July 17, 2013 - Orange County, California, USA - The August 1, 2013 issue of Rolling Stone Magazine features on the cover a portrait of alleged Boston Bombing suspect Jahar Tsarnaev. The controversial cover, with a 12 page article attributed to Rolling Stone Contributing Editor Janet Reitman, has many in Boston upset at what many have come to expect to be on the cover of the Rolling Stone, a rock star, adding that the photo resembles a September 1981Rolling Stone Cover of the late Jim Morrison.—In the photo a copy of Rolling Stone with the controversial cover on display with other magazines at an Orange County. California Liquor Store. (Credit Image: © David Bro/ZUMAPRESS.com)
Photo: David Bro
Though Boston Mayor Thomas Menino condemned Rolling Stone for giving Dzhokhar Tsarnaev “celebrity treatment” and chains like Walgreens, CVS, and Stop & Shop refused to sell the issue with his dreamy self-portrait on the cover, Adweek reports that based on data from 1,420 retailers from July 19 to July 29, sales were more than double the magazine’s average sales for the previous year. Only 5 percent of the magazine’s total circulation comes from retail sales, but it appears magazine buyers weren’t as outraged as the denizens of Twitter – or perhaps thousands of people heeded the irrational call to buy the issue just to burn it.
