UPDATE: CoverGirl says in a statement to E! News: "As a brand that has always supported women and stood for female empowerment, COVERGIRL believes domestic violence is completely unacceptable. We developed our NFL program to celebrate the more than 80 million female football fans. In light of recent events, we have encouraged the NFL to take swift action on their path forward to address the issue of domestic violence."
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Well, here's a picture that speaks 1,000 words.
As the official beauty partner of the National Football League, CoverGirl recently released a series of ads encouraging female football fans out there to get their game faces ready—with the help of CoverGirl cosmetics, of course. The "Get Your Game Face On" campaign featured looks inpsired by all 32 NFL teams, including the Baltimore Ravens, whose model is sporting heavy purple eye makeup and liner drawn on in the shape of wings.
But in response to the Ray Rice debacle that rocked the NFL last week, the Ravens-themed ad has since been Photoshopped—and duly retweeted and shared all over social media—to make it look like the model also has a gruesome black eye, giving "#GetYourGameFaceOn" a whole new stomach-churning meaning.
The Photoshopped images went viral and ended up repeatedly combined with the hashtage "#GoodellMustGo," which was started by women's rights advocacy group Ultraviolet, one of many who are calling for NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's resignation. The team at Ultraviolet also arranged for "Goodell Must Go" banners to fly over stadiums yesterday during the NFL's week-two games.
"#Boycott NFL" and other team-specific calls for social change also started blowing up online, many of them accompanied by the altered CoverGirl ad.
#GoodellMustGo will be written in the skies at Bears-49ers game http://t.co/jCt7NEhBcQ pic.twitter.com/Hy8F8Rl8Dt
? Chicago Tribune (@chicagotribune) September 14, 2014
#BoycottNFL #Boycott49ers #GoodellMustGo #GetYourGameFaceOn pic.twitter.com/WuwWthfKQ6
? Fire Goodell (@BelieveInZito) September 13, 2014
A #GoodellMustGo banner flying above the Giants-Cardinals game today pic.twitter.com/JrhUDhaAcJ
? Eric Kay (@ekaycbs) September 14, 2014
Hey @nflcommish, you gonna #GetYourGameFaceOn, too? Or is this only for the women in your life? #GoodellMustGo pic.twitter.com/F5BbSlNkGr
? M. Ashes (@MonstrMAshr) September 16, 2014
#GetYourGameFaceOn image & #GoodellMustGo send strong message to #NFL pic.twitter.com/NXzHUTdDnv
? Dan Morrison (@DanCitizen) September 15, 2014
Fan-made but wow.
#GetYourGameFaceOn #NFL pic.twitter.com/ZWsUI5mmWp
? Amanda Pham (@amandapham) September 15, 2014
The protest continues in response to the increasingly apparent way in which Goodell and Ravens officials fumbled when it came to Rice, who was arrested months ago for assaulting his then-fiancée and now-wife Janay Palmer and was initially only given a two-game suspension, despite there being video showing the running back dragging a seemingly unconscious Palmer out of an elevator.
It's only been a week since a second video, this one actually showing Rice hitting Palmer, prompted his immediate contract termination and indefinite suspension from the league (which Rice has since appealed), but the outcry for a long, hard look at the NFL's history of forgiveness for domestic violence has only continued to get louder over the past seven days.
CoverGirl has yet to weigh in after getting sucked into the controversy, but CoverGirl.com/NFL has been redirecting to a down-for-maintenance note.