Playboy Vs. Penthouse

Rachel Valle

LBST

April 25, 2014

Playboy vs. Penthouse

            The very first playboy was published on December of 1953.[1] It was written by Hugh Hefner who did not claim the magazine on the first issue.¹ It was forty four pages long and sold 54,175 copies on the first run at .50 cents each.¹ It was so popular due to Marilyn Monroe being on the cover, on the first page Hefner jokingly wrote, we aren’t a “family magazine,”… it was strictly made for the men of the world.¹ Hefner showed pictures of naked women that still remained covered in some other form, while being called more of a lifestyle magazine than a porn or explicit magazine.[2] People referred to his magazine in this light because to cushion these pictures of naked women, Hefner included very well written articles about the events taking place around the world written by very well respected people in society at the time.²

            Penthouse, was founded by Bob Guccione in London in 1965.[3] It was originally only in the UK but eventually spread to the States in 1969.³ Guccione’s work was the first work in the United States to show pubic hair and change the porn industry forever.² Penthouse took on and led more toward the magazine style of Maxim, or a high XXX style magazine, where people were basically turning to it for the soul purpose of the nude girls they would find inside.³ Guccione stated, “that the point of the magazine was to see the girl as though she was not being seen, that was the sexy part.”³

            Playboy differed from Playboy magazine in many ways. The magazines went through what was called a pubic war in the early 1970’s.² This began due to the arrival of Penthouse in the States from London in which they began showing pubic hair in their magazines and challenging playboy as the top selling magazine.² Playboy magazine fought back by not being such a explicit porn magazine and maintaining it semi-classy image as more of a lifestyle and R-rated magazine rather than a XXX hardcore porn magazine like Penthouse.² Penthouse became more popular in Vietnam because the guys fighting in it said if they were going to die over there anyways they would rather look at something that showed it all, therefore this made the sell of playboy go down just a little bit not a lot.² Playboy always rose back up by putting more famous actresses in it, creating TV shows and writing articles such as The Playboy Philosophy.²

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[1] "When Did the First Playboy Magazine Go to Print?." About.com 20th Century History. http://history1900s.about.com/od/1950s/qt/Playboy.htm (accessed April 29, 2014).

[2] Sex in “69.

[3] "Bob Guccione, 'Penthouse' magazine founder, dies - USATODAY.com." Bob Guccione, 'Penthouse' magazine founder, dies - USATODAY.com. http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/people/obit/2010-10-20-bob-guccione-dies_N.htm?csp=34 (accessed April 29, 2014).