花花公子在中国的奇特发展史

致力于告别裸照时代、朝着新闻方向进行长期转型的《花花公子》（Playboy）杂志，近日发行了“去裸体化”转型后的第一期，并且取得了良好反响。尽管《花花公子》杂志在中国毫无踪迹可寻，中国市场却为花花公子集团贡献了高达三分之一的收益。

“花花公子”在中国几乎是个家喻户晓的品牌（品牌认知度高达97%），但这与大尺度的《花花公子》杂志没有任何关系。由于中国相关的出版法律法规，该杂志是禁止在中国大陆公开发行销售的。在中低阶层群众看来，它只是西方文化的一个模糊的代号。

然而，在过去25年里，靠着将它的兔子Logo授权给男装、衬衫、手包、皮鞋、腰带和背包等产品，该品牌在中国的奢侈品市场上也攫取了不少利润。2014年，该品牌15亿美元的总销售额里，便有5亿美元来自中国。

“挖掘中国市场的潜力，是花花公子集团过去20年间做得最正确的事情之一，但这是有心栽花还是无心插柳，就不知道了。”花花公子集团的一位营销高管在接受《外交政策》（Foreign Policy ）采访时，讲述了花花公子在中国的发展史。该高管甚至表示，中国市场一度将花花公子从破产清算的边缘拯救了回来。

最近，花花公子集团还与中国一家公司签订了10年的授权协议。如果《花花公子》纸质杂志的发行业务在转型后仍然无法复苏，那么，它的利润来源很可能将继续大大依赖于中国。（财富中文网）

译者：朴成奎

As favorable reviews come in for Playboy’s newest issue that forgoes nude photos for a renewed emphasis on long form journalism, the magazine remains a total unknown in the market where Playboy earns more than a third of its revenues: China.

The brand has almost universal name recognition among Chinese consumers, 97%, where it isn’t associated with carnal desires—strict censorship has banned any officially imported magazines from entering the mainland—as much as vague notes of Western sophistication by lower- and middle-class buyers.

The brand has carved out a fairly lucrative business in China over the past 25 years by licensing its bunny logo for men’s dress shirts, suits, bags, shoes, belts, bags and backpacks. In 2014, $500 million of $1.5 billion in total sales originated in China.

“China is one of the things that Playboy did right in the past 20 years, but whether that was by design or by accident is unknown,” a marketing executive told Foreign Policy in its interesting story this week about Playboy’s history in China, which probably saved the company from an earlier reckoning. Fresh off a new 10-year licensing deal with a Chinese company, the country might also end up subsidizing the new-format magazine should it fail to revive in the struggling print business.