What Is This Olympic Boxer Doing In A CoverGirl Commercial? [VIDEO]

1:00 pm, July 10th | by Amy Tennery

Watching Olympic Team U.S.A. boxer Marlen Esparza in an ad for CoverGirl mascara is a little weird. The knee-jerk reaction, obviously, is something along the lines of why the heck is this powerhouse woman, a pioneer for women in boxing, talking about eyelashes? But that reaction would be too simple. In fact, this commercial is pretty great.

Esparza is an impressive woman by anyone’s estimation. A member of the first-ever women’s Olympic boxing team, Esparza is a six-time national champion in the sport. (And, incidentally, she was her high school’s student body president and she graduated in the top 2 percent of her class.) She’s put off college for a few years to train for the 2012 games but a recent Vogue profile says she was accepted to both Rice University and the University of Texas. Like I said, impressive.

So what’s she doing in a makeup commercial? Is this not absurd? Well, maybe not. First, let’s look at the ad:

Yes, the “knockout” play on words was pretty obvious. But beyond that, I’d argue this spot is innovative and interesting. CoverGirl (and its myriad plumping, fluffing, glossing and preening products) aren’t going anywhere — nor are its spokesmodels. So why not expand the arena of beauty beyond America’s Next Top Model contestants? The commercial isn’t trying to make Esparza into something she’s not — and, honestly, the footage of her working out is pretty cool to watch.

Admittedly, the original news that Esparza was starring in a CoverGirl ad was a little troubling at first. But the resulting T.V. spot isn’t cutesy or patronizing. It embraces a new idea of what a CoverGirl can be — even if the idea of mascara in the boxing ring is a tad ridiculous.

[H/T SuperSport]

TAGS: covergirl | marlen esparza