NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Rolling Stone’s controversial July issue, which featured alleged “Boston Bomber” Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on the cover, generated big newstand sales despite being boycotted by some drugstore and supermarket chains.
The issue has sold 13,232 copies since going on sale on July 19, according to data collected from 1,420 retailers by sales tracker MagNet. That was slightly more than double the magazine’s average sales in 2012.
The Tsarnaev cover with the title, “The Bomber: How a popular, promising student was failed by his family, fell into radical Islam and became a monster,” ignited widespread backlash for being insensitive.
The Boston marathon bombings on April 15 killed three people, wounded more than 200 and led to a frantic manhunt that left a police officer dead.
The photo itself, which showed a tousle-haired, thinly-goateed Tsarnaev staring straight ahead, was also criticized for seemingly glorifying him.
CVS, Walgreens, 7- Eleven and Stop & Shop were among the retailers who announced they would not sell the Rolling Stone issue to customers.
Rolling Stone defended its decision to feature Tsarnaev on the cover, saying the cover story “falls within the traditions of journalism and Rolling Stone’s long-standing commitment to serious and thoughtful coverage of the most important political and cultural issues of our day.”
