Mike Snider

USA TODAY

After one buttoned-up year, Playboy is bringing nude photographs back to its magazine.

Cooper Hefner, the son of magazine founder Hugh Hefner, announced the move on Twitter Monday saying, "I'll be the first to admit that the way in which the magazine portrayed nudity was dated, but removing it entirely was a mistake."

Playboy published its first non-nude issue in March 2016 and prior to that had launched a safe-for-work Playboy Now app. But its latest, the March/April 2017 issue, available on Playboy.com and on newstands Feb. 28., brings back nudity.

The new issue will include pictorials with March Playmate Elizabeth Elam, who graces the cover, and April Playmate, Nina Daniele. Also in the magazine: a Playboy Interview with Scarlett Johansson, a profile of CNN political commentator Van Jones and an article on hip-hop duo Run the Jewels

Before becoming the magazine's chief creative officer last year, Hefner ran his own media company HOB (Hefner Operations & Productions), which became part of Playboy Enterprises. He told L.A. Weekly in July 2016 that ending nude photography "was a bad idea, the whole thing."

Also returning: the Party Jokes section and The Playboy Philosophy, a political and cultural column written by Hefner, nearly 40 years after his father last wrote it for the magazine.

Among the changes: a Heritage section that looks at the magazine's past and the removal of “Entertainment for Men” from the cover. “Playboy will always be a lifestyle brand focused on men’s interests," Hefner said in a statement, "but as gender roles continue to evolve in society, so will we.”

Follow USA TODAY reporter Mike Snider on Twitter: @MikeSnider.