Padded Circulation

Just how much True Story's 1940 circulation figures were padded (TIME, May 12) was revealed last week by the Audit Bureau of Circulations. In return for Macfadden bonuses, newsdealers in 1940 reported the sale of a total of 906,475 unsold True Story magazines, padding circulation an average of 75,540 copies a month. For the first four months True Story's real circulation was well over the 2,000,000 guaranteed advertisers. But thereafter it fell below the guarantee and distributors really started making unsold copies disappear: in May they "ate" 57,218 copies; in December, 210,271. As late as November, True Story still solemnly reaffirmed its 2,000,000 guarantee.

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