Playboy gambles with Snapchat-style covershoot to help turn the magazine around

Playboy’s trying to reimagine its mission for the 21st century and, having decided to cover up its models in a bid to lose its dirty mag image and attract new fans, it’s decided to borrow Snapchat’s “intimate” selfie style for its first post-boobs cover.

The cover image bears the signature gray text overlay that’s used a lot in Snapchat. As well as the internet’s own winky face.

Model Sarah McDaniel said of the shoot: “The idea was to look at me from a boyfriend’s perspective.”

Back in October, the company said of its decision to revamp its image: “Yes, we’re taking a risk by going non-nude, but this is a company — like all great companies — that has risk in its DNA.”

At $9.99 per issue, when last time I checked there’s a hell of a lot of pretty girls to look at on the internet, it’s not clear if this hat-tilt to the internet culture that’s killing the print media will save the ailing magazine.

It had a circulation of just 800,000 late last year, from its height of 5.6 million in 1975, and loses around $3 million each year.

The magazine hits newsstands on February 12. That’s the place where they used to keep porn before the Web.

Just remember, she’s not your girlfriend and no one will believe you.

➤ The first non-nude issue of Playboy is here [Playboy via The Verge]