CoverGirl revives 1961 ad to launch its new foundation formula

Despite its continued influence over beauty creators and makeup trends, the so-called “clean girl” aesthetic, characterized by a natural-looking, glowy makeup style, is still a fairly recent development in the beauty landscape. CoverGirl, however, has been producing a “clean” foundation since its 1961 founding, and the cosmetics brand is celebrating that legacy in a new marketing push. CoverGirl’s launch campaign for its “Clean Invisible Foundation,” the latest iteration of its 63-year-old clean foundation, draws on clips from the brand’s first-ever commercial promoting its original foundation. The in-house ad blends the grainy black-and-white footage and old-timey voiceover narration of the 1961 ad with modern scenes of a diverse group of models applying CoverGirl’s new foundation against the backdrop of a bright blue sky. Throughout the video, several of the models mouth along to lines from CoverGirl’s 1961 ad, such as “I love everything about CoverGirl, and so will you” and “Makeup that’s good for your skin.” CoverGirl also spliced together voiceover audio from its 1961 commercial (“This is the CoverGirl, and this is the look. Always looks so natural that you can’t believe it’s makeup”) with lively instrumental music for a soundtrack the brand is featuring across its social content tied to the campaign. The brand is also partnering with four beauty influencers across Instagram and TikTok to further extend the campaign’s reach among younger consumers. The influencers—Lexie Learman, Maria Urdaneta, Vanessa Gyimah and Adison Justis—will all include CoverGirl’s soundtrack in their sponsored videos promoting the new foundation. But as some netizens (and media professors, apparently) have claimed, the era of the “clean girl” may be soon coming to an end as “Brat Summer” continues to dominate the social media zeitgeist. The online movement sparked by CharliXCX’s album “Brat” encourages people to proudly embrace their messy, authentic selves—including in their makeup style. More Creativity coverage from Ad Age: Sign up for our daily Creativity newsletter to see the best stories of the day.

CoverGirl revives 1961 ad to launch its new foundation formula

Featured Stories