2/1/2021 Playboy Logo and the History of Business | LogoMyWay

Playboy Logo and the History of Business

The History of the Playboy Logo and Hugh Hefner.

The Playboy logo is one of the most iconic logos in the world, recognizable everywhere as a
symbol of prestige, sexiness, and a little bit of mystique. How exactly, though, did the
world’s most premier adult magazine end up choosing a rabbit in a bow-tie as their logo?
For that matter, how did the world’s most famous playboy, Hugh Hefner, end up starting the
magazine to begin with? Turns out, it’s a fascinating story.

The History of Playboy Magazine

In 1951, Hugh Hefner was working as a copywriter for Esquire, a job he would soon quit
after being denied a $5 raise. Soon after this, Hefner would go on to start the magazine
that would later make him wealthy. Hugh Hefner, though, was certainly not always wealthy.
Hefner, now the embodiment of riches and luxury, was only able to start Playboy thanks to
a $1,000 loan from his mother. It didn’t take long though for this small investment to pay
dividends. The very first issue of Playboy was published in December of 1953 and featured
a centerfold nude image of none other than Marilyn Monroe. The magazine was a near-
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instant success, with the first edition selling all of its near 54,000 copies in just a few
weeks.

Just a few months later, the novel that would reach international fame, Fahrenheit 451, was
serialized in the March, April, and May of 1954 issues. This trend of featuring high-profile
names and works such as Marylin Monroe and Fahrenheit 451 is one that Playboy would
continue from that point forward. Women who would go on to pose for the magazine would
include celebrity actresses such as Farrah Fawcett and Margot Kidder, sports stars such as
Amy Acuff and Amanda Beard, and musicians such as Samantha Fox and Debbie Gibson,
just to name a few. The magazine would also continue to publish high-profile interviews,
serialized novels, and original comics.

Today, Playboy has sold a whopping 3 million copies in the USA and 4.5 million copies
worldwide, amassing Hugh Hefner a net worth of $200,000,000 and though his adventurous
lifestyle has slowed considerably in his old age (he is now 90 years old) his name is still
synonymous with the playboy lifestyle.

The History of the Playboy Mansion

The Playboy Mansion is located In Holmby Hills, Los Angeles, California, near Beverly Hills,
the mansion became famous during the 1960s when the media began to cover the lavish
parties thrown by Hefner.

The mansion has 22 rooms with a theater room with a built-in pipe organ, a game room,
three zoo/aviary buildings, a tennis court, a basketball court, a waterfall, and a swimming
pool area, a basement gym with sauna below the bathhouse and much more.

Interesting facts about the Playboy Mansion.

It was designed by Arthur R. Kelly in 1927.

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Hugh bought the mansion for $1.1 million in 1971

The mansion has a staff of around 70 people including butlers, chefs, groundskeepers,
maintenance, security, and zookeepers.

In January 2016 the Playboy Mansion went up for sale with the asking price of $200
million with the terms that Hefner could continue
to rent the mansion for the rest of his life. In August 2016 the Playboy Mansion was
bought for $100 million by Daren Metropoulos, the co-owner of Hostess Brands.

Every Sunday Hefner has movie nights for special guests and Playmates.
He has over 4,000 movies that are organized
atop the spiraling staircase of his bedroom.

All told, the history of Playboy has been one of fame and success, but what about that of its
ever-recognizable logo?

The History of the Playboy Logo

Clean, simple, and yet entirely unique, the Playboy logos widespread reorganizability has no
doubt played a role in the international success of the magazine. While Hugh Hefner was
essential in creating Playboy, he was not actually the one who created the iconic logo. That
distinction goes to designer Art Paul. Mr. Paul sketched out the logo for use in the second
issue of Playboy. Since that second issue, the logo has not once been changed from the
original design. This in itself is a remarkable fact considering how often companies redesign
their logos these days and is a testament to the effectiveness of the original logo’s design.

Features of the Playboy Logo

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In designing a logo for Playboy Art Paul’s original vision was something that had a
“humorous sexual connotation” as well as something that was “frisky and playful”. Speaking
on why a rabbit was chosen as the magazine’s logo, Hugh Hefner said that, “The rabbit, the
bunny, in America has a sexual meaning; and I chose it because it’s a fresh animal, shy,
vivacious, jumping – sexy. First, it smells you then it escapes, then it comes back, and you
feel like caressing it, playing with it. A girl looks a lot like a bunny, playful and joking. If you
look at the girl we made popular: the Playmate of the Month. She is never sophisticated, a
girl you cannot really have. She is a young, healthy, simple girl – the girl next door . . . we
are not interested in the mysterious, difficult woman, the femme fatale, who wears elegant
underwear, with lace, and she is sad, and somehow mentally filthy. The Playboy girl has no
lace, no underwear, she is naked, well-washed with soap and water, and she is happy.”

As for the colors used in the Playboy logo, a solid black tone conveys luxury,
professionalism, and, class. Much like a good suit, there was never a need to dress up the
Playboy logo in elaborate colors when solid black so effectively conveys the magazine’s
image.

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The popularity of the Playboy Logo

Throughout the history of the Playboy logo, the iconic rabbit has enjoyed a large degree of
popularity. For one, the image has been featured on every cover of the Playboy magazines
that have been published. While you might not notice the logo on the first glance at any
given Playboy magazine, it is indeed there. An ongoing joke for the Playboy staff was to
hide the logo somewhere on the cover of each magazine, and it was a tradition that stuck.

Along with appearing on every cover of one of the world’s best-selling magazines, the
Playboy logo has made appearances on a variety of other merchandise as well. In fact,
selling products that featured the Playboy logo has and continues to be a major source of
income for the company. The unmistakable black rabbit could be found on everything from
lighters to t-shirts, serving as a testament to just how much good a great logo can do for a
business. In the 1950s the Playboy logo was even adopted as the military aircraft insignia
for the Navy VX-4 fighter-evaluation squadron.

Not limited to a for-profit enterprise, the Playboy logo made its mark on charitable causes
as well. In the annual “Rock the Rabbit” music news feature, fashion designers would create
t-shirts for famous bands based on the logo. The bands were then photographed wearing
their specific t-shirts, and these photos were featured in the magazine’s March edition. After
the issues were published, the t-shirts were sold at auction and the money was donated to
AIDS at LIFEbeat: The Music Industry Fights AIDS.

Next to Bugs Bunny, the Playboy bunny may very well be the world’s most famous rabbit,
and the impact that the logo has made on the magazine’s success is nothing short of
substantial. It’s a classic logo with a great history and is certainly one whose effectiveness
is worth imitating.

The First Edition of the Playboy Magazine

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In December 1953, Hugh Hefner published the very first edition of Playboy. However, the
magazine’s first edition didn’t have the date of the publication on the cover since Hugh
Hefner was still unsure whether or not the magazine would be successful enough to warrant
future editions. This was an understandable concern given that Hefner was selling copies of
the first edition out of the office he had set up in his home’s kitchen. However, Hugh
Hefner’s concern about the magazine not being successful turned out to be all for naught,
as the first edition of Playboy flew off the magazine stand shelves. Within a matter of
weeks, the magazine had sold over 50,000 copies.

A big part of the first edition’s success is no doubt attributable to Playboy’s very first cover
girl, Marylin Monroe. Interestingly enough, though, Monroe never actually signed a contract
to appear in the magazine.

Before Marylin Monroe became a household name, she was a struggling actress in
desperate need of cash. To earn a little money, she posed nude in 1949 for photographer
Tom Kelley. Monroe was paid $50 for the photoshoot, and Kelley sold the photos to a
calendar company called Western Lithograph Company.

Less than a year later, though, Marylin Monroe’s acting career took off after she appeared in
the films “Asphalt Jungle” and “All About Eve”. By 1953, Monroe was one of the most
famous actresses in all of Hollywood.

However, Western Lithograph Company stilled owned the rights to the photos that Monroe
had taken in 1949, and Hugh Hefner purchased the rights to those photos for $500. The
photos were used as the first edition’s centerfold, and Marylin Monroe was named
“Sweetheart of the Month”.

Following the magazine’s publication, Marylin Monroe decided to meet any controversy that
might ensue head-on by agreeing to an interview where she explained that the photos had
been taken at a time in her life when she was desperate for money. Marylin Monroe’s career
never took a hit from the photos in the first edition of Playboy, and she and Hugh Hefner
went on to become close acquaintances.
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In addition to the Marylin Monroe photos, the first edition of Playboy also featured a number
of nude photographs of far less famous women, several men’s lifestyle articles, a fictional
story about detective Sherlock Holmes from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and more.

At the time, the first edition of Playboy was a truly groundbreaking entrance into the
market, bringing controversial, sexual topics and photographs into center stage for the first
time in American history. This bold angle had the potential to either make or break Playboy
right from the start and Hugh Hefner was certainly aware that the first magazine was an “all
or nothing” business decision.

As history now shows, though, the first edition of Playboy was published at the perfect time,
and Hugh Hefner was able to both ride and help usher in a wave of sexual liberation that
would make Playboy one of the most successful publications of all time.

A Biography of Hugh Hefner

It’s impossible to fully detail the rich history of Playboy magazine without further discussing
the life of its iconic founder, Hugh Hefner.

Hugh Hefner was born on April 9, 1926, in Chicago, Illinois. There, he was raised along with
his younger brother by his parents Glenn and Grace Hefner, who were reportedly fairly strict
Methodists.

At an early age, Hugh Hefner demonstrated an exceptional IQ of 152, but his genius-level
intelligence only translated into modest academic success. It wasn’t until Hefner shifted into
writing and journalism that he began to excel.

In high school, Hugh Hefner founded a school newspaper as well as his own comic series he
called School Daze. Both publications were a success, and Hefner realized that he had a
talent for producing publications that people enjoyed reading.

However, by the time Hugh Hefner graduated high school, people were far more concerned
with the war than they were entertainment publications, and Hugh Hefner himself answered
the call of duty by enlisting as a noncombatant in the U.S. Army toward the end of World
War Two. Once he was discharged in 1946 after two years of service, though, Hefner
returned home to attend the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he earned a
bachelor’s degree in psychology.

Within a couple years of graduating, Hugh Hefner married Millie Williams and began working
as a copywriter for Esquire. It was a prestigious position, but it was one that Hugh Hefner
decided to abandon after he was denied a $5 raise.

Unemployed, Hugh Hefner decided that the next step in his career path would be to return
to the roots he established in high school and start his own publication. After raising $8000
from investors, Hugh Hefner founded Playboy magazine.

Hugh Hefner put together the first issue of Playboy in his home and published it in
December 1953 using a nude photo of Marylin Monroe that he had purchased the rights to.

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The magazine was a near-instant success.

During the same time period that his magazine was taking off, though, Hugh Hefner was
also plagued with problems at home, and he and his wife were divorced in 1959. A newly
single man, Hugh Hefner began to adopt the lifestyle that Playboy was built around. Now in
the public spotlight, his luxurious lifestyle and romantic pursuits became just as much a
part of the magazine’s image as the publication itself.

For the rest of his life, Hugh Hefner surrounded himself with beautiful women, eventually
becoming somewhat infamous for marrying and divorcing women that were many years
younger than he was. However, Hugh Hefner also used his wealth and platform to promote
a number of charitable causes, including the restoration of classic films and donations to
various cinema courses.

Hugh Hefner lived out his final days in the Playboy Mansion before passing away on
September 27, 2017, at the age of 91, and on September 30, he was laid to rest next to
Marylin Monroe in the Westwood Memorial Park in Los Angeles, California.

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