Backlash to the cover of Rolling Stone’s August issue—which shows suspected Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev looking too much like a rockstar for many readers’ tastes—hit Twitter hard and fast when the issue was released this week. Within hours, Rolling Stone’s Topsy Pro sentiment score plummeted from 79 to 21, and it has stayed there in the days since.

Several businesses, including CVS, sided with popular opinion and chose not to sell the issue.

We have decided to not sell the current issue of Rolling Stone, out of respect for the victims and their loved ones.

— CVS/pharmacy (@CVS_Extra) July 17, 2013

BuzzFeed also published a photo of the protest letter Boston mayor Thomas Mennino sent to the magazine, which was retweeted extensively and achieved more than 3 million potential impressions.

Boston Mayor writes letter to Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner pic.twitter.com/QSnKCm9DOi

— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) July 17, 2013

So will Rolling Stone’s gamble create long-term backlash? Only time will tell. We’ll keep an eye on the Topsy Pro sentiment scores to find out.