Poor CoverGirl. No doubt
ecstatic over its creatively fashioned opportunity to reach female football
fans, and female partners of male football fans, the company has been all over
social media, exhorting us to rock our favorite team colors. As we might be, if
we weren’t spending this week contemplating the culture of violence against
women and children (and, one might argue, against opposing players) that the
NFL has tolerated by its lack of serious action against clearly criminal
behavior.
Here’s the altered photo:
How deeply embarrassing.
CoverGirl has responded to the controversy with the following
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.”
But was that enough?
Well, CoverGirl got more than 2,000 “likes” on Facebook
within 24 hours. But they also got tremendous blowback, in the form of hundreds
of angry comments about this rather mild-mannered statement. What does “encouraged”
mean, anyway?
But, more to the point, what role does a corporate partner have
to play in this situation?
We could obviously argue that the “right” thing to do is to
immediately withdraw from the partnership. The Radisson Hotel chain suspended its
sponsorship of the Minnesota Vikings upon learning that Adrian Peterson will
continue to play despite serious (and undisputed) allegations of child abuse.
But notice: other sponsors have not been so quick to act. Many or most are
expected to express their “concern,” but they will likely let the situation
play out—on the field, and in the courts. Most of these other sponsors, of
course, cater directly to men. They are big sponsorships, and they represent
millions of dollars in investment, plus the opportunity cost of lack of
exposure to football fans over the course of the season if and when ads are
pulled.
These are moments when it makes me sad to be a marketer.
But there are other possible responses. For example, what if the ads were changed? What if the sponsors
used their big media dollars to sponsor anti-violence ads that aired during the
NFL games? The message would have tremendous reach. And would you care if the
ad said, “Brought to you by [nonprofit] and [major corporation]”? I would guess
that most of us would respect the companies that had the guts to do it. Even for a single week.
The world is full of compromises. Let’s use this moment to
make those compromises work for the welfare of everyone.
