Coming soon: Playboy Philippine Edition
abs-cbnnews.com | 03/26/2008 8:11 PM
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By CARMELA FONBUENA
abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak
Daddy’s magazine is making its way to Philippine shelves.
They surely remember—others will never forget—that 1980s edition of Germany’s local Playboy showing the Philippines’ very own Tetchie Agbayani posing nude. Never mind that they couldn’t read the magazine’s story or the captions of Agbayani’s photos—which were all written in German. They weren’t the reason they bought the magazine in the first place.
Didn’t Daddy wish back then for a Philippine edition of Playboy?
About three decades later, that forgotten wish will come true.
Next month, expect in the magazine racks a local Playboy most probably standing next to FHM and Maxim.
Playboy Magazine Philippine Edition is scheduled to be launched April 2 at Sofitel Hotel in Pasay City.
But is Daddy still Playboy’s market? Isn’t Daddy a little old for Playboy now?
Even Agbayani has changed track. She is now teaching at the St. Joseph College in Quezon City.
Conservative Playboy?
But before anyone expects anything from Playboy Philippines, Playboy editor-in-chief Beting Laygo Dolor clarifies that there will be no nudity in the local edition.
“It’s a lifestyle magazine for mature, successful men and women,” he says.
“No, Playboy Philippines will not be more daring than FHM,” he says. “We will be adjusted to the local culture and sensibilities.”
“Our market is different from FHM or Maxim,” he adds.
Dolor boasts of his contributors. “I have five or six Palanca Awardees as contributors,” he says, without divulging his prize-winning contributors or the articles in the first issue next month.
Aside from its photos, Playboy has always been known for its “high brow articles” and the Playboy interview. It is what men usually used as excuse in buying the magazine.
“I buy it because it has great articles,” they would say. But they all know that the excuse was more often a lie.
But Playboy Philippines may be different.
In the Philippines, “being daring doesn’t dictate the success of men’s magazines in the Philippines,” notes adverting and marketing specialist Ed Estrada of Image Dimensions.
“Our first issue will make clear what we are about. It will be a good read,” Dolor says.
Will Filipinos want to buy Playboy?
The country is getting a Playboy franchise at a time when Playboy is internationally declining in circulation, eroded by the competitions like FHM and Maxim, even if they show less skin. Both have their local franchises already.
For sure, Playboy is still big with its current circulation of about 3 million copies in the US. But it’s been down from its peak in the 1970s when the magazine could sell over seven million copies. In Australia, Playboy folded up in 2000.
The nudity of Playboy has become obsolete because of the Internet and Cable television, where photos even more daring than Playboy’s—and videos, too—are available for free.
These, plus Playboy’s reputation as “old dad’s mag,” says advertising and marketing specialist Greg Garcia, are factors going against the magazine. “Playboy is for old people,” he says.
Playboy was first published in the US in 1953, with Marilyn Monroe on the centerfold. It became an international sensation in the 1970s, and several countries started to publish their local editions.
On the other hand, FHM and Maxim cater to “a new generation of voyeurs,” Garcia says. There are referred to as “lad mags.”
The “old dad’s mag” reputation of Playboy is affecting its sales abroad, says Garcia.
“That’s a problem I see even in the States,” he says. “It’s not a good thing. That’s the challenge for Playboy Philippines.”
FHM Dominates Market
The first to have its local franchise in the Philippines, FHM has cornered the Philippine market for men’s magazines.
The latest known survey conducted by TNS-Trends in 1999, showed that FHM got 67 percent share of the market for men’s magazines in Metro Manila. The other men’s mags include Men’s Health (14 percent), Maxim (12 percent), Uno (4 percent), and Manual (3 percent). The survey was commissioned by the Publisher of FHM.
In 2005, FHM also reported a circulation of 133,492 copies based on the audit of Sycip, Gorres and Velayo, which was also commissioned by FHM’s publisher.
“FHM is attuned to the times,” says Estrada of Image Dimensions. “Inspite of being an international magazine, they localized.”
FHM draws a big market because of its success in showing sexy photos of local celebrities, says Garcia.
Unlike seeing a nude photo of, say, Pamela Anderson in an international magazine, Filipinos would rather see a photo of a sexy Anne Curtis, Angelica Panganiban, or Marimar. “They are reachable,” Garcia explains.
FHM is usually most-talked about when formerly conservative child stars shed their clothes and pose for FHM in their two-piece swimsuits.
