Oakland's E.l.f. Cosmetics responds to backlash over Matt Rife ad, says it ‘missed the mark'
The Oakland-based beauty brand said it 'missed the mark' with some customers and pledged to listen to feedback from its community.
'You know us, we're always listening and we've heard you,' the company wrote on Instagram Wednesday. 'This campaign aimed to humorously spotlight beauty injustice. We understand we missed the mark with people we care about in our e.l.f. community.'
The campaign, launched Sunday, Aug. 10, parodied early-2000s personal injury law commercials, with Rife and drag queen Heidi N Closet playing 'beauty attorneys' fighting overpriced makeup.
E.l.f. cast Rife for his large Gen Z female following — 80% of his TikTok audience is women, the company said — but quickly faced backlash from viewers citing a 2023 Netflix special, ' Natural Selection,' in which Rife joked about a waitress with a black eye.
'If she could cook, she wouldn't have that black eye,' he said.
'I figure we start the show with domestic violence, the rest of the show should be pretty smooth sailing after that,' Rife added.
Following the 'Natural Selection' backlash, Rife posted an Instagram Story saying, 'If you've ever been offended by a joke I've told — here's a link to my official apology.'
According to NBC News, the link directed users to a website selling medical helmets for people with special needs.
Critics questioned why a brand known for championing women's causes would partner with him.
'Matt Rife? The guy who jokes about DV? In an ad targeted to women? That's, um. A choice,' one Instagram user wrote.
E.l.f.'s global chief marketing officer, Kory Marchisotto, said the team was 'very surprised' by the reaction.
'There is a big gap between our intention and how this missed the mark for some people,' she told The Business of Beauty. 'We always aim to deliver positivity, and this one didn't.'
In recent years, E.l.f. has focused on culturally relevant campaigns, from featuring Jennifer Coolidge in its 2023 Super Bowl debut to partnering with astronaut and activist Amanda Nguyen for Blue Origin's first all-female spaceflight.
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