Maybelline Rewrites Its 35-Year-Old Tagline for Gen Z

By Sophie Lindqvist

On Nov. 10, Maybelline launches “The Beauty of Infinite Possibility,” recasting a jingle introduced 35 years ago as a declarative brand statement aimed at Gen Z and Maybelline’s existing loyal consumers.

The decision puts Miley Cyrus at the center of the launch campaign. It also shifts the focus of the 35-year-old line from curiosity about one woman’s beauty to a broader promise for women of all ages, with particular weight on younger audiences.

A question becomes a declaration

Maybelline’s original jingle reads: “Maybe she’s born with it. Maybe it’s Maybelline.” The line has remained one of the most recognizable brand jingles since its introduction 35 years ago.

Rather than discard that recognition, the company is changing the statement built around “maybe.” “The Beauty of Infinite Possibility” gives the word a wider meaning and positions the campaign as a declaration rather than a question.

The contrast starts with the original line’s point of view. That line asked whether a woman was born with her beauty. Maybelline wants the new platform to address what makeup can enable for the woman wearing it.

The company identifies four elements at the center of that proposition:

• Creativity
• Confidence
• Self-expression
• Reinvention

Those terms broaden the proposed meaning of beauty beyond a fixed attribute. They also give the brand a way to connect the familiar jingle with the way consumers can use makeup to experiment, express themselves and change their look.

The move does not remove the old question from the campaign’s history. It retains the recognition generated by “Maybe she’s born with it. Maybe it’s Maybelline” and uses that equity to introduce a more direct, relevant, hopeful and inclusive platform.

Miley Cyrus carries the platform

Cyrus serves as Maybelline’s global ambassador and fronts the launch ad. Her role gives the new campaign a recognizable lead as Maybelline explains how it has reinterpreted the word “maybe.”

The ad is intended to assure consumers that Maybelline products will work for them. That objective links celebrity visibility to a practical product promise, rather than leaving the new platform as a statement about aspiration alone.

Maybelline’s announcement does not provide separate figures for media spending, product launches or market rollout. Its stated focus is the meaning of the brand platform, the use of the 35-year-old jingle and the balance between younger consumers and the existing customer base.

What does this change for Maybelline?

For Gen Z, the change is an explicit move toward a declarative, inclusive statement. Instead of inferring the brand’s promise from a playful question, the new platform says that makeup can support creativity, confidence, self-expression and reinvention.

For loyal customers, the company is preserving the most recognizable part of its identity. The campaign can therefore refresh the line’s tone without asking the audience to give up the association that made the original jingle famous.

For marketing leadership, the immediate task is to make that dual proposition clear: the platform should feel current to younger audiences while remaining credible for women of all ages.

The announcement gives no detail on how many products, markets or campaign assets will carry the platform. It also does not disclose a price point or performance target. Those omissions leave the commercial scale of the reset unstated.

The strategic choice is defined even without those details. Maybelline is turning 35 years of jingle recognition into a broader platform built around possibility, then using Miley Cyrus to connect that promise to consumers.

Maybelline must now prove that a more assertive statement can preserve the familiarity that gave the old question its value.