Playboy magazine to end publishing fully nude female photos.

Playboy will no longer publish photos of nude women as part of a redesign,
The magazine will still feature women in provocative poses,
 but they will no longer be fully nude,

Founder and editor-in-chief Hugh Hefner, 89, who in his trademark silk pajamas has

embodied the Playboy lifestyle, agreed last month with a suggestion by
top editor Cory Jones to stop publishing images of naked women, the Times said.
Playboy said in a statement.
The change, to take place in March, 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 magazine claims it website audience soared with that move,
averaging a 400 percent increase in monthly unique visitors.




 said Playboy Enterprises CEO Scott Flanders. "We are more
free to express ourselves politically, sexually
and culturally today, and that's in large part thanks to Hef's heroic mission to
expand those freedoms."

The magazine that featured Marilyn Monroe on its debut cover in 1953 is making the changes
after circulation dropped from 5.6 million in 1975 to about 800,000 now, the Times said.

Officials acknowledge that Playboy has been witnessing
widespread changes. "You're now one click away from every
sex act imaginable for free. And so it's just passé at this
juncture," Flanders told The New York Times.

Playboy's print circulation, once measured in millions, is now about 800,000,
 according to Alliance for Audited Media,

Playboy editor Cory Jones recently contacted Hefner about
dropping nude photos from the print edition and he agreed

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.

Previous efforts to revamp Playboy have never quite stuck. But this time,
as the magazine seeks to compete with younger outlets, Flanders said it sought
to answer a key question: "If you take nudity out, what's left?"