A Photoshopped NFL CoverGirl ad is circulating the web following the recent domestic abuse scandal involving Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice.
The NFL is under tremendous scrutiny after a video of Rice was released, showing Rice knocking his wife unconscious in a Las Vegas elevator. Shortly after, the NFL put out a statement saying it hadn't seen a copy of the tape until the news broke. Turns out the NFL reportedly recieved the tape in April.
CoverGirl, a Procter & Gamble cosmetics company, is the official beauty sponsor of the NFL. Since the news broke, people have pointed to CoverGirl's "Get Your Game Face On" campaign and urged that the cosmetic brand tell the NFL that its current commissioner, Rodger Goodell, should be fired. They have used a CoverGirl Baltimore Ravens image and Twitter to send this message.
The Huffington Post reports Adele Stan, a journalist, was the first person credited for creating the altered image.
Here's what the original CoverGirl photo for the Baltimore Ravens looked like (it's still up on the company's website):
CoverGirl
And here's Stan's original photoshopped ad:
Hey @COVERGIRL s @IAMQUEENLATIFAH @SofiaVergara @katyperry @Pink : Tell NFL official beauty sponsor to #FireGoodell pic.twitter.com/g3LDd1vfly
- Adele Stan (@addiestan) September 12, 2014
Once the initial meme went viral the online community started to make the image look more and more realistic, until it looked like this:
Thanks to the NFL, Cover Girl has a PR nightmare on its hands http://t.co/vot6Ovflhu pic.twitter.com/D28o9SIdGI
- Jezebel (@Jezebel) September 15, 2014
CoverGirl released a statement on Monday and Tweeted, not specifically addressing the photoshopped ad, but taking a stand against domestic violence and asking that the NFL "take swift action on their path forward to address the issue of domestic violence."
Here's the full statement:
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.