The iconic 'Easy, breezy, beautiful, CoverGirl' slogan is dead

Leah Prinzivalli
(Photo: John Minchillo/AP)
(Photo: John Minchillo/AP)

CoverGirl is going through a makeover. In the past few weeks, the company has beefed up its roster of ambassadors including Insecure‘s Issa Rae, celebrity chef Ayesha Curry, 69-year-old model Maye Musk, professional motorcyclist Shelina Moreda, and trainer Massy Arias. But Tuesday, the brand announced its biggest change since the ’60s: “Easy, Breezy, Beautiful, CoverGirl” is no more.

The beauty giant’s new slogan is a much more empowering one, reimagined for 2017: “I Am What I Make Up.” The phrase was chosen as a “powerful new expression [that] aims to inspire people to embrace their unique identities and unapologetically create any version of themselves through makeup,” the brand said in a release.

The vibe of the relaunch is encapsulated in a new promo video featuring all six new CoverGirls, which begins with a quote attributed to writer Toni Morrison. “What’s the world for you if you can’t make it up the way you want it?” she asks. The question, like the campaign, isn’t just about buying beauty products — it’s about making personal choices. (And, of course, if that empowering decision involves buying CoverGirl, so be it.)

“Sometimes [consumers] don’t even want easy — they’re like, I want to use 19 products on my face,” Cover Girl’s senior vice president Ukonwa Ojo explained to WWD. “And we’re all about self-expression, so if self-expression is easy, awesome. If self-expression is a contoured face that has you looking completely fly because you’re going out with your girls, that’s awesome too. As we were talking to real people, they were like, ‘I have different looks for different occasions based on who I want to be that day.’ It’s just about recognizing the dynamism of [today’s consumer].”

The messaging is a far cry from the marketing when “Easy, Breezy, Beautiful” first launched in 1997. “Don’t wear makeup that looks like makeup, and don’t let it take more than five minutes,” says the commercial voiceover. Now, as Ojo points out, it’s considered a luxury to spend time on makeup, and if you put together a specific look, you certainly want people to know that you’re wearing makeup.

The tagline has been used on marketing and products ever since. While it will still be used on social media (#EasyBreezyBeautiful is a pretty recognizable hashtag), marketing and packaging will move over to “I Am What I Make Up.” Twenty years later, the brand’s messaging puts women back in charge.

In keeping with the contemporary vibe of the relaunch, CoverGirl announced the move on Twitter as a “new profile picture.”

The rebrand also means 100 new CoverGirl products are coming to the market in brand-new packaging. However you “make up,” we have a feeling they have a solution.

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