Will Hugh Hefner outlive his magazines?

[Posted at Bene Diction Blogs on October 31 2012]

Another of the spinoff "Special Editions" of Playboy has announced that it is shutting down.

I was at my corner store last night when I noticed that "Playboy's Lingerie" also was wrapped with plastic wrapping, this time stating "FINAL LINGERIE Issue". The front cover had a "Farewell" on it, so you didn't have to buy the magazine to realize what was happening.

As I wrote in a post on the folding of Playboy's special College edition, a few days ago, this may not be wholly good news for those averse to the "Playboy philosophy". Probably the exact same reasons that played into the death of that magazine--explored in that post--are at play here so I won't repeat myself.

One quick note though. An insert card for a subscription offer had come out of a Lingerie magazine and was visible through the plastic.

It advertised an introductory offer of 12 issues of Playboy magazine itself--the main, famous, magazine which these edition closures and probable layoffs of staff is designed to save--for only $12.

Desperation time?