It was late 2009. The world was a weird place. Everyone was obsessed with the Black Eyed Peas, and for some reason, the publishing industry thought the best way to celebrate 20 years of The Simpsons was to put a yellow, blue-haired cartoon mom in a men’s magazine.
Yeah, I'm talking about the Marge Simpson Playboy pics.
If you weren't around or just don't remember the chaos, it’s hard to overstate how much of a "wait, what?" moment this was. Playboy had featured icons before—Marilyn Monroe, Cindy Crawford, you name it—but they had never, ever put a fictional animated character on the cover. Then came the November 2009 issue.
The Homage You Probably Missed
Most people just saw the blue beehive and the bunny-ear chair and thought it was a random gag. It wasn't. The cover was actually a very specific shout-out to the October 1971 issue. That original cover featured Darine Stern, who made history as the first African American woman to grace a Playboy cover solo.
Editorial director Jimmy Jellinek basically admitted they chose that specific pose because Marge’s hair reminded them of Stern’s voluminous 1970s style. Kinda clever, honestly. But it also set the stage for a three-page "pictorial" inside that was way more detailed than anyone expected.
What was actually in the Marge Simpson Playboy pics?
Let’s get the "technical" stuff out of the way. If you’re looking for something explicit, you’re looking in the wrong place. The magazine went with "implied nudity."
Basically, the artists (led by animator Julius Preite) used clever positioning. In the centerfold, Marge is wearing a sheer negligee while holding a tray of donuts—classic Simpsons—and in the cover shot, she’s sitting behind the iconic Playboy bunny-shaped chair.
- The Interview: There was a full "data sheet" and a fake interview titled "The Devil in Marge Simpson."
- The Reason: In the fictional interview, Marge claims she did it to raise money for charity (specifically for "saving and preserving historic gazebos").
- The Artist's Take: Preite later joked in interviews that drawing the "sexy" version of Marge felt incredibly awkward, saying it felt like he was drawing his own mother.
The whole thing was a massive marketing play. Playboy’s circulation was tanking at the time—dropping from over 3 million to about 2.6 million—and they desperately wanted to grab the attention of 20-somethings who grew up on the show.
Why the Backlash Was Real
Not everyone was laughing. Critics like Judith Reisman went on the offensive, claiming that putting a cartoon mom in a magazine like that was a back-door way to market adult content to "tweens." It was a huge talking point on news circuits for weeks.
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Even within the context of the show, fans were split. On one hand, The Simpsons has always been a satire of American culture, and what’s more American than Playboy? On the other hand, Lisa Simpson—the show's moral compass—would have absolutely hated it. There’s a certain irony in Marge becoming a sex symbol for a month when so many episodes focus on her being an under-appreciated, overworked housewife.
Interestingly, this wasn't even Marge's first time in a "lad mag." Back in 2004, she appeared on the cover of Maxim, though that one featured her in a negligee while scrubbing the floor. Classy, right?
The "Homer" Effect
While Marge got the spotlight, the magazine didn't leave out her husband. The spread included "photos" supposedly taken by Homer himself. It gave the whole thing that specific Simpsons meta-humor.
Homer’s involvement made it feel less like a corporate cash grab and more like a long-form gag from the show's writers. Al Jean, the executive producer, even joked that Marge was "a little embarrassed" by the whole thing.
Is the 2009 Issue a Collector's Item Now?
If you’ve got a mint condition copy of the November 2009 issue sitting in a box somewhere, you might be sitting on a few bucks. It doesn't sell for thousands, but collectors of Simpsons memorabilia and vintage Playboy issues still hunt for it.
You can usually find them on eBay for anywhere from $20 to $100 depending on if they're still in the original plastic. It’s a weird piece of pop culture history that likely won't happen again. In 2026, the cultural landscape has shifted so much that a legacy brand like Playboy doing a "racy" cartoon crossover feels like a relic of a very specific era of the internet.
Actionable Insights for Collectors
If you are looking to track down the original Marge Simpson Playboy pics or the physical magazine, here is the reality of the market today:
- Check the Mailing Label: Issues with a printed mailing label are worth significantly less than "newsstand" versions. Collectors want the clean cover.
- The "Subscribers" Variant: Be aware that in 2009, some subscribers received a "traditional" cover featuring a human model (Alina Puscau) instead of Marge. If you want the Marge cover, you specifically need the newsstand edition.
- Verification: Real copies have a three-page fold-out. If you're buying online, ask for a photo of the "Data Sheet" page to ensure it hasn't been clipped out.
The Marge Playboy era was a bizarre intersection of animation and adult media that perfectly captured the "nothing is sacred" vibe of the late 2000s. It remains one of the show's most successful—and controversial—PR stunts in its nearly 40-year run.