The outrage over the Rolling Stone’s cover of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is extreme. National chains are boycotting the magazine. Social media is on fire. Between the scale of the attack itself, those “Chicago Stronger” shirts in June, and now this controversy, the Boston Marathon bombing is one of few acts of mass violence since 9/11 to stay in the media for longer than a month.

Many say that the Rolling Stone made a massive mistake with its cover, which could be mistaken for a celebrity photo shoot, if it wasn’t the profile picture of a mass murderer’s Twitter account.

However, I would be surprised if the guys at Rolling Stone aren’t high-fiving each other right now.

Take Rolling Stone’s July 4th issue. It had Johnny Depp on the cover. A good chunk of you probably didn’t know that. And I’ll assume that unless you’re a fan of The Lone Ranger or Rolling Stone (probably neither), you likely don’t care. It’s not a very interesting cover. And it certainly won’t get the media talking.

But stick a picture of a terrorist on the next issue, and now practically everyone is talking about the issue, about Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and – most importantly – about Rolling Stone. Many people, wondering what all the hype is about, will buy the magazine. Many people, wanting to look hip and edgy, will buy the magazine. Many people, wanting to make some cash, will buy the magazine and sell it on eBay as a collector’s item for $20. Mint condition.

Contrary to some pundits’ claims, the Rolling Stone didn’t use this cover to look controversial and edgy. By treating murder like a celebrity scoop, the 46-year-old magazine became controversial and edgy. And more importantly, they got tons of publicity from (angry) famous people holding up their magazine on camera.

This isn’t a mistake for the Rolling Stone. This is PR genius.

And it really isn’t new. Remember the saying, “There is no such thing as bad publicity?” It applies here. Boycotting the magazine won’t help. Getting on the streets with a picket sign won’t help. Lambasting Rolling Stone on Twitter won’t help. In fact, it will only make things worse, giving more publicity to the magazine, and making Tsarnaev even more of a celebrity.

And as yet another angry twenty-something is rocketed into the spotlight, it highlights a dark route to fame and attention for other youths trapped in depression and anger.

Mass murder.

So if you are angry about this magazine cover, don’t say so. The only winners of that will be the Rolling Stone and the legacy of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

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