Playboy Mixes Up Captions on 2 Student Photos

A picture can be worth a thousand words and so can its caption.

Just ask Kelly K. Johnson-Arbor '96 whose name appeared under the nude photo of another Harvard student, Kelli M. Keller '97, in College Girls, a supplement to this month's Playboy. Keller's name appeared under the semi-nude photo of Johnson-Arbor.

In designing the supplement, Playboy reversed the captions on the two photos which appear on the same page in the magazine.

A Playboy spokesperson described it as "an honest mistake" in a March article in the Chicago Tribune.

Johnson-Arbor and her family, however, are not taking the mistake as lightly.

"It's a very serious mistake when dealing with someone's nude body," Johnson-Arbor said.

When Johnson-Arbor contacted the magazine about the error, she said their response upset her even more.

"[The supplement's publisher] insinuated that there were so many models, they could afford to make a mistake sometimes," she said. But Johnson-Arbor says "we're talking about a person's genitals and nipples and breasts."

Johnson-Arbor said she is also upset because the magazine involved her family in the mistake. The caption under Keller's photo mentions that Johnson-Arbor's mother was a Playboy Bunny from 1963-1966 and her father is chair of the Chicago Board of Trade.

She is upset that the information about her parents appeared under a completely nude photo, she said.

"My parents don't appreciate being dragged into this whole mess," Johnson-Arbor said.

Keller, on the other hand, was not as upset by the magazine's mistake.

"It's kind of strange," Keller said. "But maybe it's not strange. Playboy is a big-time magazine and it was just a stupid mistake."

Johnson-Arbor and Keller first posed for the September issue of the magazine for an article titled "The Women of the Ivy League."

Both women were surprised that Playboy recycled the photos in another issue, although their contracts gave exclusive photo rights to Playboy.

"I didn't know [they were publishing a second issue] until the magazine came out. That upset me more than the name mix-up," Keller said.

At the time of the shoot, Johnson-Arbor made a conscious decision to pose only semi-nude, though the magazine offered her more money to pose fully nude, she said.

"I signed a contract to leave on my clothes," Johnson-Arbor said. "You're paid for how much you take off....$500 for posing nude."

In her picture, Keller is wearing only a shirt wrapped around her waist, while Johnson-Arbor was photographed in a see-through bra and panties.

Johnson-Arbor has gotten many e-mails and phone calls from this second publication, she said.

"I get e-mails saying 'Great body in College Girls,'" Johnson-Arbor said. "I get calls every other night. I've gotten to where I just automatically say, 'It's Kelli Keller.'

Johnson-Arbor and Keller first posed for the September issue of the magazine for an article titled "The Women of the Ivy League."

Both women were surprised that Playboy recycled the photos in another issue, although their contracts gave exclusive photo rights to Playboy.

"I didn't know [they were publishing a second issue] until the magazine came out. That upset me more than the name mix-up," Keller said.

At the time of the shoot, Johnson-Arbor made a conscious decision to pose only semi-nude, though the magazine offered her more money to pose fully nude, she said.

"I signed a contract to leave on my clothes," Johnson-Arbor said. "You're paid for how much you take off....$500 for posing nude."

In her picture, Keller is wearing only a shirt wrapped around her waist, while Johnson-Arbor was photographed in a see-through bra and panties.

Johnson-Arbor has gotten many e-mails and phone calls from this second publication, she said.

"I get e-mails saying 'Great body in College Girls,'" Johnson-Arbor said. "I get calls every other night. I've gotten to where I just automatically say, 'It's Kelli Keller.'