Playboy

This, is the Playboy bunny logo if you didn't know. Ignore the number 3994 at the bottom (too lazy to photoshop it out). I ripped this of some poster site. This logo is a recognised globally in any country that has American TV programming. It's on par with Coca-Cola's logo.

When I was in the U.S., one of the junk mail that I got was an offer for 2 magazine subscription for 12 months at a discount. So I looked through what was available and I ordered Premiere, a movie magazine since my minor was in Film Studies and Playboy Magazine. Before this, I've seen them selling it on the campus bookstore before (can you imagine Malaysian campuses selling Playboy?). No browsing was allowed. In secondary school, we always joked about the raunchy pictures in Playboy, even though none of us has ever seen one before. So I thought subscribing to one would be fun.

I have to say, once I got my first Playboy magazine, after scanning through the 'fun' pictures I started reading their articles and I was wowed. They had some extremely good liberal articles and difinitely fitted their gentleman's magazine title. I loved reading their interviews they had with prominent people. It wasn't just a magazine with naked girls in them... they actually had some insightful articles and personality profiles. Their editorial was liberal, freedom of speech was their key thing. Hey, when you're in the business of selling pictures of naked girls... all the more for freedom of speech yeah?

I wished I still had the magazines. I think I actually brought back 2 but I lost them already. I have a totally different perception of people who read Playboy after subscribing to them. Now I think of Playboy readers as the same demographic as GQ readers. Smart, driven and sophisticated.

Now in Malaysia, they have Playboy merchandise too. Who would have imagined, a magazine that Hugh Heffner started in his kitchen would have been such an amazing global brand?

By the way, Chui Yan actually got me a Playboy sunglasses for my birthday. I was smiling at the irony. Before that, I would never use their merchandise but since she got it for me, I wear it. She says I look 'cool' in it. I guess it doesn't matter if I didn't bring back my Playboy mags, it came back to me in another form.

I was walking around Chicago many years ago after a snowstorm and was looking for a building I could stop by to warm myself. I stumbled into this skyscaper and my friend Joe's eye lighted up. I looked up at what he was looking at and lo and behold... it was Playboy's corporate headquarters! I quickly ask Joe to take my picture. In the background is the guard actually walking up to us to chase us away. Farnee...