The original playboy Hugh Hefner, now 89, founded the magazine in 1953. Credit: Reuters

Playboy to drop naked images of women

Playboy magazine is to stop publishing naked pictures of women, it has been revealed.

The move is part of the publication's redesign and because its US bosses say the internet has made "every sex act imaginable just a click away for free".

Hugh Hefner, who founded the magazine in 1953 and is still the editor-in-chief agrees, according to an article in the New York Times.


The magazine's circulation has dropped from 5.6 million in 1975 to around 800,000 today.

Madonna, Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss have all posed for the magazine.

Naked images have already been banned on the Playboy website to give it access to social networking sites.

The new-look Playboy magazine is expected to be unveiled next month.