e.l.f. Cosmetics has responded to the negative response sparked by its latest campaign starring comedian Matt Rife.
“You know us, we’re always listening and we’ve heard you. This campaign aimed to humorously spotlight beauty injustice,” e.l.f. stated in an Instagram post. “We understand we missed the mark with people we care about in the e.l.f. Community. While e.l.f.ino & shmarnes closes today, we’ll continue to make the case against overpriced beauty.”
The cosmetics brand launched the humorous campaign earlier this week. In the new ad, drag icon Heidi N Closet stars alongside Rife as lawyers who defend consumers who have paid too much for high priced beauty products. The campaign takes the brand’s usual humorous tone and playfully creates a fake law firm to highlight its purpose to offer low prices.
The controversy stemmed from the brand’s choice of working with Rife, who had previously made jokes about domestic violence in a Netflix special. The brand chose Rife, because 80 percent of his TikTok followers are women, with the majority under 30, the brand’s target demographic, Kory Marchisotto, e.l.f.’s global chief marketing officer told The Business of Fashion.
“Obviously we’re very surprised,” Marchisotto said to B of F. “There is a big gap between our intention and how this missed the mark for some people … We always aim to deliver positivity, and this one didn’t. So we find ourselves in a position where, quite honestly, that doesn’t feel good for us.”
The new campaign positions the brand as maintaining its commitment to high quality for low prices and dropped right after tariffs led the company to raise prices by $1 per product. The campaign includes digital and a pop up law firm activation at the Oculus in NYC, where consumers lined up beginning at 6 am to get their chance to plead their case and receive swag from the brand.
e.l.f.’s campaign follows other campaigns that stirred up controversy on social media this summer including American Eagle’s Sydney Sweeney campaign and Dunkin’s ad starring “The Summer I Turned Pretty”’s Gavin Casalegno, both of which were critiqued for their reference to genetics.
