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Pablo Kidd
ENGL 3059
Magazine Cover Analysis
October 21, 2014
“Jahar’s World”1
INTRODUCTION
Mainstream magazines in the United States are often thought of as nothing more than
trite tabloids that offer gossip on the happenings of the rich, and famous. However, they
can sometimes be fantastic sources of hard hitting journalism in response to
traumatizing events that occur in the country. Last year, April 15, 2013, three people
were killed by bombs during the Boston Marathon2 which resulted with the country
being thrown into a fit of anger, shock, and sadness. In an environment where a vast
amount of individuals were calling for blood, Rolling Stone Magazine released a highrisk, highly ambitious article chronicling the life of one of the bombers, complete with a
cover that had his face as the center feature1.
Rhetorical Analysis
This analysis will be tackling the effectiveness of Rolling Stone Magazine’s attempt to
navigate the cultural swelling of vitriol towards the Boston bomber, and whether it
presented a balanced cover that pulled in more readers than it alienated. A brief
description of the magazine’s business model, who buys it, and what effect the Boston
bomber cover had on sales will be included, followed by a short discussion on how the
public perceived the cover. The conclusion will wrap up the analysis by commenting on
popular magazines’ place in culture, and what it means for the consumer.
Business Model
Rolling Stone Magazine is a subscription based magazine with 95% of its circulation
flowing through locations other than retail stores3. Demographics for the magazine4 are
skewed towards men, 62.6%, with the remaining 37.4% of subscribers being women.
The most prominent age group to subscribe to the publication is between ages 18 to 49.
The most notable fact of the Boston bomber cover issue in terms of sales was that the
magazine sold 13,232 copies in retail stores, which was more than double the
magazine’s average retail sales of a single issue for the prior year3.
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Cultural Reaction
Upon the release of the August 1, 2013 issue of Rolling Stone Magazine the general
public seemingly took great offense. Members of the Boston the community were the
most offended, with some calling the magazine’s decision, “insulting.”5 Not everyone
was appalled, however, as individuals like Washington Post media critic Erik Wemple
went on to praise the magazine for drawing attention to the fact that the bomber was a
human who must have had a traumatic life to drive him to do what he did5. Businesses
like 7-Eleven had harsh reactions to the cover, and went on to do as much as possible
to limit the sale of the issue in their stores5.
Conclusion
Content
Readers
Cultural
Events
Figure 1.
Magazines will likely always require an emphasis on flash over substance to a degree in
order to ensure sustainable sales, but on rare moments like Rolling Stone’s cover, and
article, they have the potential to put forth thought provoking content that, while not
necessarily perfect, can serve as an example to future creators that the headlines don’t
always have to be just another piece of trivial tabloid fodder. Cultural events have
simultaneous impacts on both consumers, and magazines, with the prior forming an
opinion, and the latter trying to curate content that they believe the consumer will have
their interest piqued by – the process then transitions into consumers either buying the
magazine due to an interest, or sales falling flat due to errors made in what the
customer is currently buzzing about.
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Rolling Stone Magazine clearly wanted to take a stance supporting understanding,
rather than blind hatred, and the cover of the issue ended up having a strong emotional
effect on people in seemingly two different ways. In one camp there were those who felt
the cover was insensitive to the victims, while in the other camp there were those who
felt the cover, or another like it, was necessary to promote a logical breakdown of what
would drive a seemingly normal person to commit such a heinous crime. Regardless of
the response, the magazine’s choice to humanize a figure who people tried their
hardest to frame as a ruthless, single-minded animal stirred up a strong emotional
response that fed into a strong economic one as well.
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Works Cited
1. Reitman J; Rolling Stone Magazine [Internet]. New York City, New York: Rolling
Stone; 2013 July 17 [2014 October 21]; Available from:
http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/jahars-world-20130717
2. CNN U.S. [Internet]. Atlanta, Georgia: CNN; 2013 April 15 [2014 September 16;
2014 October 21]. Available from:http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/03/us/bostonmarathon-terror-attack-fast-facts/
3. Adweek [Internet]. New York City, New York: Adweek; 2013 July 31 [2014
October 21]. Available from: http://www.adweek.com/news/press/despitecontroversy-rolling-stone-boston-bomber-issue-hit-newsstands-151560
4. Rolling Stone Media Kit [Internet]. Des Plaines, Illinois: SRDS; Spring 2014 [2014
October 21]. Available from:
http://www.srds.com/mediakits/rollingstone/demographics.html
5. CNN U.S. [Internet]. Atlanta, Georgia: CNN; 2013 July 17 [2013 July 18; 2014
October 21]. Available from:
http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/17/studentnews/tsarnaev-rolling-stonecover/index.html?iid=EL