Naked women are back in Playboy magazine, ending a year-old ban on the nudity that made the magazine famous.

Playboy celebrated the reversal on Twitter and Facebook with the hashtag #NakedIsNormal.

The U-turn came on Monday with the release of Playboy's March-April issue.

The 63-year-old magazine had banished naked women from its print edition because it felt the content had become passé in the era of easily accessible online porn.

The decision to show less skin was made under the regime of Playboy Enterprises chief executive Scott Flanders, who left the Los Angeles company last May to run a health insurance business.

Cooper Hefner, Playboy's chief creative officer and the son of magazine founder Hugh Hefner, called the nudity ban a mistake on Monday in a post on his Twitter account.

"Nudity was never the problem because nudity isn't a problem," he wrote. "Today we're taking our identity back and reclaiming who we are."

Playboy declined to comment further.

The latest issue features several pictorial spreads of nude women, including Miss March, Elizabeth Elam, and Miss April, Nina Daniele.

There is also an interview with actress Scarlett Johansson and pieces on actor Adam Scott and TV host Van Jones for those who say they only read Playboy for the articles.

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