The National Football League for years has invested large amounts of money to clean up the act of the players employed by the NFL, in hopes of maintaining a healthy rapport with the sponsors of the league. Numerous accusations are made public each year about the illegal behavior of the million dollar men playing on the gridiron every Sunday. Only recently a video went viral of former Baltimore Ravens running back, Ray Rice knocking out his fiancée in an elevator. At the same time the video surfaced and headlined news channels across the country, Cover Girl launched several, new advertisements depicting itself as the “beauty sponsor of the NFL” with the slogan “Get Your Game Face On!”. The actions of Ray Rice and Cover Girl’s continued support shown to the National Football League created turmoil between the respective companies and their customers. Many images against domestic violence found its way to the forefront of the public, leading consumers to spoof the ads developed by Cover Girl.

The image created to speak out against domestic violence is very powerful because it uses the same marketing ploys the NFL and Cover Girl used to sway its audiences. This idea is demonstrated in the display of the league’s logo in the upper left corner of the advertisement and the same text used in the original ad mentioning to “Get Your Game Face On!”. The advertisement uses the same model the previous companies had used to further strengthen this concept and decided to not change the style of hair or nails of the woman so audiences who viewed both the original and the mocking image could recognize the initial source. The same model is also used to show that no woman is safe or free from domestic violence and steps should be taken to ensure the safety of all women and start an initiative to properly treat women, as most young boys grow up idolizing their favorite football player. Domestic violence is a national problem, not just a National Football league problem and does not need to become a generational problem.

The eye make-up represents the woman in the image as a “fan” of the Baltimore Ravens, as the make-up displays the idea of raven wings. The primary colors of the Baltimore Ravens are purple and black. This is ironic because the woman’s left eye appears to be severely bruised and beaten, forming a “black” eye. This idea alludes to the Ray Rice incident, where he punched his fiancée in the face while both riding the elevator. Other than the eye make-up and the design on the woman’s fingernails nothing takes away from the black eye the model possesses. The lighting of the image is broadcasted solely on the woman’s face to emphasize the importance of the bruise and the domestic violence that the NFL has yet to discipline and the lighting alone makes her the front of the image. The lighting is so bright that it casts a shadow on her neck and you can no longer see the top of her neck, furthering the importance of the black eye. The woman’s left arm is positioned to block the light from her face, just as the National Football League has repelled any negative “light” they receive from the actions of their players. The presence of the NFL logo above the text in the image is ironic, as well. The logo of the NFL is a shield, once again trying to block any news that might harm the company and their sponsors. The background of the image fades into a navy blue with outlines of the female’s black and curly hair, showing little to no importance of the background and drawing your attention that much closer to the black eye, which in this image represents domestic violence.

The text on the left side of the image draws your attention as the words gradually get bigger and bolder. The tagline is perfect for a satirical mockery of the original advertisement. The “game face” of the NFL is a company that does not discipline players for committing such crimes. The Ray Rice incident blew up due to the successful season the player was having and the Baltimore Ravens organization, along with the NFL, allowing him to continue playing even though the video had gone viral. It showed the NFL would turn a blind eye to any disorderly conduct if that meant their ratings would be tarnished and the probability of losing money came to fruition. The NFL put monetary value above any core value decent humans possess. The slogan’s text color being white behind a navy-blue background allows the tagline to pop out and grab the attention of the viewer with the addition of the black eye. The message the image portrays is cleverly executed with the spoof of a make-up company, as they covered up and downplayed the significance of domestic violence when much of Cover Girl’s target audience is women and could be the victim of domestic violence. 

The image does not stray away from its intended message with distractions that could weaken the severity of the ideals and values the image presents. The advertisement is very blunt and gets straight to the point of how the NFL appears to be endorsing domestic violence out of fear of losing money. Domestic violence cases are brought up against many players but are dropped due to lack of evidence or the player can afford to just pay off the victim to keep quiet so the player does not tarnish his image to the public and more importantly, the fans of the NFL. Domestic violence has been an issue for years in the NFL but never had the platform to make a massive change in the behaviors of the NFL players and needed an incident to a superstar player to arouse so action could be taken. 