It sure didn't do Dorothy Stratton any good.
Star Stowe (1977 Playmate) was passed around by many rock musicians, and finally ended up being a street whore. She was murdered. Willey Rey (1971), who was on the cover of the Playboy stock certificates, died of a drug overdose in her parents bathroom two years later. Her parents blamed the crowd she ran with, most of whom were from Playboy. Dorothy Stratten was murdered by her husband. Her husband was furious because Hefner had pretty much taken her away from him, introduced her to Peter Bogdonavich, and they were a hot item. Her husband was a small-time pimp. Elissa Bridges (1994) died of a drug overdose last year. Of course, there have been several busted for prostitution.
Hefner, from everything I've read about him is a pretty lame piece of work. He had rules, for example, that the Playboy bunnies couldn't be picked up by their husbands or boyfriends at the club, so they had to walk several blocks by themselves at night in downtown Chicago to get a ride. Male employees were not allowed to date playmates or bunnies. They also were not allowed to talk to Hefner, and if Hefner thought they were too good looking, he'd have them fired. There were rumors that he boinked one of his daughter's friends he met at her 16th birthday party (yes, a classmate of hers), and playmates were invited to mansion parties, but couldn't bring their husbands. They were encouraged to bring female friends, but if the friends weren't attractive enough, they'd be advised not to bring them back. Most of this is in a book titled "Bunny", and although Hefner threatened to sue over it's publication, there was enough documentation that they couldn't prove anything false.
I was disappointed at how sleazy Playboy was behind the scenes, but when I was a kid, I was naive enough to believe the stuff written in there.