International Desk, Oct 13 (EFE).– Playboy magazine says it will stop publishing pictures of completely nude women next spring.

Scott Flanders, the magazine’s CEO, told The New York Times of the pending change in policy, justifying it by saying that “You’re now one click away from every sex act imaginable for free. And so it’s just passé at this juncture.”

According to the Times, in September, one of the magazine’s editors, Cory Jones, visited the founder of the decades-old magazine – 89-year-old Hugh Hefner – at the Playboy Mansion, where he lives and from where he still manages the magazine.

Jones, who was reportedly very nervous during the meeting, suggested to Hefner a radical change in the magazine’s format: dropping the publishing of pictures of completely nude women, although they would still be featured in “provocative poses.”

Hefner, who founded the magazine in 1953, agreed to the move and the format change will take effect next March.

The monthly magazine’s top corporate officials acknowledge that profound shifts have occurred in their market and sexual images are now quite accessible via the Internet. As a result, pornographic magazines, including those that contain a significant amount of non-pornographic content, such as Playboy, have lost much of their impact and cultural relevance, they said.

Playboy’s publication figures have plunged from 5.6 million issues per month in 1975 to 800,000 at present, according to figures from the Alliance for Audited Media cited by the New York daily, and efforts over the past three years to relaunch the publication have not had the hoped-for results. EFE

The last woman from Costa Rica to disrobe for Playboy was Marianela Valverde, who was paid about $20,000 for appearing in the magazine in 2011. The model is currently a host in the reality television show “Combate,” a program that is often accused to show as much skin as Playboy did.

In a recent interview with Ariel Chaves Gonzalez for daily tabloid Diario Extra, Ms. Valverde explained that she had no regrets about baring it all for Playboy; after all, she explained, her earnings from the photo shoot allowed her to make a significant down payment on her house.

An even more famous Playboy bunny from Costa Rica was Giannina Facio Franco, daughter of a politician from a wealthy family, who appeared in the magazine in the 1980s, a sort of “Golden Age” for the print publication. Ms. Facio would later appear in various Hollywood films and become romantically involved with renowned director Ridley Scott.