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 Cover of the March 1997 issue, featuring Melissa George | |
| Categories | Men's magazine |
|---|---|
| Frequency | Monthly |
| Publisher | EMAP Australia |
| First issue | February 1979 |
| Final issue Number | January 2000 252 |
| Country | Australia |
| Language | English |
Australian Playboy was an Australian imprint of Playboy magazine, [1] running between 1979 and 2000, during which time 252 issues were published.
In 1979 Kerry Packer's ACP Magazines secured the Australian rights to Playboy magazine.
Australian Playboy featured similar content to the lead US edition, and included interviews, feature articles and entertainment reviews. The magazine would rely heavily on the US edition for pictorials, and thus reprinted many pictorials featuring popular US Playmates and celebrities including Pamela Anderson, Erika Eleniak and Anna Nicole Smith.
An Australian Playmate of the Year would be crowned annually.
The first edition issued February 1979, featured Rosemary Paul on the cover and Karen Pini as the centerfold, selling nearly 200,000 copies.
In 1982 Packer sold the rights to Mason Stewart Publishing, publishers of surfing magazine, Tracks, and rock music magazine, RAM . Sales settled at around 140,000.
The biggest selling edition of Australian Playboy was the October 1995 issue with Dannii Minogue on the cover and Cynthia Brown as the centerfold.
By 1996 sales of the magazine had fallen to 36,000 and in 1997 Mason Stewart Publishing was taken over by British publisher EMAP International Limited, with Philip Mason becoming non-executive chairman of EMAP Australia.
Due to declining sales (circulation - 25,000), the last issue was January 2000, which featured Elina Giani on the cover and Jodi Ann Paterson as the centerfold.
Notable Australian celebrities who have appeared on the cover or in the magazine include:
A Playmate is a female model featured in the centerfold/gatefold of Playboy magazine as Playmate of the Month (PMOTM). The PMOTM's pictorial includes nude photographs and a centerfold poster, along with a pictorial biography and the "Playmate Data Sheet", which lists her birthdate, measurements, turn-ons, and turn-offs. At the end of the year, one of the 12 Playmates of the Month is named Playmate of the Year (PMOTY). Every Playmate of the Month is awarded a prize of US$25,000 and each Playmate of the Year receives an additional prize of US$100,000 plus a car and other discretionary gifts. In addition, Anniversary Playmates are usually chosen to celebrate a milestone year of the magazine. The use of the word "Playmate" in a sexual sense did not originate with Playboy, and was seen at least as early as 1950 in Vue magazine.
