NEW YORK – Playboy.com debuted the “Women of McDonald’s” feature Tuesday in which six employees from the fast-food king were chosen to pose nude for the online pictorial.
The spread is the culmination of a nationwide search that Playboy.com launched in September for the “sexiest burger babes” willing to shed a lot more than just their aprons.
The online publication of the adult men’s magazine has previously run similar pictorials that seemingly aim to project a “lighter side” of corporate America. Earlier features include the women of Wal-Mart (Research), the world’s largest retailer and of home improvement chain Home Depot.
“I’ve heard about Playboy.com doing other ‘Women of’ pictorials so when I heard they were interested in employees from McDonald’s, I knew I wanted to submit my photos. The experience of posing for Playboy has been exciting,” Cristy Creighton, one of the feature’s models who Playboy says is a floor supervisor at a Louisville, Ky., outlet, said in a statement.
While the models may be up to the challenge, the companies they work for haven’t exactly embraced the concept.
“We neither condone, nor encourage participating in this type of activity. It is inconsistent with our brand,” McDonald’s spokeswoman Anna Rozenich said in statement e-mailed to CNN/Money.
Wal-Mart’s response last year was that the Playboy.com endeavor was “not a ballpark that Wal-Mart wants to play in.”
John Thomas, editor of the Web site, said in an interview that despite the chilly corporate reactions, Playboy.com will continue to search for other unorthodox companies for upcoming spreads.
“We know for a fact that there are a lot of large companies out there that are very nervous about the prospect. We’ve already drawn up a short-list of who could be next,” said Thomas. “This ‘Women’ of feature actually started in the 1970s for the Playboy magazine. With the online effort, we’ve tried to put a populist and provocative spin on it by going into the heartland with Wal-Mart, Home Depot and now McDonald’s,” Thomas said. “You’d be surprised at how many of these women told us that they always wanted to approach us in the past but never had the opportunity.”
According to Thomas, the McDonald’s (Research) casting call elicited over 100 responses from employees. Playboy.com paid the models for the feature but did not disclose the amount. Said Thomas, “These women are not CEOs of corporations but they made a nice piece of change with the feature. They were flown in to our headquarters in Chicago and all expenses were paid by us.”
The pictorial, which is exclusively available on Playboy.com, apparently has the vote of approval from Playboy founder Hugh Hefner. “Mr. Hefner likes how the features have turned out and he has even selected some of the girls to be considered for the magazine,” Thomas said.