James Kaminsky joins Playboy from the Dennis Publishing-owned lads magazine where he was executive editor. His appointment follows in the footsteps of music magazine Rolling Stone, which hired FHM editor Ed Needham.
Like Rolling Stone, Playboy has seen a younger generation of men turn to the likes of FHM and Maxim. Playboy is hoping that a touch of the lads mag style will turn men of a younger generation on to Playboy magazine.
The difference between Playboy and the likes of FHM and Maxim is slight. Playboy is famous for its barenaked centrefold pictures and the lads mags have won their readers with pictures of the barely dressed.
The 50-year-old Playboy has seen its once mighty circulation of 7m shrink to around 3m in 2001. However, estimates for 2002 put the circulation somewhere closer to 2.5m.
Kaminsky will take on the role of editorial director at Playboy, replacing Arthur Kretchmer. In the background, however, remains the smoking-jacketed Hugh Hefner, who remains editor-in-chief.
The lads titles are all about very short articles, plenty of pictures and plenty of barely dressed women. Kaminsky says that he plans to mimic Maxim's style.
While nude photo spreads will not be disappearing, Kaminsky says he is looking to re-establish Playboy's journalistic credentials, harking back to the days when top writers including the likes of James Baldwin, Saul Bellow, Philip K Dick, Jack Kerouac and Norman Mailer were published in Playboy, helping to make it acceptable to the public.
"I do not subscribe to the notion that men [aged] 18 to 34 will not read long pieces," Kaminsky said, adding that he did not see the magazine becoming more explicit.
"Beautiful women have always been a part of this mix, an important one. Pictures of beautiful women can co-exist next to a journalistic piece," he said.
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