Actually no…its not a joke at all.  Move over ‘Girls Next Door,’ Marge Simpson will appear in the November issue of Playboy as the magazine’s first cartoon playmate.  The issue which is slated to hit newsstands Friday will feature a three-page pictorial, featuring a scantily-clad Marge in cartoon lingerie.

If you recognize the cover its because its inspired by another playboy bunny pioneer, Darine Stern who in the October 1971 became the first black woman to grace the Playboy cover.

So what’s up with the lily white classy skin mag?  Somethings up right? Well it seems Playboy like all newspapers and magazines is trying to reinvent themselves in effort to avoid forced extinction by the internet.  The decreased ad pages that put King and Vibe out of business have dropped 31% for playboy over the last year and newsstand sales are down 25 percent %.

So a gimmick is just what was needed to drum up attention for the magazine right?  Well I think that’s what they were trying to accomplish with the “Girls Next Door” reality show.   The publicity talkies at Playboy are positioning the move as an ode to Playboy’s Golden Age by commemorating “The Simpsons’” 20th anniversary.  A stretch at best if you ask me but then again its got the attention of Highbrid Nation, a blog that dedicates daily posts to skantily clad honeys.  And that would seem to be the audience their targetting….(only paler.)

During its heyday, readers were not only salavating at the playmates but idolizing Hefner as the quintessential giggalo role model.  Now he’s a 80+ something joke.  The magazine needs to put him out to pasture to appeal to a new audience but how.  Its the same dilemma that Penn State & Florida State College Football programs have with Joe Paterno and Bobby Bowden respectively.  How do you fire or remove the entire face of your organization.  I’m glad its not my problem and if they don’t act fact they won’t have to answer it because, like many other mags they’ll be destined for the graveyard as well.