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'Playboy' CEO Moves To End 'Passé' Nudity In Magazine, Cites Internet Porn

BEVERLY HILLS (CBSLA.com/AP) — Playboy, the magazine that helped usher in the sexual revolution in the 1950s and '60s, is putting back on its clothes.

Starting next March, Playboy will no longer publish pictures of fully naked women, the magazine announced Tuesday.

Playboy has seen an extreme drop in circulation over the past few decades, falling victim to some of the very forces it helped set in motion. Porn in full color and high-definition video is now all over the Internet.

"That battle has been fought and won," Playboy Enterprises CEO Scott Flanders told The New York Times. "You're now one click away from every sex act imaginable for free. And so it's just passé at this juncture."

The magazine will still feature female models in provocative poses, but they will no longer be fully nude, according to The Times.

Hugh Hefner, the 89-year-old founder of Playboy who is still listed as the magazine's editor in chief, agreed to the decision last month after editor Cory Jones went to see Hefner at the Playboy mansion, The Times reported.

University of Missouri history professor Steven Watts, who wrote the book "Mr. Playboy - Hugh Hefner and the American Dream", told KNX 1070 NEWSRADIO he was caught off-guard by the move.

"That has been a trademark of Playboy since the early history of the magazine, and something the public sort of associates with the magazine," said Watts. "It sort of takes me by surprise."

The change represents a major shift for the magazine, which broke new ground when Hugh Hefner created it and featured Marilyn Monroe on its debut cover in 1953. It marks the latest step away from depictions of full nudity, which were banned from the magazine's website in August 2014.

The shift from nudity will be accompanied by other changes in the magazine, including a slightly larger size and a heavier, higher quality of paper meant to give the magazine a more collectible feel.

(TM and © Copyright 2015 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2015 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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