Throughout the 60s, 70s & 80s, Playboy used their "What Sort of Man Reads Playboy?" ad campaign. Playboy needed to show the world that they were more than...View More
a dirty magazine & that their subscribers were actually intelligent, prosperous men that lived grandiose lives. This campaign was their answer.
These ads may look ridiculous, humorous & offensive to women now, but let's put that aside for now & dissect the structure that made them work.
They had dozens of different ads like this. These are just a sample. However, they all have the same pattern. The center of attention is a white man mostly in his 30s-40s. In every case, there is more than one woman & at least one of them is admiring the guy, often from a distance. They are usually in a setting where they are socializing, vacationing, or somehow at play. The headline "What Sort of Man Reads Playboy?" is always the same & underneath, they talk about an impressive trait their readers possess, followed by actual facts with their source.
