It's been that way for awhile. A long, long while IMO.
My favorites tapered off in the 90s. I liked the oft celeb spread, I liked when they went to the different universities and picked the ..(questionable) best girl or two at each campus. I like the celeb interviews because it wasnt that marketing-ploy, entertainment-tonight kinda 15 seconds of chat about a movie or some controversity type of nonsense. Hell, even reading the vital stats about the girl was interesting. (weight, height, first kiss, sex, etc)
But these days? Makeup, airbrush, photochopped and ruined. I always thought that at least the namebrand held women in such high regard, but if you're not showing natural beauty then.. well, there ya go.
It's(playboy, that is) made all the more unnecessary since you can find anything at all for free online. You cant make a website feel like Hef's mansion, and if he's truly going to stop.. (or already stopped? Dunno.) the parties, then that's the end of an era. He still going to stuff his body next to Marilyn's?