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Business of Fashion
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Business of Fashion
Exclusive: The Story Behind E.l.f.'s Controversial Matt Rife Campaign
E.l.f. Cosmetics' ads usually make a splash. The affordable cosmetics maker has decried the lack of gender parity in the boardroom with a sketch campaign called 'So Many Dicks', tapped the actress Jennifer Coolidge at the peak of her 'White Lotus' fame for its first superbowl commercial, and even sent the astronaut Amanda Nguyen into space with its products in April. Its most recent campaign, launched on Monday, a parody of the once ubiquitous ads run by the Buffalo, New York law firm Cellino & Barnes, starred the drag queen Heidi N Closet and the comedian Matt Rife as attorneys defending clients against overpriced beauty products. It leaned into the brand's usual humorous, entertainment-based approach, and because its recent 'Sunhinged' comedy special — which featured a series of comedians 'roasting' the sun to support SPF use — was such a success, the brand decided to work with a comedian once again. They picked Rife specifically, according to Kory Marchisotto, E.l.f. Beauty's global chief marketing officer, because of his significant overlap with the brand's target female Gen-Z audience. His TikTok base, she told The Business of Beauty, is 80 percent female, and 75 percent under the age of 34 — 'so right in the sweet spot.' But the campaign failed to land with some members of that audience. Almost immediately, commenters on the video, and stitches on TikTok, fixated on jokes Rife had made about domestic violence in a 2024 Netflix special. Many demanded to know why a brand that has long devoted itself to uplifting women would partner with someone who makes light of a serious issue impacting some of its core customer base. ADVERTISEMENT E.l.f. never saw it coming. 'Obviously we're very surprised,' said Marchisotto. '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 brand's public statement, released on Wednesday, told a parallel story: '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. While & schmarnes closes today, we'll continue to make the case against overpriced beauty.' E.l.f. Beauty's online statement following the backlash to its campaign. (E.l.f. Beauty) Online vs. IRL Rather than focusing on Rife's past content, the team — which releases around 20 rapid-fire campaigns per year — dove into his community engagement, which had 80 percent positive sentiment at the time of the campaign's development, according to Marchisotto. 'We [are] very much known for operating in real time, that's what it means to be in the cultural zeitgeist,' she said. 'So we're not looking in the rear view mirror when we're operating the real-time marketing machine.' E.l.f. is not the only brand to cause upset among its customers as of late. American Eagle recently sparked outrage among some social media commenters around the wordplay in its latest campaign, 'Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans.' The brand's response to the backlash on Instagram, similarly to E.l.f.'s, claimed that the campaign 'is and was always about her jeans,' rather than being designed to make a broader statement. Until sales numbers are impacted, though, it's hard to tell whether a poorly executed campaign truly stops customers from shopping a brand. And while 'it's always important to have thoughtful consideration and rigor and discipline behind your talent choices,' said Marchisotto, social media can significantly amplify just how upset onlookers get. The in-person event the brand hosted at New York's Oculus in conjunction with the campaign on Wednesday, for instance, told a different story than what was happening online. The pop-up, which was designed to look like the inside of a courthouse to mirror the ad, had more than 1,100 visitors queuing up to receive $96,000 worth of E.l.f. products and, in some cases, cash back, in exchange for beauty products they had overspent on, the brand reported. ADVERTISEMENT 'Social media is a magnet for people being outraged,' said Allen Adamson, co-founder of marketing agency Metaforce. 'Whether that outrage stops them from double-clicking on E.l.f. Cosmetics or going to buy American Eagle jeans, there's not always a direct link. People love to stand on their soap boxes on social media … They're still likely wearing American Eagle.' For E.l.f., while this campaign did not reach customers in the way it hoped it would, it has no plans of straying from its entertaining ethos. 'All of the signals tell us to keep being humorous, to keep pushing the envelope, to keep leaning into entertainment,' said Marchisotto. 'That's what our community loves.' And while out-of-the-box campaigns may run a natural risk of sparking conversations online — even when brands may not be looking to upset their core demographic — brands like E.l.f. and American Eagle should reconsider the values they share with their core demographic. 'Try to test it against your core users,' Adamson advised. 'You're never going to keep everyone happy … It can ruffle 10 percent of your brand, but if it ruffles 50 percent of your brand core users, then you hit the third rail and you get off.' E.l.f.'s 'So Many Dicks' campaign is a prime example of standing out within the realm of what a brand values. In the case of Rife, though, Adamson said, any publicity is good publicity:'If you play it too safe, you're invisible … Most marketing leaders probably would rather be noticed, and apologise or dig out of it later than be invisible,' he said.
Newsweek
08-08-2025
- Business
- Newsweek
Laurie Lam Embodies E.l.f. Beauty's Bold, Kind-Hearted Disruption
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Laurie Lam has been a disruptor for as long as she can remember. At just 11, she hopped on a New York City subway to convince the owner of a flower shop in Chinatown to give her a job. At 15—armed with working papers, braces and no eyebrows (it was the trend at the time)—she did the same at an Estée Lauder counter. "I was always curious. I wanted to make an impact. I was humble. I had heart, I had drive, I had grit. I wasn't afraid of hard work. And those things have stayed true throughout my entire life," Lam, who now serves as the chief brand officer at E.l.f. Beauty, told Newsweek. With Lam's help, E.l.f.—which describes itself as "a bold disruptor with a kind heart"—has built a thought-provoking marketing machine that's not only become one of the world's fastest growing beauty brands but also one that has sparked meaningful conversations outside the industry. The company's viral success has extended beyond its collaboration with TikTok stars and celebrity-packed Super Bowl ads. Last year, E.l.f. also made headlines for its eye-popping "So Many Dicks" campaign, which called out the lack of diversity in American boardrooms. Upon learning that there were more men named Richard, Rich and Rick (names that have all been associated with the nickname Dick) on U.S. public corporate boards than entire groups of underrepresented people, E.l.f. launched an entire campaign centered on the statistic. Photo-illustration by Newsweek/Getty/E.l.f. Beauty The brand found that there were twice as many men named Dick than Hispanic women and 19 times more men named Dick than women of Middle Eastern descent. It also uncovered that for every two men named Dick, there were only three Black women. Asian women faced the same ratio. "It became a catalyst for us," Lam recalled. E.l.f. used the "So Many Dicks" campaign to kick off a larger initiative that the company dubbed "Change the Board Game," an effort to double the rate at which women and people of color are added to boards by 2027. The other goal, Lam said, was to shift the conversation from corporate circles to kitchen tables across the country. "That's exactly what we accomplished," she said. "Our own board of directors was sitting at the dinner table with their daughters asking about this because they had seen [the campaign]." The initiative supplied consumers with educational resources, answering questions like how boards are seated and what exactly a board of directors does, but more important, E.l.f. made a compelling argument—using its own board as an example—that diversity is profitable. When the company launched the "So Many Dicks" campaign, it was only one of five publicly traded companies in the U.S. that could boast a board of directors that is two-thirds woman and one-third diverse. Today, E.l.f., with a board that is 67 percent woman and 44 percent diverse, remains only one of five companies that can say that. "We don't want to be alone in that statistic," Lam said, explaining that E.l.f.'s diversity was a driving factor for the "patterns of success" that the company was seeing. At the time that Lam joined E.l.f. in 2022, the brand ranked no. 5 in terms of profit within the beauty market and no. 6 in terms of units sold. Today, E.l.f. is no. 2 in profit and no. 1 in units sold. "It's not by coincidence," Lam said. "Our board of directors was so unique that we knew that anything is possible—or ' possible—when you have women in diversity, in the highest seats of decision-making power." On Wednesday, E.l.f. reported its 26th consecutive quarter of net sales growth and market share gains. "[That success] is built on this back of a board of directors, and it is built on a firm belief that when you have diverse people in the highest seats of decision-making power, you can actually create positive change for the company," Lam said. "We want to invite more people to the table." E.l.f. Beauty's "So Many Dicks" campaign on display at The Oculus in New York City. E.l.f. Beauty's "So Many Dicks" campaign on display at The Oculus in New York City. E.l.f. Beauty/Rob Longert Lam's decision to join E.l.f. was born out of a difficult time. Coming out of the pandemic with two young daughters and the recent passing of her father, she suddenly found herself "reevaluating her North Star." "That was a really pivotal moment in my life that made me evaluate what I wanted to be, where I wanted to live, what was going to be my legacy," she said. "It led me to the word unleash." Lam learned that her North Star was the ability to "live by [her] truth." "Coming to E.l.f. and seeing a company that allows me to do that every single day and allows me to feel my purpose, when I was at a crossroad, is integral to that truth," she said. "The day that that stops happening to me, there's a day that I'm no longer here at this company." This year, E.l.f. has turned its attention to its younger consumers, an audience that Lam, as a mother of two girls, is passionate about. On Tuesday, E.l.f. consummated the acquisition of Hailey Bieber's skincare brand, Rhode, for $1 billion—an acquisition that E.l.f. said would "cement" its "place as the next-generation beauty conglomerate." And in June, E.l.f. announced that it was partnering with Hello Sunshine, Reese Witherspoon's media and production company, to launch Sunnie, a Generation Z–focused experiential media and lifestyle brand. "As a mother of two young daughters who are Gen Alpha, this is going to create ripple effects that they are going to benefit from," Lam said. "We are pioneering something that has not been done before. We are doing it to create positive impact to every eye, lip and face," she added. "And it feels close to me knowing that my girls are going to be there really soon." To celebrate women in leadership and to help them connect with the next generation of C-suite executives and board members, Newsweek is hosting its inaugural Women's Global Impact forum. The August 5 event, hosted at Newsweek's headquarters in New York City, will bring together some of the world's top female executives and connect them with rising stars across industries and job functions. For more information on the event and entry guidelines, please visit the Women's Global Impact homepage.
