CoverGirl's football themed ad campaign went from easy, breezy to shocking and powerful.
The makeup company's "Get Your Game Face On" ads, which feature colors and looks inspired by teams, received a makeover with the help of Roger Goodell protestors and Photoshop.
Protestors and other women's rights activists have blamed Goodell, the NFL Commissioner, for not handling the Ray Rice domestic violence issue properly.
The Ravens running back was seen in a video brutally punching his then-fiancée and now wife Janay Palmer in a hotel elevator. Initially, Goodell issued a two-game suspension, a mere slap on the wrist for Rice.
Goodell has not been fired or resigned since the backlash.
In response to the way Goodell handled the case, an image of the Ravens-inspired Covergirl ad was Photoshopped to show that part of the model's game face means sporting a black eye. Under purple eyeshadow, the black and blue looks painfully realistic to powerfully showcase what domestic violence looks like. The image was tweeted this weekend with #GoodellMustGo
During Sunday's game at MetLife Stadium and at other NFL stadiums, a national women's rights organization called UltraViolet arranged for a plane to fly over the arena with a banner that carried the hashtag #GoodellMustGo.
"We live in a country where one in four women are victims of domestic violence," says Karin Roland, UltraViolet's organizing director. "We can't afford to have an NFL commissioner who doesn't take domestic violence seriously."
The organization has not commented on if they are the ones behind the Photoshopped CoverGirl.
CoverGirl, the "official beauty partner for the NFL," continues to shoot ads for the football-themed ads.
On Monday, the company responded to the Photoshopped image. "As a brand that has always supported women and stood for female empowerment, CoverGirl believes domestic violence is completely unacceptable" the company writes. "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."
CBS pulled a theme song last week sung by Rihanna "because of the time or tone." Rihanna made headlines in 2009 for the assault from her then-boyfriend Chris Brown. Brown advised Rice, "it's all about how you push forward and how you control yourself."
The National Domestic Violence Hotline has seen an 84 percent increase in calls since the footage was leaked, with women taking to Twitter to share their own stories with hashtags #WhyIStayed and #WhyILeft.
