E.l.f Cosmetics apologises after bizarre new ad with Matt Rife gets major backlash

There are videos all over TikTok of people throwing away their E.l.f makeup products and announcing they’re boycotting the brand. The company has been a favourite for the makeup community for years, because of their affordable products and influencer marketing. But their latest PR move has people swearing them off.

@cjthemom5

Sorry @elfcosmetics I’ll never buy a product again!! #mattrife #elfcosmetics #dvsurvivor #fyp #bye

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On Monday, the brand dropped its latest ad. It featured Drag Race royalty Heidi N Closet alongside controversial comedian, Matt Rife. The stand-up comedian has been in multiple scandals over his career, including dressing up as Diddy at a Halloween party and making weird jokes about Zendaya.

It all came to a boiling point back in 2023, when clips from his Netflix stand-up special Natural Selection went viral. He told a story about going on a flight where the air stewardess had an obvious black eye.

“But we couldn’t get over, like, this is the face of the company? This is who you have greeting people?” he said.

“And my boy, who I was with, was like, ‘Yeah, I feel bad for her, man, I feel like they should put her in the kitchen or something where nobody has to see her face.’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, but I feel like if she could cook, she wouldn’t have that black eye.’”

Many found this joke insensitive, and ever since, Matt Rife has been accused of being a misogynist. He still has a large female audience though – which is apparently exactly why E.l.f wanted him for their campaign.

Kory Marchisotto, E.l.f’s chief marketing officer, said they made the choice because his audience is their target consumer demographic. She told The Business of Beauty his audience is 80% female, and 75% of them are under the age of 34.

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Still, the collaboration missed the mark with a lot of E.l.f fans. The brand has built a reputation of progression through campaigns supporting women in sport and a commitment to being cruelty-free. People online thought this collaboration completely went against their values.

The brand rushed to Instagram to release a statement addressing the backlash.

“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 the E.l.f community,” they said.

The comment section is pretty split, with some people saying the backlash is overblown, while others are asking E.l.f to completely remove the ad. Both Matt Rife and Heidi N Closet have stayed silent on the drama.

The Tab has reached out to Matt Rife for comment.

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Featured images by E.l.f Cosmetics/ adrianaroseh on TikTok