E.l.f Cosmetics thought Matt Rife was a perfect choice to represent them. It’s not going well
Companies are really just making mistakes left and right with their marketing anymore. E.l.f Cosmetics, an affordable and well respected make-up brand, decided to partner with a man who has made jokes about women and domestic violence. Like, how is that a “good fit” for you?
Rife, who became a well-known “comedian” because of his crowd work on TikTok, put out a comedy special on Netflix in 2023. It was controversial because once fans saw what his actual comedy was like, they realized that Rife wasn’t really that funny. Instead, he’s just kind of offensive. Since the special’s release, Rife hasn’t really been the TikTok darling he once was.
He clearly isn’t hurting for money though. After all, he did just go in as a co-owner of the Warren Occult Museum, meaning that he owns the possessed doll Annabelle. And with this collaboration with e.l.f, he is still getting brand deals out of his TikTok clout. And this one is particularly odd given how e.l.f itself brands their products.
It was so shocking that many beauty influencers made posts on social media about how they will not be using the brand moving forward because of its collaboration with Rife. And the brand itself had to make a statement about the team up.
“You know us, we’re always listening and we’ve heard you,” the brand wrote on social media, saying that they are going to continue to take on the “overpriced” make-up options out there. “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.”
To not help their case, Rife commented on the post saying “Had a great time” with a red heart, seemingly not engaging with the concern of female customers who voiced their upset over his involvement with the company.
The issue isn’t that Rife is getting brand deals. White men will always fail upwards. It is that a brand that has, in the past, supported important women’s rights issues. So collaborating with someone who jokes about domestic violence in his bad comedy sets doesn’t really match the image they were attempting to put out into the world.
(featured image: e.l.f cosmetics)
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