Donald Trump’s Twitter rant against Vanity Fair may have had a reverse effect on the magazine.
On December 14, Vanity Fair wrote a scathing review of Donald Trump’s “Trump Grill,” calling it the “worst restaurant in America.” The restaurant’s review criticized everything from the decor to menu. “The restaurant features a stingy number of French-ish paintings that look as though they were bought from Home Goods,” they wrote. They also compared the french fries to “overcooked woody batons,” insinuating that no amount of ketchup could make those fries great again.
Needless to say, Trump was NOT happy with the review at all. He took to his favorite platform, Twitter, to air out the magazine. “Has anyone looked at the really poor numbers of @VanityFair Magazine,” Trump tweeted. “Way down, big trouble, dead! Graydon Carter (VF editor), no talent, will be out!”
Yikes! If Trump didn’t like the Vanity Fair review, he’s going to hate to see what they’re saying on Yelp.
Since Trump’s rant, Vanity Fair put up a banner on their website calling themselves the “magazine Trump doesn’t want you to read” and it seemed to encourage more people to subscribe to their publication. A spokesperson for the magazine’s media company, Condé Nast, says that on December 15, the same day as Trump’s rant, VF sold their highest number of subscriptions in a single day. In fact, it was the highest number of subscriptions Condé Nast has ever sold in a single day.
It doesn’t stop there, either. Since the article posted, it has received 1 million unique page views. Vanity Fair also gained 10,000 new followers on Twitter.
Despite what Donald Trump tweeted, Vanity Fair was never doing badly and their numbers were never “way down.” They have seen a 2% increase in revenues year over year and are set to be profitable in 2016. Digital revenues are up 74% year over year.
