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Playboy is to stop publishing pictures of naked women, saying easy access to such images online means they are "passe".

The magazine famed for its bunny girls, who have included Baywatch star Pamela Anderson and supermodel Kate Moss, aims to become more accessible as it enters its 63rd year, its chief content officer said.

Cory Jones, who was appointed in July, told the New York Times the move away from total nudity is the right one.

(Image: Getty)

(Image: REUTERS/Elayne Lodge/Playboy/Handout)

"You're now one click away from every sex act imaginable for free. And so it's just passe at this juncture," he said.

He added: "Don't get me wrong. Twelve-year-old me is very disappointed in current me. But it's the right thing to do."

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The magazine's founder, 89-year-old Hugh Hefner, recognisable for his trademark red smoking jacket, agreed to the change proposed by Mr Jones last month, the paper said.

When he created it in 1953, Hefner wrote that the magazine and its content would appeal to men aged 18 to 80.

The Playboy brand has been "a tastemaker, an arbiter of style and a vanguard for political, sexual and economic freedom", according to its website.

The bunnyhead logo is as famous as the Nike tick and the McDonald's golden arches, it claims.

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The American edition of the magazine, which through the decades has featured Marilyn Monroe, Dolly Parton, Goldie Hawn and Madonna on its cover, now operates at a loss, chief executive Scott Flanders said, but global copies bring in a profit.

(Image: Getty Images)

Other editorial changes in the Playboy rebrand include a "sex-positive female" writing a sex column, art and more coverage of liquor.