Fierce backlash to Matt Rife ad campaign left makeup company 'very surprised' admits brand executive
In an interview with the outlet "Business of Fashion" (BOF), the beauty brand's chief marketing officer, Kory Marchisotto, spoke about what went wrong with its ad with Rife, explaining that causing outrage was never their intention.
"Obviously we're very surprised," she said. "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," Marchisotto added.
The cosmetics brand published the ad on major social media platforms last week. The commercial featured Rife and drag queen Heidi N Closet as "E.l.f.ino & Schmarnes," a spoof lawyer duo in a legal commercial fighting for consumers' rights to inexpensive cosmetic products.
However, the clip took major heat from online users, including several major beauty and fashion influencers, who were offended that e.l.f. would employ Rife after he joked about domestic abuse during his 2023 stand-up special, "Natural Selection."
In the special, the comic told the story of when he and his friend noticed a waitress with a black eye while they were eating at a restaurant in Baltimore. He explained that the two of them questioned why the restaurant owners wouldn't have the employee work in the kitchen to avoid customers asking questions.
"Yeah, but I feel like if she could cook, she wouldn't have a black eye," Rife joked.
When people reacted poorly to the joke at the time, Rife doubled down, putting out a statement that directed social media users to a link offering an "apology" if they had ever been offended by a joke he told. The link brought users to a website where they could purchase special-needs helmets.
In response to e.l.f.'s new ad last week, "Nikkietutorials," a cosmetics influencer with almost 9 million followers on TikTok, commented, "aaaaaaandddd you lost me... Matt Rife out of ALL people? so disappointed."
Others trashed the video in its comment sections, too. Maddy Lucy Dann, a TikTok user with 1.4 million followers, wrote, "In Matt Rife's Netflix stand-up special Natural Selection he opened with a domestic violence joke, implying a woman wouldn't have a black eye if she could cook."
The beauty brand responded to the backlash, putting out a statement last Wednesday acknowledging that working with Rife was a mistake.
"You know us, we're always listening and we've heard you. 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," e.l.f. stated.
During her interview with BOF, Marchisotto explained why e.l.f. went with Rife for the ad campaign. She noted how 80 percent of Rife's TikTok audience is female, with 75 percent under the age of 34 – "right in the sweet spot" of the makeup brand's target audience.
The executive added that at the time e.l.f. built its campaign around Rife, he was getting 80 percent positive engagement from his audience, so the brand thought it was a safe bet.
"We [are] very much known for operating in real time, that's what it means to be in the cultural zeitgeist. So we're not looking in the rear view mirror when we're operating the real-time marketing machine," she said.
Rife has yet to reply to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
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