Maybelline New York has updated its iconic 35-year-old tagline, and the edit is as small as it is significant. The 1991 line, ‘Maybe she’s born with it. Maybe it’s Maybelline,’ now reads ‘Maybe. We’re born with it. Maybe. It’s Maybelline.’ Two tweaks, one pronoun and some punctuation, are enough to give a familiar line a new meaning.
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The punctuation does the first job. Full stops after ‘Maybe’ turn what was an open question, a note of hesitation, into a firm statement of possibility. Global brand president Sandrine Jolly says ‘maybe’ no longer signals doubt, but possibility, which is what the brand wants to offer women.
The pronoun does the second. Swapping ‘she’s’ for ‘we’re’ widens the message from an individual woman to all women, aiming for a more inclusive, self-expressed approach. The change is part of a new global platform, ‘The Beauty of Infinite Possibility’, fronted by global brand ambassador Miley Cyrus.
The stakes are high. The original tagline enjoyed 84% brand recall in 2024, making it one of the most recognisable lines in consumer goods, and reaction to the rewrite has been divided, with critics pointing to the broken rhythm of the jingle. Yet by keeping ‘Maybe’ and the brand name intact, Maybelline is betting it can hold on to 35 years of recognition while speaking to a generation that sees beauty as confidence and self-expression, rather than appearance.
