--- In [email protected], "L B Shriver" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Playboy Makes Move in India, but Without the Centerfold > > By ANAND GIRIDHARADAS > Published: January 2, 2006 > MUMBAI, India - In a little-noticed milestone for the world of sex- related entertainment, > Playboy said last month that it would seek to do in India what it had never done before: > publish a magazine with its usual fare, except for its name and its nudes. > "This is quite a departure for us," Christie Hefner, the chief executive of Playboy > Enterprises, told reporters in December. > One reason for the plan, still in its initial stages, is the usual emerging-market strategy: > when profits flatten in the West, companies pivot to India and China. Whereas Playboy's > United States magazine sales shrank by 1 percent in 2004, its foreign revenue grew by 13 > percent from 20 overseas editions published in countries from Brazil to Serbia. > Foreign magazines' interest in India is understandable. As media growth flattens in the > West, India's is booming. It has nearly 200 million magazine readers and is the second- > largest newspaper market in the world, behind China, with 79 million copies sold daily. > The print advertising market is $1.5 billion a year and growing. > But there is another story behind Playboy's discovery of India. The magazine once saw > itself as America's gateway to a sexual revolution. Now, with that revolution won and its > societal impact fading, Playboy has a chance to renew itself as a magazine of high living in > a country that celebrated sex in antiquity, then grew prudish, and is now loosening up > again. > Ms. Hefner has said that an Indian version of the magazine "would be an extension of > Playboy that would be focused around the lifestyle, pop culture, celebrity, fashion, sports > and interview elements of Playboy." But the magazine would not be "classic Playboy," she > warned. "It would not have nudity," she said, "and I don't think it would be called Playboy." > Some see India in the 2000's as similar to America in the 1950's: on the cusp of a sexual > revolution, with stirrings of changes in private that have yet to gain public acceptability. > In an attitudinal sea change, one-quarter of urban, unmarried women have sex, one-third > read erotic literature and half go on dates, according to a survey by ACNielsen and India > Today magazine. Bollywood, a mirror of the Indian spirit, now does what it refused to do > five years ago: show a kiss on-screen. > India is not only on the brink of a sexual revolution, it is also overflowing with ambition, as > a small but growing class of young, urban, world-traveling men with disposable income > find their way to a new upper class. The democratization of affluence is creating would-be > male connoisseurs, keen for tutelage in ways of the high life. > "Upwardly mobile. Reasonably affluent. He would be a sort of midlevel executive upwards, > a man who probably already drives a car," said N. Radhakrishnan, editor of Man's World, > an Indian publication that would be a competitor to a watered-down Playboy. > The December issue of Man's World is a window into the demographic: light on the > lascivious, heavy on wisdom for the arriviste, like the latest iPod accessory and an > admonition that Champagne be "chilled but never iced." A few photos of scantily clad > beauties appear in the back, almost as an afterthought. > India has yet to have its own 1960's, in which sexual change accompanied broader > upheaval. In the city of Madras, the police recently shut down a nightspot after local news > media published photographs of clubgoers kissing. Then came a judgment by Mumbai's > highest court that films not rated U, for universal, could not be shown on television; > among the disqualified films are the "Harry Potter" movies. More generally, Indian > conservatives, including conservative Hindu political leaders, say the country should resist > Western sexualization. > Indian law prohibits the sale or possession of material that is "lascivious or appeals to the > prurient interest" and that is without redeeming artistic, literary or religious merit. Soft- > core pornographic magazines are available in India, but are taboo. They lurk behind other > publications at newsstands, available only by whispered request. They also attract few > lucrative advertisers. > "There would only be a few brands that would look at these magazines," said Paulomi > Dhawan, who runs advertising for Raymond, a leading Indian apparel maker. "We would > probably be more in the business or news magazines or the male- oriented serious > magazines." > There is another problem: if you are 26, living with prying parents, where do you hide your > stash? > "In urban India, the concept of single men living alone is quite new," Mr. Radhakrishnan > said. "Here, most men, until they're married, live at home. Once you're married, your wife > wonders what you're reading." > As Playboy wrestles with how to peddle its content here, some in India are concerned > about the magazine's plans. > "They are going to spoil our culture," said Venkatesh Abdev, a top official of the World > Hindu Council, a conservative organization. "We are not giving as much importance to sex > as them. Free sex is not allowed in our culture." > But India embraced recreational sex in antiquity, producing the famed Kama Sutra and > sculpting many-positioned orgies into the facades of Hindu temples. The Indian law > against prurient material makes a special exemption for "any ancient monument" or "any > temple." > Reminded of the Kama Sutra, Mr. Abdev chuckled, reflected for a bit, and then said, "We > do not admit to that." > Next Article in Business (9 of 14) > >
I wonder how MMY would feel about this...perhaps along the lines of a previous comment of his: Everything bad that happens in the world comes from America... ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Join modern day disciples reach the disfigured and poor with hope and healing http://us.click.yahoo.com/lMct6A/Vp3LAA/i1hLAA/UlWolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
