The ads of eleven cosmetics usually cause a sensation. The affordable cosmetics manufacturer condemned the lack of gender parity in the meeting room with a sketch campaign entitled “So many dicks”, the actress Jennifer Coolidge at the height of her “White Lotus” advantage for his first Superbowl commercial for his first Superbowl commercial, and sent the Astronaut Amanda Nguyen in April even in space.
The most recent campaign, which started on Monday, was a parody of the once ubiquitous advertisements of the Buffalo, the New York law firm Cellino & Barnes, in the Drag Queen Heidi n Closet and the comedian Matt Rife as lawyers who defended customers against overpriced beauty products. It leaned into the usual humorous, entertaining approach of the brand, and because the latest “Sunhing” comedy special-das contained a number of comedians that “roast” the sun to support the SPF use-such a success. The brand decided to work with a comedian again.
According to Kory Marchisotto, the global Chief Marketing Officer of Elf Beauty, they selected especially for Rifes because he overlaps the brand's target audience for the brand's goal. His TikK base, she told her The beauty businessis 80 percent female and 75 percent under 34 years – “really on the Sweet Spot”.
But the campaign did not land with some members of this audience. Almost immediately, commentators about the video and stitches on Tikkok, fixed themselves on jokes that Rife had made about domestic violence in a Netflix special from 2024. Many wanted to know why a brand that has long devoted itself to the survey of women would work with someone who shines a serious problem that affects part of their core exploration.
Eleven never saw it coming.
“Obviously we are very surprised,” said Marchisotto. “There is a big gap between our intention and the overlooking of the brand for some people. We always want to achieve a positivity, and it has not done it. So we are in a position in which this is honestly not feeling good for us.”
The public explanation of the brand published on Wednesday told a parallel story: “You always listen, we listen to it. This campaign aimed to put the beauty of beauty. We understand that we have missed the brand with people who are interested in our eleven community. While Elfino & Schmarnes closes today, we will continue to close overvalued beauty.”
Online vs. Irl
Instead of concentrating on Rife's earlier content, the team, which released around 20 Rapid-Fire campaigns per year, immersed in his community engagement, which, according to Marchisotto, had 80 percent positive feelings at the time of the development of the campaign.
“We [are] It is very well known to operate in real time, what it means to be in the cultural zeitgeist, “she said.
Elf is not the only brand that has recently been upset by his customers. American Eagle recently triggered outrage among the social media commentators in his latest campaign “Sydney Sweeney Great Jeans” as part of the pun. The brand's reaction to the counter reaction to Instagram, similar to that of eleven, claimed that the campaign “Is and was always her jeans”, “ Instead of submitting a broader statement.
However, it is difficult to recognize whether the sales figures are impaired whether a poorly executed campaign really prevents customers from buying a brand. And although “it is always important to have thoughtful considerations and strictness and discipline for their talent decisions,” said Marchisotto that social media can significantly reinforce how anger the viewers become.
The personal event, which the brand in the New York Oculus brand organized in connection with the campaign on Wednesday, told, for example, a different story than online. The pop-up, which looks like the interior of a court building to reflect the advertisement, had more than 1,100 visitors to get eleven products worth $ 96,000 worth $ 96,000.
“Social media is a magnet for people who are outraged,” said Allen Adamson, co -founder of the marketing agency MetaForce. “Whether this outrage prevents them from duplication on eleven cosmetics or buying American eagle jeans, there is not always a direct link. People love to stand on their soap boxes on social media … they are probably still wearing American eagles.”
For eleven, this campaign did not reach customers the way they hoped, but it has no plans to pursue their entertaining ethos. “All signals say that we should continue to be humorous, push the envelope further and continue to lean into entertainment,” said Marchisotto. “Our community loves that.”
And while outside the campaign campaigns may take a natural risk of leaving conversations online if brands may not try to annoy their core demography-should brands such as eleven and American Eagle rethink the values they share with their core demography. “Try to test it against your core users,” advised Adamson. “You will never keep everyone happy … 10 percent of your brand can ruffle, but if it drives 50 percent of your brand nucleus users, you have reached the third rail and climb out.”
Elfs “So many dicks” campaign is a main example to stand out in the area of brand values.
In the case of Rife, said Adamson, every advertisement was a good advertisement: “If you play it too safely, you are invisible. Most marketing managers would probably rather notice and apologize or dig up later than to be invisible,” he said.