According to Mashable.com, CoverGirl recently launched a new campaign entitled "Get Your Game Face On" as a way to market their cosmetics to savvy NFL-watching consumers. CoverGirl's "Get Your Game Face On" make-up line features products that coordinate with different NFL teams colors. Recently, the NFL has been in the public eye in relation to the Ray Rice scandal. If you aren't familiar with what happened here's the 410: TMZ got ahold of a video that allegedley shows Rice physically abusing his then-fiancé in an elevator. What happens next, you ask? People took to social media, of course. In the days following the video surfacing, photoshopped pictures started popping up of CoverGirl's campaign images. These images were changed to show off a big, bruised, black eye on the model (while still showing off the Baltimore Raven's purple and gold colors, I might add). Below is a few images and tweets of the photoshopped image.
Most of the backlashed received was targeted towards Roger Goodell, the NFL commissioner. Attached to the doctored image was the hashtag, #GoodellMustGo. Several Women's advocacy groups have taken the center stage in boycotting the NFL until action is taken against Goodell. Once again, social media, and in this case, Twitter has proven to be an excellent way for consumers to band together in order to have a voice against large, powerful organization/corporation. While no action has been taken against Goodell to date, there's a better chance of Goodell facing some sort of punishment when consumer's are stirring the pot on the issue via social media platforms. Let's hope for some form of a response from the NFL or Goodell himself. In the past, we've seen large, profitable companies make the wrong choices when it comes to handling their social media accounts correctly. Take Kit-Kat and GreenPeace for example. When GreenPeace publicly confronted Kit-Kat about where their ingredients were coming from, Kit-Kat went as far as to delete consumer's negative comments and also didn't respond to the situation (via their social media sites) in order to defend themselves. I think a social media post of some kind, or lack thereof regarding an apology or statement of remorse from Goodell or the NFL could be a game-changer in the way people perceive the NFL as a dominate, and credible organization.
While there is absolutely nothing wrong with being proactive about things like domestic abuse, I feel like the impact it has had on the NFL has become a very sensitive issue. It has come up in every TV show related to sports and every game broadcast that I have watched, with everyone have mixed and passionate opinions about how to handle it and who to blame. Because it's such a strong subject, I feel like a lot of things posted on social media can be taken the wrong way or have serious negative consequences. When I first saw the pictures, I actually thought they were done by Covergirl, so I feel like what goes on social media can easily be misinterpreted and the best thing to do in this situation is make sure whatever action is taken is appropriate and fair.
ReplyDeleteThis is definitely an interesting way to bring more attention to the issue. Another important thing to note about this is that it puts Covergirl's sponsorship of the NFL into question. Considering it is a company geared toward women, this negative association may lead them to withdraw their support of the league.
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