Penthouse, a men's magazine founded by Bob Guccione, combines urban lifestyle articles and soft-core pornographic pictorials that, in the 1990s, evolved into hardcore. Penthouse is owned by Penthouse Media Group, Inc. formerly known as General Media, Inc. whose parent company was Penthouse International Inc. prior to chapter 11 restructuring. Although Guccione is American, the magazine was founded in 1965 in the United Kingdom, but beginning in 1969 was sold in the United States as well. At the height of his success, Guccione was considered to be one of the richest men in the United States. He was once listed in the Forbes 400 ranking of wealthiest people (1982-$400 million net worth). According to an April 2002 New York Times article that quoted Guccione saying Penthouse grossed $3.5 billion to $4 billion over the 30-year life of the company, with net income of almost half a billion dollars.

Pages: 152

Date: July 2008

The models featured in this series are usually selected from the student population of American colleges and universities. At first, the magazine was published only in the fall to roughly coincide with the beginning of the school year. Each year, the magazine includes a feature on students of an athletic conference, usually from a BCS conference. For instance, the 1997 issue (pictured) featured the Big 12 but also students from other schools. The 2006 issue caused some controversy at Baylor University, which has a religious affiliation. Baylor declared that associating with the magazine would be a violation of the school's code of conduct.

Playboy is an American men's magazine, founded in Chicago, Illinois, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, which has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with a presence in nearly every medium. Playboy is one of the world's best known brands. In addition to the flagship magazine in the United States, special nation-specific versions of Playboy are published worldwide.