the key of Sin's weakness and eventual defeat.[64] Auron was intended to be silent throughout the game but became a voiced character as they developed out the Guardian storyline between Tidus and Yuna.[63] Although Final Fantasy X was originally centered on the relationship between Tidus and Yuna, the addition of Jecht's character and his feud with his son was added later in the making of the game to provide more focus on how the father and son produce a bigger impact in Spira's history rather than the romantic couple. Kitase found the story between Tidus and Jecht to be more moving than the story between Tidus and Yuna.[65]
Final Fantasy X used motion capture similar to this image for character animations.
Final Fantasy X features innovations in the rendering of characters' facial expressions, achieved through motion capture and skeletal animation technology.[59][62] This technology allowed animators to create realistic lip movements, which were then programmed to match the speech of the game's voice actors.
The cutscene of Tidus and Yuna kissing was developed by Visual Works, a subsidiary of Square Enix. Many of the animators were not experienced with romance scenes - Visual Works director Kazuyuki Ikumori said that the animators sought feedback from younger staff at Square Enix, as well as female members of staff. The scene was remade multiple times after receiving responses that earlier drafts were "unnatural" and "not believable".[66]
Nojima has revealed that the inclusion of voice acting enabled him to express emotion more powerfully than before, and he was therefore able to keep the storyline simple. He also said that the presence of voice actors led him to make various changes to the script, in order to match the voice actors' personalities with the characters they were portraying.[67] The inclusion of voice, however, led to difficulties. With the game's cutscenes already programmed around the Japanese voice work, the English localization team faced the difficulty of establishing English-oriented dialogue and the obstacle of incorporating this modified wording with the rhythm and timing of the characters' lip movements. Localization specialist Alexander O. Smith noted that they had to keep the localized sound file within the duration of the original Japanese, as longer files would cause the game to crash.[68] He described the process of fitting natural-sounding English speech into the game as "something akin to writing four or five movies' worth of dialogue entirely in haiku form [and] of course the actors had to act, and act well, within those restraints".[69]
The game was initially going to feature online elements, offered through Square's PlayOnline service. The features were dropped during production, and online gaming would not become part of the series until Final Fantasy XI.[70][71] Map director Nakazato wanted to implement a world map concept with a more realistic approach than that of the traditional Final Fantasy game, in line with the realism of the game's 3D backgrounds, as opposed to pre-rendered backgrounds.[72] Battle art director Shintaro Takai has explained that it was his intention that battles in Final Fantasy X come across as a natural part of the story and not an independent element.[73] Features would have included wandering enemies visible on the field map, seamless transitions into battles, and the option for players to move around the landscape during enemy encounters.[69] However, hardware limitations resulted in these ideas not being used. Instead, a compromise was made, whereby some transitions from the field map to the battle map were made relatively seamless with the implementation of a motion blur effect that would happen at the end of an event scene.[59] The desire for seamless transitions also led to the implementation of the new summoning system seen in the game.[73]
As a player of the games in the Final Fantasy series, battle director Tsuchida wanted to recreate elements he found interesting or entertaining, which eventually led to the removal of the Active Time Battle system, and instead, incorporated the strategy-focused Conditional Turn-Based Battle system.[73] Kitase has explained that the purpose behind the Sphere Grid is to give players an interactive means of increasing their characters' attributes, such that they will be able to observe the development of those attributes firsthand.[74] At the time of the game's development, Nojiima had been reading about cryptography, and thus created the means to decode the Al Bhed language within the game, albeit simpler than initially planned.[63]
Final Fantasy X marks the first time regular series composer Nobuo Uematsu has had any assistance in composing the score for a game in the main series. His fellow composers for X were Masashi Hamauzu and Junya Nakano.[75] They were chosen for the soundtrack based on their ability to create music that was different from Uematsu's style while still being able to work together.[76] PlayOnline.com first revealed that the game's theme song was completed in November 2000. As Square still had not revealed who would sing the song, GameSpot personally asked Uematsu, who jokingly answered that it was going to be Rod Stewart.[77]
The game features three songs with vocalized elements, including the J-pop ballad "
Playboy (stylized in all caps) is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother.[3]
Known for its centerfolds of nude and semi-nude[4] models (Playmates), Playboy played an important role in the sexual revolution[5] and remains one of the world's best-known brands, with a presence in nearly every medium.[6] In addition to the flagship magazine in the United States, special nation-specific versions of Playboy are published worldwide, including those by licensees, such as Dirk Steenekamp's DHS Media Group.[7][8][9][10][11]
Playboy features monthly interviews of public figures, such as artists, architects, economists, composers, conductors, film directors, journalists, novelists, playwrights, religious figures, politicians, athletes, and race car drivers. The magazine generally reflects a liberal editorial stance, although it often interviews conservative celebrities.[21]
After a year-long removal of most nude photos in Playboy magazine, the March–April 2017 issue brought back nudity.[22]
By spring 1953, Hugh Hefner—a 1949 University of Illinois psychology graduate who had worked in Chicago for Esquire magazine writing promotional copy; Publisher's Development Corporation in sales and marketing; and Children's Activities magazine as circulation promotions manager[23]—had planned out the elements of his own magazine, that he would call Stag Party.[24] He formed HMH Publishing Corporation, and recruited his friend Eldon Sellers to find investors.[24] Hefner eventually raised just over $8,000, including from his brother and mother.[25] However, the publisher of an unrelated men's adventure magazine, Stag, contacted Hefner and informed him it would file suit to protect their trademark if he were to launch his magazine with that name.[23][26] Hefner, his wife Millie, and Sellers met to seek a new name, considering "Top Hat", "Gentleman", "Sir'", "Satyr", "Pan" and "Bachelor" before Sellers suggested "Playboy".[26][27]
The first issue, in December 1953, was undated, as Hefner was unsure there would be a second. He produced it in his Hyde Park kitchen. The first centerfold was Marilyn Monroe, although the picture used originally was taken for a calendar rather than for Playboy.[28] Hefner chose what he deemed the "sexiest" image, a previously unused nude study of Monroe stretched with an upraised arm on a red velvet background with closed eyes and mouth open.[29] The heavy promotion centered on Monroe's nudity on the already-famous calendar, together with the teasers in marketing, made the new Playboy magazine a success.[30][31]
The first issue sold out in weeks. Known circulation was 53,991.[32] The cover price was 50¢. Copies of the first issue in mint to near-mint condition sold for over $5,000 in 2002.[33]
An urban legend started about Hefner and the Playmate of the Month because of markings on the front covers of the magazine. From 1955 to 1979 (except for a six-month gap in 1976), the "P" in Playboy had stars printed in or around the letter. Urban legend stated that this was either a rating that Hefner gave to the Playmate according to how attractive she was, the number of times that Hefner had slept with her, or how good she was in bed. In truth, stars, between zero and 12, indicated the domestic or international advertising region for that printing.[35]
The editorial board of Playboy in 1970. Back, left to right: Robie Macauley, Nat Lehrman, Richard M. Koff, Murray Fisher, Arthur Kretchmer; front: Sheldon Wax, Auguste Comte Spectorsky, Jack Kessie.
In the 1960s, the magazine added "The Playboy Philosophy" column. Early topics included gay rights,[36] women's rights, censorship, and the First Amendment.[36]Playboy was an early proponent of cannabis reform and provided founding support to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws in 1970.[37]
In 1968, at the feminist Miss America protest, symbolically feminine products were thrown into a "Freedom Trash Can". These included copies of Playboy and Cosmopolitan magazines.[39] One of the key pamphlets produced by the protesters was "No More Miss America!", by Robin Morgan, which listed 10 characteristics of the Miss America pageant that the authors believed degraded women;[40] it compared the pageant to Playboy's centerfold as sisters under the skin, describing this as "The Unbeatable Madonna–Whore Combination".[41]
Macauley contributed all of the popular Ribald Classics series published between January 1978 and March 1984.[citation needed]
After reaching its peak in the 1970s, Playboy saw a decline in circulation and cultural relevance due to competition in the field it founded—first from Penthouse, then from Oui (which was published as a spin-off of Playboy) and Gallery in the 1970s; later from pornographic videos; and more recently from lad mags such as Maxim, FHM, and Stuff. In response, Playboy attempted to re-assert its hold on the 18–35-year-old male demographic through slight changes to content and focusing on issues and personalities more appropriate to its audience—such as hip-hop artists being featured in the "Playboy Interview".[42] In February 1974, Ratna Assan became the first women of Indonesian descent to be featured, shortly after a positively received role in the film Papillon (1973).[43]
Christie Hefner, daughter of founder Hugh Hefner, joined Playboy in 1975 and became head of the company in 1988. She announced in December 2008 that she would be stepping down from leading the company, effective in January 2009, and said that the election of Barack Obama as the next President had inspired her to give more time to charitable work, and that the decision to step down was her own. "Just as this country is embracing change in the form of new leadership, I have decided that now is the time to make changes in my own life as well", she said.[44] Hefner was succeeded by company director and media veteran Jerome H. Kern as interim CEO, who was in turn succeeded by publisher Scott Flanders.[45][46]
The magazine celebrated its 50th anniversary with the January 2004 issue. Celebrations were held at Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York, and Moscow during the year to commemorate this event. Playboy also launched limited-edition products designed by fashion houses such as Versace, Vivienne Westwood and Sean John. As a homage to the magazine's 50th anniversary, MAC Cosmetics released two limited-edition products, namely a lipstick and a glitter cream.[47]
The printed magazine ran several annual features and ratings. One of the most popular was its annual ranking of the top "party schools" among all U.S. universities and colleges. In 2009, the magazine used five criteria: bikini, brains, campus, sex and sports in the development of its list. The top-ranked party school by Playboy for 2009 was the University of Miami.[48]
In June 2009, the magazine reduced its publication schedule to 11 issues per year, with a combined July/August issue. On August 11, 2009, London's Daily Telegraph newspaper reported that Hugh Hefner had sold his English manor house (next door to the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles) for $18 m ($10 m less than the reported asking price) to another American, Daren Metropoulos, the President and co-owner of Pabst Blue Ribbon, and that due to significant losses in the company's value (down from $1 billion in 2000 to $84 million in 2009), the Playboy publishing empire was for sale for $300 million.[49] In December 2009, the publication schedule was reduced to 10 issues per year, with a combined January/February issue.
On July 12, 2010, Playboy Enterprises Inc. announced Hefner's $5.50 per share offer ($122.5 million based on shares outstanding on April 30 and the closing price on July 9) to buy the portion of the company he did not already own and take the company private with the help of Rizvi Traverse Management LLC. The company derived much of its income from licensing, rather than from the magazine.[50] On July 15, Penthouse owner FriendFinder Networks Inc. offered $210 million (the company is valued at $185 million), though Hefner, who already owned 70 percent of voting stock, did not want to sell.[51] In January 2011, the publisher of Playboy magazine agreed to an offer by Hefner to take the company private for $6.15 per share, an 18 percent premium over the price of the last previous day of trading.[52] The buyout was completed in March 2011.[53]
2016–2018 changes and brief ending of full-frontal nudity[edit]
This is what I always intended Playboy Magazine to look like.
— Hugh Hefner, when asked about ending nudity in Playboy[54]
In October 2015, Playboy announced the magazine would no longer feature full-frontal nudity beginning with the March 2016 issue.[55] Company CEO Scott Flanders acknowledged the magazine's inability to compete with freely available internet pornography and nudity; according to him, "You're now one click away from every sex act imaginable for free. And so it's just passé at this juncture".[56] Hefner agreed with the decision.[57] The redesigned Playboy, however, would still feature a Playmate of the Month and pictures of women, but they would be rated as not appropriate for children under 13.[57] The move would not affect PlayboyPlus.com (which features nudity at a paid subscription).[58] Josh Horwitz of Quartz argued that the motivation for the decision to remove nudity from the magazine was to give Playboy Licensing a less inappropriate image in India and China, where the brand is a popular item on apparel and thus generates significant revenue.[59]
Among other changes to the magazine included ending the popular jokes section and the various cartoons that appeared throughout the magazine. The redesign eliminated the use of jump copy (articles continuing on non-consecutive pages), which in turn eliminated most of the space for cartoons.[60] Hefner, himself a former cartoonist, reportedly resisted dropping the cartoons more than the nudity, but ultimately obliged. Playboy's plans were to market itself as a competitor to Vanity Fair, as opposed to more traditional competitors GQ and Maxim.[54]
Playboy announced in February 2017, however, that the dropping of nudity had been a mistake and furthermore, for its March/April issue, reestablished some of its franchises, including the Playboy Philosophy and Party Jokes, but dropped the subtitle "Entertainment for Men", inasmuch as gender roles have evolved. The announcement was made by the company's chief creative officer on Twitter with the hashtag #NakedIsNormal.[61]
In early 2018, and according to Jim Puzzanghera of the Los Angeles Times, Playboy was reportedly "considering killing the print magazine", as the publication "has lost as much as $7 million annually in recent years".[62] However, in the July/August 2018 issue a reader asked if the print magazine would discontinue, and Playboy responded that it was not going anywhere.
Following Hefner's death, and his family's financial stake in the company, the magazine changed direction. In 2019, Playboy was relaunched as a quarterly publication without adverts. Topics covered included an interview with Tarana Burke, a profile of Pete Buttigieg, coverage of BDSM and a cover photo representing gender and sexual fluidity.[1]
In March 2020, Ben Kohn, CEO of Playboy Enterprises, announced that the spring 2020 issue would be the last regularly scheduled printed issue and that the magazine would now publish its content online. The decision to close the print edition was attributed in part to the COVID-19 pandemic which interfered with distribution of the magazine.[63]
In autumn 2020, Playboy announced a reverse merger deal with Mountain Crest Acquisition Corp.—a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). In February 2021, the stock of a combined company, PLBY Group, began trading on the Nasdaq exchange as "PLBY".[64][65]
In 1971, Playboy had a circulation rate base of seven million, which was its high point.[66] The best-selling individual issue was the November 1972 edition, which sold 7,161,561 copies. One-quarter of all American college men were buying or subscribing to the magazine every month.[67] On the cover was model Pam Rawlings, photographed by Rowland Scherman. Perhaps coincidentally, a cropped image of the issue's centerfold (which featured Lena Söderberg) became a de factostandard image for testing image processing algorithms. It is known simply as the "Lenna" (also "Lena") image in that field.[68] In 1972, Playboy was the ninth highest circulation magazine in the United States.[69]
The 1975 average circulation was 5.6 million; by 1981 it was 5.2 million, and by 1982 down to 4.9 million.[66] Its decline continued in later decades, and reached about 800,000 copies per issue in late 2015,[56] and 400,000 copies by December 2017.[70]
In 1970, Playboy became the first gentleman's magazine to be printed in braille.[71] It is also one of the few magazines whose microfilm format was in color, not black and white.[72]
Playboy's enduring mascot, a stylized silhouette of a rabbit wearing a tuxedo bow tie, was created by Playboyart directorArt Paul for the second issue as an endnote, but was adopted as the official logo and has appeared ever since.[73][74] A running joke in the magazine involves hiding the logo somewhere in the cover art or photograph. Hefner said he chose the rabbit for its "humorous sexual connotation", and because the image was "frisky and playful". In an interview Hefner explained his choice of a rabbit as Playboy's logo to the Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci:
The rabbit, the bunny, in America has a sexual meaning; and I chose it because it's a fresh animal, shy, vivacious, jumping - sexy. First it smells you then it escapes, then it comes back, and you feel like caressing it, playing with it. A girl resembles a bunny. Joyful, joking. Consider the girl we made popular: the Playmate of the Month. She is never sophisticated, a girl you cannot really have. She is a young, healthy, simple girl - the girl next door ... we are not interested in the mysterious, difficult woman, the femme fatale, who wears elegant underwear, with lace, and she is sad, and somehow mentally filthy. The Playboy girl has no lace, no underwear, she is naked, well washed with soap and water, and she is happy.[75]
The jaunty rabbit quickly became a popular symbol of extroverted male culture, becoming a lucrative source of merchandizing revenue for the company.[76] In the 1950s, it was adopted as the military aircraft insignia for the Navy's VX-4 fighter-evaluation squadron.
Besides its centerfold, a major part of Playboy for much of its existence has been the Playboy Interview, an extensive (usually several-thousand-word) discussion between a publicly known individual and an interviewer. Writer Alex Haley served as a Playboy interviewer on a few occasions; one of his interviews was with Martin Luther King Jr.; he also interviewed Malcolm X and American Nazi Party founder George Lincoln Rockwell.[77] The magazine interviewed then-presidential candidate Jimmy Carter in the November 1976 issue, in which he stated "I've committed adultery in my heart many times."[78][79]David Sheff's interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono appeared in the January 1981 issue, which was on newsstands at the time of Lennon's murder; the interview was later published in book format.
Another interview-type section, entitled "20Q" (a play on the game of Twenty Questions), was added in October 1978. Cheryl Tiegs was the first interviewee for the section.[80]
"Rock the Rabbit" was an annual music news and pictorial feature published in the March edition.[81] The pictorial featured images of rock bands photographed by music photographer Mick Rock. Fashion designers participated in the Rock the Rabbit event by designing T-shirts inspired by Playboy's rabbit head logo for each band. The shirts were sold at Playboy's retailers and auctioned off to raise money for AIDS research and treatment at LIFEbeat: The Music Industry Fights AIDS.[81] Bands who were featured include: MGMT, Daft Punk, Iggy Pop, Duran Duran, Flaming Lips, Snow Patrol, and The Killers.[82]
Alba in May 2016
Cookie Monster singing his signature song
North American cover art featuring the protagonist Tidus
