Playboy Chairman and CEO Christine Hefner has criticized "misstatements" in an Industry Standard analysis ("Playboy's Second Life sim buzzes, even as real-world brand falters") that suggested the mens-oriented publisher is having difficulties positioning its brand and products online.

Hefner, the daughter of Playboy founder and editor-in-chief Hugh Hefner, left a comment at the bottom of the article that said Playboy Enterprises had "significant increase in online ad sales for the quarter," and that there was an increase in online profitability in the second quarter.

However, Hefner acknowledged there was a decrease in overall revenues for the quarter, due in part to an investment in a redesign and upgrade of Playboy.com, as well as the "strategic decision" to license the company's e-commerce and catalog operations.

In Playboy's Q2 2008 earnings conference call, Hefner said pay site revenues have declined, and the ongoing redesign project would "continue to negatively affect online results through the remainder of this year." Playboy's overall Q2 revenues fell 14 percent to $73.4 million compared to the same quarter last year.

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