By Molly Snyder Senior Writer Published Mar 14, 2009 at 11:26 AM

March may be cold, but it's hot and heavy here at OnMilwaukee.com as we celebrate our first-ever Sex Week. We're taking a mature look at local video and sex toy shops, area strip clubs, sexy Milwaukee events -- and even some connections between Brew City and Playboy magazine. It's serious, responsible, adult-themed content -- but don't worry, parents, we'll keep it PG-13 in case junior stumbles upon these stories as OnMilwaukee.com turns a pale shade of blue for seven days.

I know at least two people -- one is a friend and one is a family member -- who subscribe to Playboy. I asked both of them if they knew where the popular men's magazine was printed, and neither did. They were just as surprised as I was to learn that Playboy is printed in Wisconsin by Quad Graphics.

"This is the only adult magazine printed by Quad Graphics," says Claire Ho, communications specialist for  Quad Graphics.

Since 1985, Quad Graphics' Lomira plant in Fond du Lac printed the magazine. According to Elizabeth Austin,  the vice president of corporate communications for Playboy, Quad prints 2.6 million copies of the magazine each month.

Quad Graphics, a printing company based in Sussex, was founded in 1971 by Harry V. Quadracci. Quad Graphics has 10 printing facilities and partnerships in Argentina, Brazil and Poland.

Quad Graphics prints Newsweek, Time, Sports Illustrated and Milwaukee Magazine.

Austin says Playboy continues to find satisfaction with its business partnership with Quad Graphics.

"Quad Graphics delivers a superior product at a competitive price," says Austin.

Last month, Playboy was revamped and the page count was reduced.

"Like all magazines, the page count of the magazine varies," says Austin.

Hugh Hefner and his associates founded Playboy in 1953 in Chicago and today, it remains one of the leading men’s magazines in the world. The magazine features interviews with notable public figures from actors to authors, and prints short stories by famous novelists including Arthur C. Clarke, Margaret Atwood, Vladimir Nabokov and Ian Fleming.

The magazine is most famous for its nude and semi-nude photos, including a two-page centerfold. Models are paid $25,000 to pose for Playboy.

Famous Playboy models include Marilyn Monroe, Anna Nicole Smith, Pamela Anderson, Cindy Crawford, Farrah Fawcett, Denise Richards, Jenny McCarthy, Carmen Electra and Kim Basinger.


Molly Snyder started writing and publishing her work at the age 10, when her community newspaper printed her poem, "The Unicorn.” Since then, she's expanded beyond the subject of mythical creatures and written in many different mediums but, nearest and dearest to her heart, thousands of articles for OnMilwaukee.

Molly is a regular contributor to FOX6 News and numerous radio stations as well as the co-host of "Dandelions: A Podcast For Women.” She's received five Milwaukee Press Club Awards, served as the Pfister Narrator and is the Wisconsin State Fair’s Celebrity Cream Puff Eating Champion of 2019.