‘White’ Hollywood Vanity Fair Cover Sold Poorly at Newsstand

Esther Zuckerman — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 17:40:56 -0400

When Vanity Fair's March 2010 issue hit the newsstands, there was a fair bit of criticism that the actresses featured in the Annie Leibovitz-shot cover and photospread were, as Jezebel put it, "pretty, thin, female and white."

Well, it turns out those characteristics do not necessarily sell magazines. The "A New Decade. A New Hollywood!"-titled issue is, so far, the lowest newsstand seller for the glossy in 2010 according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations Rapid Report. The issue sold 300,000
single sale copies.

"The Hollywood cover was made up of the next wave of young actresses, faces that the public is just beginning to recognize," Vanity Fair spokeswoman Beth Kseniak said in an e-mail.

The most successful cover for Vanity Fair so far was January's Meryl Streep cover. The actress brought the magazine 435,000 single sale copies. Ms. Kseniak said that the Streep cover and their second highest seller, the May Grace Kelly cover, featured "two very well-known women, both of them icons."

ABC only has data for Vanity Fair through May.

Observer » ‘White’ Hollywood Vanity Fair Cover Sold Poorly at Newsstand

‘White’ Hollywood Vanity Fair Cover Sold Poorly at Newsstand