Like many other beauty and fashion bloggers, I announced the Queen Latifah/CoverGirl casting call in New York this week.
Well, one of my readers came back and added a comment that revealed that things at the event were chaotic and upsetting.
I had to ask my friends at CoverGirl about this, and I got an official response.
Thank you to all the women who showed up and stood in line in the cold for the CoverGirl Queen Collection casting call to share their stories on what makes them a “queen.†I was completely overwhelmed by the response and apologize I didn’t get to meet everyone! We couldn’t have predicted the number of women who would participate or the weather, and we’re disappointed we were unable to hear more stories. We heard from almost 300 amazing, inspiring women from all walks of life — WNBA players, policewomen, cancer survivors, abuse victims, rappers, women from shelters, mothers, daughters, grandmothers, etc. — and from all parts of the country beyond the tri-state area – Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, etc. We’re passionate about finding the perfect queen and honored so many women wanted to share their stories.
From, Queen Latifah and CoverGirl
So there you go. I’ve only been to two casting calls, but I saw for myself how ridiculously crazy they can be and that one sounds like it was a real doozy. The weather and the turnout made conditions less than ideal.
I’d love to hear from any of you who went, and I’m looking forward to seeing who got chosen, and discovering the Queen Collection, myself!
that response was a cop out and crappy
auditions are gruesome and long and i feel sad for the sista that didnt even get a chance cuz some folks were already secretly chosen.
Hey Miss Bella,
I too, posted that on my blog and I actually got some emails from my readers that were pretty messed up. I heard there were thousands of people out there and they only spoke to 240 of them.
The Covergirl people sent me that same tired statement as they sent you. lol.
They should have been organized. I wasn’t there, but I’m pretty sure it was crazy..
on a lighter note: keep doing your thang girl! love the blog.
unfortunately i cannot support CoverGirl, i was just made aware that they conduct animal testing, and that is a major no no.
Ummm yeah. Nice try Covergirl. There are several issues here:
1st — chaotic and upsetting is quite an understatement. There was FALSE ADVERTISING not only originally by Covergirl but in their statements here. How can you announce a contest on several VERY popular blogs, Daily News, and during the morning shows (starting at 6am) of Power 1051 and KissFM to HIGHLY popular radio shows and not expect a large turnout. Then when you see the large turnout and realize oh, this is too much WHY NOT JUST TELL US. JUST TELL US — don’t leave us out there for the POLICE to come and shove off the sidewalk — BEFORE the end of the event mind you.
2nd — I’ve been to MANY MANY casting calls and I’ve never been treated with quite the amount of disdain i felt from whomever that White Covergirl associate was. His attitude was DEPLORABLE. The way he treated people who were just trying to get information that was initially poorly disseminated. . .
3rd — The weather? Anyone could predict a January day in NYC — COLD COLD COLD. Anticipate, don’t project blame on ignorance. They should have picked a better venue.
4th — They only gave out 250 blue tickets?? So where did 300 come from — obviously people from modeling agencies who got tickets ahead of time. I can tell ya right now — there was nobody from the WNBA that was standing in that line out in the cold — further evidenc of lies and preferential treatment. Additionally I met the people from North Carolina — they actually lined up at 8am — AGAINST THE INSTRUCTIONS OF THE MARKETED ADVERTISEMENT — yet this worked in their favor and they made it in. Hmmm thanks for the lesson that I’m NOT supposed to follow your own directions covergirl — so if that original announcement was a lie, how is this PR backpedal any different?? Huh? I didn’t think so!
Oh and BTW the only police there were the ones that shoved us off the sidewalk at the end — while apologizing and telling us that this is what CoverGirl instructed them to do. (BTW it was 3:30 of the 11am to 4pm event).
I too will be very interested to see who they did choose, because after 6++ hours you start to recognize faces — and I’ll be shocked if a face on that campaign matches a single face that was filmed by their publicity cameras in crowd!! (Yeah they made us cheer as they filmed us for their macabre publicity stunt.)
I think that fake apology was trash. The way they treated us women of color that day was deplorable.
Although I did get in, the whole experience was a nightmare and I felt bad for those sisters that waited on line and could not get in. What was bad was, it was soooo cold that by the time we did get in, we were frost bitten, couldn’t walk, couldn’t talk and then they expected us to reveal why we felt that we were queens. Here’s my answer to Cover Girl and Queen Latifah: I am a queen because I would never treat my fans the way you did. I would be considerate enough to first, apologize for being late and next, I would have the decency to allow more than 6 people in at one time so as to expedite the process and possibly prevent someone from getting hypothermia (especially given the fact that the venue was large enough to hold more people). A real queen does not sit on her warm throne while those that admire her and come out to support her are treated with total disregard. Don’t forget where you came from sistah girl….we’re the ones that support you.
It took me a minute to sit down and write this because, I cannot believe how these sista’s was treated on that extremely cold day. I remember because, I was there, I had flew in the night before wishing and praying that this just may be my opp, to show the world that we are not waif, we have a little extra in the back but we are beautiful too. So I carried my bag down the line freezing cold, waiting for my chance to be seen and the approximately after 5 hours of waiting (in the freezing cold) some guys comes out and say that if you don’t have a blue ticket you will not be seen, I couldn’t believe it. I told the guys that I had just flew in from Texas and he just shrugged his shoulders and stated that he works for BB’s. So I walked up to the front of the facility and a crowd of women were surrounding the door just trying to be seen, the cops where on the scene and where trying to clear out the area, shouting that it is closed. I walked back to the line to explain to the girl’s what was going on, everyone is still freezing cold. As I begin to explain, a tall white guy walks out and states that no one else is been seen, he has his credentials on so I guess he was covergirl official. I stopped him and explained to him that I had just flown in from Texas and all he said to me was, “I understand”, and kept walking. At that moment, I made a decision to hail a cab back to the airport, for me it was no longer worth it. On the ride to the airport I was thinking about how my six older sis and I grew up on the queen, you know U.N.I.T.Y, well I guess she must have forgot about us. As for cover girl, being using their products for over 15 years and I am the youngest of six older sisters, we will not be supporting that product anymore…..