Makeup brand e.l.f. Cosmetics and Skincare, the company behind all of your favourite drug store dupes, has apologised for an ad campaign featuring Matt Rife, an American comedian who has previously come under fire for ‘joking’ about domestic violence.
The brand shared something of an apology on its Instagram page, saying it the campaign was aimed at “humorously spotlight[ing] beauty injustice”.
“We understand we missed the mark with people we care about in our e.l.f. community. While e.l.f.ino & schmarnes closes today, we’ll continue to make the case against overpriced beauty,” read the note.
The apology was for an ad campaign featuring Rife and drag queen Heidi N Closet as ‘affordable’ lawyers for the firm e.l.f.ino & schmarnes who are out to battle high-priced beauty. The campaign was fine, the subject was not.
In 2023, Rife hosted a Netflix special and his opening joke was about domestic violence. This was especially jarring since, prior to this, much of his fanbase was made up of women. He then doubled down and proceeded to mock his critics with a ‘joke’ about people with disabilities.
Many people in the comment section expressed their shock and dismay over Rife’s inclusion, asking how e.l.f. could target women and proceed to feature a man who made such horrific jokes about women.
There were a lot of sarcastic calls for proud misogynist Andrew Tate to be the face of their next campaign.
Many asked the very valid question — was there no one else they could get for this ad?
And, of course, the inevitable question about them being cruelty free — they may not test on animals but they certainly do hire men who have been very cruel about women to represent the brand.
The apology didn’t fare well either, with people questioning why the ad was still up and why the apology didn’t feel like one at all — it felt more like being told they were sorry people felt upset.
The brand’s global chief marketing officer, Kory Marchisotto, told the Business of Beauty that they picked Rife because of his overlap with their target audience — young Gen Z women. His TikTok base, she told the publication, is 80 per cent female, and 75 per cent under the age of 34, which she described as “right in the sweet spot”.
It seems, however, that the brand either didn’t do its homework or was happy to ignore Rife’s past controversies. Whatever it was, it didn’t sit well with e.l.f.’s customers.