Two weeks ago I wrote about how Rolling Stone’s latest issue, featuring accused Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in a flattering picture on the cover, was stirring up controversy. Celebrities called for boycotts. Major retailers said they wouldn’t be carrying the issue. In short, much brouhaha ensued.
So all that combined civic outrage naturally resulted in plummeting sales for the issue, right?
Nope.
Actually, the incendiary issue sold about twice as many copies as usual. The Magazine Information Network (who knew there was such a thing?) reports that after tallying the data from 1,420 retailers across the country, newsstand sales of the August 1 Rolling Stone were up 102%, once again proving the old publicity axiom, “There’s no such thing as bad press.”
Still, it’s worth noting that 95% of Rolling Stone’s circulation comes from subscribers (according the slate.com), not retail newsstand sales. Which means about 1.5 million people still got the issue—whether they wanted it or not.
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