Introduction
Playboy is one of the largest American men’s magazines with 27 international editions. Its domination stretches in five continents, conquering the attention of most men in the world. However, in Indonesia, where a large number of American artifacts prevail, it was widely rejected. It sparked controversy even before its first publication in the country and drew massive protests from a number of Muslim societies. This paper is going to analyze Playboy deeply from four cultural criticisms as well as how and why the rejection of Playboy took place in Indonesia.
Phenomenological Approach
Playboy was founded by Hugh Marston Hefner in 1953. Its original title was to be Stag Party, but there was another magazine entitled Stag. Hefner and co-founder and executive vice-president Eldon Sellers then met to seek a new name. Sellers, whose mother had worked for the Chicago sales office of the short-lived Playboy Automobile Company, suggested “Playboy.” The name “Playboy” has since been used as the name of Hefner’s magazine.
Playboy made its first publication in December 1953, with no date printed as Hefner was unsure whether or not there would be a second edition. This first issue sold out in weeks with the number of circulation reached 53, 991. On its first publication, Playboy was sold at the price of 50 cents.
Playboy’s popularity increased rapidly. By the end of the sixties, one-fourth of all American college men were buying this magazine every month. The best-selling Playboy edition was the November 1972 edition, which sold 7,161,561 copies. In 1972, it also launched its first international edition Germany.
However, not long after reaching its peak in the 1970s, Playboy’s circulation declined because of competition with other magazine with the same concerned field such as Penthouse, Oui and Galley in the 1970s and more recently from other men’s magazine such as such asMaxim, FHM, and Stuff. In response, Playboy has attempted to re-assert its hold on the 18–35 male demography through slight changes to content and focusing on issues and personalities more appropriate to its audience — such as hip-hop artists being featured in the “PlayboyInterview”. Through this strategy, to date Playboy remains one of the most notable men’s magazines with 27 international editions.
In total, Playboy used to be published in 36 countries but there are 9 countries where Playboy stopped its publication. Those 9 countries include Indonesia, Italy, South Africa, Turkey, etc. In Indonesia, Playboywas first published on April 6, 2006, despite massive protests from a large number of Indonesian Muslim societies. Indonesia is the second Asian region where Playboy made its publication after Japan (1975) and Hong Kong (1986-1993) (wikipedia).
Ideological Approach
Hefner said from the beginning that he was not producing a girlie magazine. He said that Playboy was a “life style” magazine, where sex is only a part of it. By publishing Playboy, Hefner was actually trying to take his readers back to a time before their first sexual experience, a time when they still liked their stuffed bear and thought that a naked woman might be something like that. According to Joan Acocella, “Playboy draws on two opposing trends that dominate American mass culture since its first launch: on the one hand, America’s idea of its Huck Finn innocence; on the other, the enthusiastic lewdness of American advertising and entertainment. The magazine proposed that wanton sex, sex for sex’s sake, was wholesome, good for you: a novel idea in the nineteen-fifties. Above all, the main value Playboy promotes is an upscale hedonism,” (the New Yorker).
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Celebratory
Despite Playboy’s heated controversy and protests from a number of Muslim societies in Indonesia, the first issue of Playboy sold in weeks (wikipedia). It showed that there were people who actually agreed withPlayboy’s publication in Indonesia. Furthermore, according to a magazine seller, “It’s the porno that sells best, (in Indonesia),” (theGuardian). This phenomenon showed that there were a lot of people who actually enjoyed things such as Playboy which others considered taboo and indecent.
Despite Playboy’s considerably costly price of Rp, 39.000, a friend of mine, AP, a junior at Surabaya Institute of Technology, bought it. He stated that he wanted to satisfy his curiosity about the magazine; to see whether the magazine was actually mostly about pornography. Some of my friends also admitted that though they did not buy the magazine but they enjoyed reading it by borrowing from their friends. This shows that despite the protests, Playboy actually found a place in the heart of some Indonesians.
Moral/ Ethical Approach
Prior to its first publication, Playboy was already infamous Indonesia, the most populous Muslim country. It is because Playboy is identical to promoting nudity and sexuality which are strongly forbidden in the Islamic law. Hasyim Muzadi, the chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama, Indonesia’s largest Muslim organization stated, “Indonesia is different from Europe or America, where the culture and attitudes towards nudity are totally different from ours. (Playboy) simply has no place in our social norms.” Along with that line, Jusuf Kalla, the vice-president said, “”From the government’s point of view, we disagree withPlayboy’s publication.” while a member of parliament from the Prosperous Justice Party worried that the magazine would harm the morality of the youth.
A series of protests by Islamic organizations such as FPI (Islamic Defender Front), Muslim Peduli (Concerned Muslim), and KAMMI (Action Union of the Indonesian Muslim Students) also took place in major cities voicing the same message, among them are “Reject Playboy!”, “Don’t publish that filth here. Keep the Indonesian nation clean,”, and “We don’t need that sort of porno here. There’s enough vice here already.” (The Guardian)
All these facts reveal the same idea: Playboy, according to a number of Indonesian Muslims, is bad as its vulgarity in terms of exposure of sexuality is strongly against Islamic values and potentially endangers the morality of the youth.
Effect on Indonesian Culture
Playboy’s controversy has certainly drawn attention from the vast majority of Indonesians. This is believed to lead to the passing of the Pornography Bill into law by Indonesian Parliament on October 30, 2008. The attempt to pass the bill itself has been made since February 14, 2006 in which the bill still used its original name, the Anti-Pornography and Pornoaction Bill.
Between these two dates, Playboy has been prosecuted by FPI (Islamic Defender Front) and the editor was facing a two-year jail sentence for publishing indecent material. However, the judge said the charges were incorrectly filed under Indonesia’s Criminal Code, when it is the country’s Press Law which should have been applied (ABC News Online). In other hand, Jusuf Kalla, the Indonesian vice-president, stated that the problem could be overcome if there had been a law regulating pornography and pornoaction (Gatra).
Few days following Playboy’s first publication in Indonesia, several Islamic mass organizations in Central Java inspected street magazine shops and sellers and confiscated all Playboy magazines as well as all other men’s magazines they found. Avoiding potential anarchy those people may cause, the police finally did the inspection themselves (wikipedia). Looking at all controversy that already happened, we can conclude that Playboy basically causes social unrest in Indonesia.
Closing
Having read all these facts and opinions, we now know the reason why Playboy was rejected. We can also draw a major conclusion: not all American artifacts can be accepted and prevail in Indonesia and in order to do both, they need to respect local values and in this Playboy’scase: Islamic values. Furthermore, as Indonesian society and American society have different culture, values, and norms, it is important that any kind of American products willing to expand their market in Indonesia consider and analyze these differences more so that thePlayboy’s failure will not happen to them.
REFERENCES
Acocella, Joan. “The Girls Next Door” March 20, 2006, www.thenewyorker.com/critics/content
John Aglionby, “Jakarta struggles with the politics of pornography asPlayboy comes to town”, January 30, 2006, www.guardian.co.uk
Thompson, Geoff, “‘Playboy’ charges thrown out of court”, April 5, 2007, www.abc.net
”Wapres: Pro Kontra Playboy Karena Belum Ada UU-nya” Jakarta, 27 Januari. www.gatra.com
“Indonesian Playboy mag ‘to respect Muslim values’”, January 20, 2006, www. www.smh.com.au
“Playboy”, www.wikipedia.com
“Playboy (majalah)”, www.wikipedia.com
“RUU Pornografi”, www.wikipedia.com
*: the writer is a junior at the English Department, Diponegoro University, Semarang, Central Java, Indonesia
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