In addition to pictures of hot, naked women, Playboy has long been known as a source of great journalism, essays and interviews, sadly, a new "safe-for-work" blog created to help the magazine establish itself online has none of the brand's good qualities.
Playboy launched TheSmokingJacket.com on Tuesday with a video from the magazine's founder Hugh Hefner.
"The smoking jacket isn't just something I like to wear around the mansion, it's Playboy's new safe for work website … next to the mansion its the best hangout on the Web," Hefner said.
On launch day, TheSmokingJacket's front page was filled with such unintelligent fare as an article on "Hills" star Audrina Patridge's "bongos," a guide to "getting laid at work" and an examination of how Brian Austin Green (a.k.a "Mr. Megan Fox") is a "lucky bastard."
A non-pornographic web site that featured the type of smart, well-written content Playboy is known for could go a long way towards improving the company's dire financial straits. After years of declining revenue, Playboy Enterprises is currently entertaining takeover offers from Hefner and Marc Bell, the owner of Penthouse. Instead, TheSmokingJacket seems to contain the sophomoric sex and beer jokes associated with the failed "lad mags" of the later 90s and early aughts.
