On the Prowl.(Playboy in Mexico)(Statistical Data Included)

The last time Playboy published a magazine in Mexico, it suffered for lack of interest. Particularly from models. The editors could not find Mexican women--at least not the kind they were looking for--unabashed enough to take off their clothes for the famous monthly centerfold. "The professional models didn't want to do it. We couldn't get the girl next door," recalls Cesar Romero Solis, the editor until shortly before the Mexican edition shut down in early 1998. During his five years at the magazine, only two Mexicans agreed to pose for the centerfold, so the subject was usually a blond gringa who had posed for the U.S. edition. A few Mexican celebrities appeared in the magazine, but only when plants and other objects strategically blocked what attracts the men who don't buy Playboy for the articles. "It was ridiculous," says Romero.

Domestic pressures, however, are pushing Playboy to try again with a revived Mexico edition due out this fall. Returning to the biggest Spanish-speaking market in the world is part of the struggling company's strategy to expand its global reach, at a time when its iconic status in the United States is waning. U.S. circulation of Playboy has fallen from 8 million in the 1970s to 3.2 million today. The U.S. edition rarely turns a profit and faces increasing competition from two places: pornography on the Internet and magazines such as Maxim, whose lascivious articles attract younger readers without scaring off advertisers, since the models wear just enough fabric to be considered clothed. In recent years, Hefner has faced a stark choice: either take the magazine in a new direction, or to new markets where the word "playboy" still conjures up a smooth gent, not a lecherous buffoon.

Playboy is still one of the most recognized brand names in the world. Founded in 1953 by Hugh Hefner, Playboy created the first socially acceptable form of pornography by placing naked women between articles about politics, technology and the good things in life. The Hefner ideal of the Playboy patron as gentleman connoisseur enjoyed a brief, revolutionary life in the American cultural mainstream. But that image has been fading for years. The last of the Playboy clubs closed in 1986, and Hefner began looking for new sources of profit. Hard-core pay-TV channels now account for more than a third of Playboy revenues. But so concerned is Hefner about the old image that Playboy never links its name to these explicit-porn networks.

The foreign editions are becoming increasingly important to the Hefner empire, if only for their potential. They represent low-cost, high- profit businesses for Playboy; local publishers assume the risk in exchange for the right to use material from the U.S. edition, for which Playboy gets a cut. The first editions opened in the mid-1970s in the large and sexually liberated markets of Brazil and Germany, and have since spread to a total of 18 nations. "The [Playboy] image probably has more cachet overseas than it does in the United States," says Dennis McAlpine, an entertainment-industry analyst. "You could probably even open Playboy clubs in some places."

Over the years Playboy has learned the limits of its international appeal. With a total foreign circulation of 1.85 million, overseas editions account for less than 2 percent of Playboy revenues, because local publishers take the bulk of the proceeds. The company's fastest growth is in the small markets of Eastern Europe, where during the cold war Playboy served as a ...