MEXICO CITY, MEXICO - JUNE 02: Gaby Ramirez attends a press conference to launch the latest Playboy issue with her on the cover at Victoria Altavista club on June 2, 2011 in Mexico City, Mexico. (Photo by Selene Vargas/Clasos.com/LatinContent/Getty Images) (2011 Clasos)
Playboy Magazine’s announcement that it would stop publishing photographs of naked women caused sheer panic in Mexico.
So Playboy’s Mexico website issued a reassurance to its readers, telling them that the U.S. decision would not be implemented south of the border.
The end of nudity in U.S. Playboy editions, the website said in Spanish, “does NOT apply to the edition in our country. The magazine has the discretion of whether to show photographs according to the preference of the Mexican market.”
The reason for the panic?
Nudity in print is still profitable in Mexico, where not as many people go online for porn as they do in the United States, according to Quartz.com
"Some were worried, some outraged, some surprised,” Arturo Flores, the editor at Playboy’s Mexican edition, told Quartz.
A spokeswoman for Playboy told Fox News Latino in an e-mail that it is up to the local editions to decide whether or not they will display nudity in their issues. Out of Playboy’s 23 international editions, so far only the Argentinian and Mexican versions of the magazine have said they would keep nudity.
“We expect some editions will continue publishing nude pictorials if it makes sense in their market, and others to follow our lead and move forward with a non-nude edition,” Playboy spokeswoman Theresa Hennessey told FNL.
The magazine staff in Mexico decided to publish a reassurance letter after it was inundated by worried callers asking about the news that Playboy would no longer be as visual, so to speak.
Argentina’s Playboy posted its own reassurance on its Facebook page.
“For the moment at least, Playboy Argentina will continue with its female nudes and its usual content,” the social media page said in Spanish. In a statement, Playboy Argentina said "just like the interviews, blogs, investigations and latest news in lifestyle and culture, the naked women will be staying on in our publication."
In comments, readers rejoiced.
“Thank heaven!” wrote Juan Carlos Ross.
“It’s not just nudity,” said Joel Humberto Oviedo in his comment. “It’s the artistic and cultural qualities of each divine woman who has the privilege of showing those of us addicted to them because of their self-love. Don’t misinterpret – addiction is a way of saying that without women, this world would not be as beautiful.”
Internet users in the U.S. stand at more than 87 per 100 people. In Mexico, it’s less than 45 per 100 people, according to Quartz.
“As a society we still are not making full use of all the technology tools available—things as superfluous as preferring to stand in line at a bank instead of going to the cash machine,” said Flores.
Indeed, revenues for print consumer magazines in Mexico are expected to keep growing at an annual rate of nearly 4 percent between 2015 and 2019, in contrast to the global forecast, which sees barely a 0.2 percent growth as aspects of the market decline, Quartz said.
And while generally print editions of Playboy remain profitable in many parts of the world, the United States edition has been losing about $3 million a year, The New York Times said.
Fun stories about food, relationships, the great outdoors and more.