No cover for young men
Fever cured? Justin Bieber cover turns into one of the lowest-selling issues inVanity Fair's history
- They might be clamoring for a look, but the beliebers certainly didn't come outin droves to buy the Vanity Fair issue featuring Justin Bieber on its cover.Photo via Vanity Fair.com
- Teen heartthrob? Check. Sales? Bzzt.Photo by Art Streiber
- Did you really want to see Justin Bieber without his shirt on? Most Vanity Fairreaders didn't.Photo via Vanity Fair.com
Pop prepubescent Justin Bieber is quickly discovering that it's a man's world out there.
When the effeminate boy wonder appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair's February issue, loosening the tie around his smooch-soiled neck, it had all the makings of a newsstand mega hit.
Until it wasn't, that is.
Not even the Beliebers dug into their piggy banks for their icon's kiss-stained mug, resulting in what will likely be the worst-selling issue for the Condé Nast monthly in 12 years. At a mere 246,000 copies strong, only Will Smith and Harrison Ford disgraced Vanity Fair covers worse than Bieber.
Are you surprised? We can't say we are. Some of us lifelong Vanity Fair subscribers still refuse to remove the plastic wrap from the Bieber issue, five months later. The recycle bin will have the pleasure of becoming intimately acquainted with the edition in the very near future.
It's a no-brainer that Vanity Fair readers certainly aren't the target audience for a Bieber bonanza. Well-educated, tangentially well-off, and unabashed worshippers of the well-loved Graydon Carter, they're older (than 16), wiser, and have better things to do than obsess over flashes in the pop culture pan.
But we're left wondering if this Belieber breakdown doesn't lend itself to the larger question: Have they finally found a cure for Bieber fever?
Fingers crossed.
Tell us: Did Justin Bieber belong on the cover of Vanity Fair in the first place? Sound off in the comments.