CHICAGO – Finally, something for those guys who say they read Playboy for the articles: a chance to prove it.Playboy Enterprises Inc. launched a website yesterday that it swears will be safe to browse while at work, eliminating the need for men to throw themselves over their computer screen when the boss walks by.TheSmokingJacket.com will contain none of the nudity that makes Playboy.com N.S.F.W – not suitable for work. Instead, it’ll rely on humour to reach Playboy’s target audience, men 25 to 34 years old, when they are most likely to be in front of a computer screen.“A lot of our audience logs on [to Playboy.com] after work and we saw that we were missing a golden opportunity to reach guys when they’re online the most: when they’re sitting at their desk, not working, sending emails to their friends,” said Jimmy Jellinek, Playboy’s editorial director.The site, named after one of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner’s favourite pieces of clothing (silkpajamas.com was taken), won’t include the long interviews or in-depth articles found in Playboy. Among the original content visitors to the site will see is a list of signs that show a man has given up trying to attract women. They include wearing Velcro sneakers and pants with elastic waistbands – clothing Hef wouldn’t be caught dead wearing, if he thought of wearing anything but his trademark jammies.The site will dip into the Playboy archives with photographs like those from the 1983 Playmate Playoffs, in which bathing suit-clad women competed in games such as a tug-of-war. “The ideal is to be . . . the go-to site for those who are bored at work,” said Matt Gibbs, the lead producer of the site.Because “Playboy” is just the kind of word that has companies putting up firewalls to keep their workers’ minds on their jobs, the only thing in the name that suggests Playboy is behind the site are the bunny ears inside the “o” in “TheSmokingJacket.” Spokeswoman Theresa Hennessey said Playboy.com gets about six million unique visitors a month, and Jellinek said he will be pleased if TheSmokingJacket.com receives one million unique visitors a month.“The Playboy brand doesn’t do small,” he said. “Everything we do has to be big, has to be successful, has to be cool.” (AP)
