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Angry readers dump Us Magazine over Palin
Three celebrity weeklies OK!, People and Us Weekly featured Sarah Palin on their cover, but one of those magazines is reportedly losing subscribers because of it.Us Weekly, which unlike People and OK!, chose a rather caustic cover line (Babies, Lies and Scandal) is said to have lost thousands of subscribers in just the first 24 hours following the printing of the issue. Im hearing its 5,000, maybe more, says one well-placed source in the industry. Another source claimed that as many as 10,000 readers have already cancelled their subscriptions. A spokesperson for Wenner Media, which publishes Us, says it is completely false that we are losing 10,000 subscribers. As for the 5,000 estimate, the spokesperson only said that is false, too, but wouldnt comment further. Five thousand might not seem like a large number at first glance, but its significant in the context of Uss printing schedule. The magazine goes to press Monday night, which means subscribers dont receive their issues until Friday or Saturday. In other words, the cancellations are coming from subscribers who, in many cases, havent even gotten their hands on the actual issue. When Us went to print Monday night, it looked like the ticket was falling apart," says one magazine editor. They went to print thinking Palin was dead in the water, and their mistake was thinking everyone who reads Us is a Democrat, when theyre not. Readers are loyal, but the base of a political party is more loyal. They dont need to read the magazine when theres so much press around it to know to be upset. Upset might be an understatement: One Us advertiser has admitted that theyve received calls from angry former subscribers threatening to boycott their products. (Us publisher) Jann Wenner supports Obama, Wenner media decided to follow the buzz around Palin before her speech, and now subscribers feel like a vote has been cast on their behalf," says another magazine editor. Its going to be tough to bounce back from this one. Especially if the advertisers get involved. If they get nervous, that can hurt all of us. Posted by: tipper 2008-09-05 |
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