Daily Lessons from Life 10 Oct 2009

"Marge Simpson makes cover of Playboy
Playboy magazine's circulation has slipped in recent years in the face of competition from the Internet. -Sat, Oct 10, 2009 Reuters

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "D'oh!" doesn't even start to cover it.


Marge Simpson - the blue beehived matriarch of America's most loved dysfunctional family - is Playboy magazine's November cover, the magazine said on Friday.

Simpson, tastefully concealing her assets behind a signature Playboy Bunny chair, is the first cartoon character ever to front the glossy adult magazine, joining the ranks of sex symbols like Marilyn Monroe and Cindy Crawford.

Playboy said the cover and a three-page picture spread inside was a celebration of the 20th anniversary of the "The Simpsons" and part of a plan to appeal to a younger generation of readers.


Scott Flanders, the recently-hired chief executive of Playboy Enterprises, told the Chicago Sun-Times in an interview that the Marge Simpson cover and centerfold was "somewhat tongue-in-cheek."

"It had never been done, and we thought it would be kind of hip, cool and unusual," Flanders told the newspaper. He said the magazine hoped to attract readers in their 20s compared to the average Playboy reader's age of 35.


Playboy also promises a story inside called "The Devil in Marge Simpson". The issue arrives on newsstands on October 16.

Playboy magazine's circulation has slipped in recent years in the face of competition from the Internet, which offers free and plentiful pictures of naked women online."

Definitely heads turning stuff though not the usual Playboy type! ;-)

Lessons for me are:

1. in desperate time, use desperate measures! However you want to call it, Playboy is almost a 'has been'. Showing skins are just so easy these days. That is the scary part ain't it! That adult contents are freely available in the cyberspace to anyone who know how to use a computer regardless of age!;

2. it is a challenging assignment for the new CEO as it is never easy to change an iconic something into something else! It will be interesting to follow the transformation journey taken and learn if it is successful in 2-3 years time?;

3. the power of cartoon is under-estimated judging by the popularity of the Simpson Show. While I am not a fan, I sometime wondered if the type of values the cartoon is projecting or promoting is the best-in-class? Of course, it works in the USA, the world's freest nation! Also, it is sometimes unwise to try to be an educationist when you are running a cartoon show!

May the Simpsons live for another 20 years and that the Americans will take something positive from the show besides being entertained and influence silently!!