By Samantha Cook

I will admit that I have never read a PLAYBOY magazine, but, like many other people, my instinctive impressions are not that of great editorial content. With this in mind, I was understandably apprehensive when a friend directed me towards an image titled ‘PLAYBOY South Africa’s October cover’. After checking that no-one else was looking in my direction (I was at work, after all), I was pleasantly surprised when I opened the file to see not the latest bootylicious babe in a raunchy pose, but rather Eve (of the cartoon Madam &ampamp Eve), gracing the cover.

According to PLAYBOY SA editor-in-chief, Charl du Plessis, this kind of content localisation is one of several adjustments made to the magazine since he came on board three editions ago.
“I suggested to the owners that they shed the massive corporate structure,” he explains. “Magazines are actually quite simple business – you spend money on about twenty things and make it from three areas. Then we focused on giving PLAYBOY SA a very local flavour. South Africans have this love-hate thing with international stuff and we got it right very quickly to find a better balance between awesome syndicated material and the best quality local writers. We now include features in [many] of our local official languages , and have ‘thought leaders’ push the envelope on many social issues. Deon Maas is featured in our next edition, saying that Afrikaners have reason to be ‘windgat’. Andre Brink wrote for us on censorship, in the same edition we interviewed Zapiro. Gareth Cliff and Herschelle Gibbs have sat down with us to talk, and so on. You may also find that our October cover sends a very clear signal that we are local. That cover could not work anywhere else in the world.”

In response to the collective opinion of PLAYBOY’s status as somewhat glorified pornography, du Plessis is quick to clarify what the magazine is, and what it decidedly is not.
“PLAYBOY does not publish any pornography, and only does very tasteful nudity,” he states firmly. “The truth is that PLAYBOY is so much more than just a pretty face. It’s a movement; an attitude; a way to live in the world. The typical PLAYBOY reader is intelligent and we regularly publish up to 5 000-word features, and for good measure drop in some fiction by Nobel Prize winners too. Since I took over, I have included the first-ever story Gabriel Garcia Marquez published in English (in PLAYBOY nogal), Nadine Gordimer, Hunter S Thompson, and in our next edition, a new English story by South African author, Deon Meyer.”

Despite the fact that PLAYBOY is making great strides in breaking out its stereotypical box, du Plessis is also pragmatic about the every-day challenges facing the publication, which include media buyers and marketing directors who are unwilling to take risks. “Their own corporate structures tend to reward those who do not do anything wrong, rather than those who try to be ‘out-of-the-box’ thinkers,” he says.
Du Plessis is not afraid to court controversy, as he lays down his feelings on those who disapprove of PLAYBOY SA on a moral basis.
“We encounter female decision-makers who impose their own values and lack of understanding of what a massive phenomenon PLAYBOY is for men, and who prefer to take the wait-and-see attitude. Sometimes you have to ask yourself in what world these people live? Come one. Get real. This is South Africa and [we target] South African men. We find that many of these moral judges will only join [in] once their competitors have joined. PLAYBOY stands alone in the South African media mix as a completely non-conformist magazine. Everyone else is trying to tell men how they should live up to other people’s expectations.”

Morality debates aside, du Plessis is extremely optimistic about the magazine’s future, stating that the opportunities far outweigh the challenges. “It is going to take hard work, but we experience daily how, once people really get what this brand is all about, they rally behind us with serious intensity and passion. Our Facebook page views exceeded 500 000 last month and our fan base grows every day. PLAYBOY parties are selling out, our advertising sales are growing, a PLAYBOY range of apparel has hit the stores, the media tracks our every move with interest, we have the best writers on-board, and we are only just beginning. Imagine what we will look like a year from now.”

Despite du Plessis’ outspoken views on morality in the media industry and the necessity for a local magazine like PLAYBOY South Africa, there are still many who oppose the magazine’s inclusion into the same league as less controversial publications like FHM and Men’s Health. Either way, this magazine is sure to be making waves in the future.