in brief: new covergirl campaign might be cute, but it’s nothing new

Image: YouTube Screenshot

CoverGirl’s latest ad campaign, #GirlsCan, is basically everything you would want, as a cosmetics brand, in order to capture the attention of your target audience.

They’ve got empowering music, the colour pink, and strong statements from a few of the most famous female faces in the world, including Ellen DeGeneres, Queen Latifah, Katy Perry, P!NK and more.

Yes, it’s well done. Yes, it’s probably empowering to many women (more so young girls).

But it’s also been done. Many of us already know we’re empowered and that ‘girls can’ do things like sing, play hockey, be funny… Do we really need a cosmetics company to tell us that we can? No, not really.

Amanda Duberman for The Huffington Post says that the campaign reminds us of all the things we can already do without buying mascara. They’re completely right.

Because, despite what these companies think, we don’t need an ad campaign to tell us that we can chase our dreams and follow our own path in life, despite what all the ‘haters’ say.

The only thing companies like CoverGirl are showing us is that women’s empowerment has officially become a marketing strategy, being used to sell products we don’t even need.

Though I will give CoverGirl this: it is refreshing to see such a diverse range of women in one ad campaign.

#GirlsCan is cute, sure. But CoverGirl isn’t a feminist company, and they’re not breaking down any barriers for women. They’re just trying to sell you their products.