Why ELF Cosmetics Just Pulled the Plug on a Major Campaign

ELF Cosmetics is in damage-control mode after a new ad campaign sparked major backlash. The brand teamed up with a popular comedian for an “affordable beauty” promo—but past controversy over his stand-up content quickly turned fans against the partnership. In this episode of Nina’s What’s Trending, we break down what went wrong, why social media exploded, and the unexpected wellness craze that’s all about fixing your posture. Get the scoop on brand image missteps, celebrity backlash, and the surprising benefits of simply sitting up straight.

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Nina's What's Trending is your daily dose of the hottest headlines, viral moments, and must-know stories from The Jubal Show! From celebrity gossip and pop culture buzz to breaking news and weird internet trends, Nina’s got you covered with everything trending right now. She delivers it with wit, energy, and a touch of humor. Stay in the know and never miss a beat—because if it’s trending, Nina’s talking about it!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
His time for Nina's what's trending.

Speaker 2 (00:01):
Elf Cosmetics is apologizing to everybody right now. They say
that they understand that they miss the mark with their
new campaign. They care about the ELF community and want
them to know that they'll continue to make their case,
but they're going to do it differently.

Speaker 3 (00:14):
Whatever.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
So comedian, oh yes, let me tell you so, comedian
Matt Rife was put in one of their new campaigns.
So him and somebody else a drag queen hiding in
the closet, made this whole campaign for them that was
about affordable beauty attorneys. Their whole point is by leaning
into the fact that Elf Cosmetics is affordable, it's not
so expensive.

Speaker 3 (00:35):
Blah blah blah.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
So their messaging was on point, but who they had
in their ads was what's throwing people off because Matt
Rife has a skit somewhere where he's talking about domestic violence. Yeah,
and so everybody's like, an interesting choice. You put that
guy on a brand that mostly women buy. Oh, you're
talking about domestic violence. That just doesn't feel right. So everybody,

(00:58):
I shouldn't say everybody, but a lot of people saw
it are putting pressure on them and they did decide,
it's in their choice. They did decide to end the campaign. Yeah,
I feel like if you do something like that, you're
not aware.

Speaker 4 (01:08):
Yeah, it's probably one of those things they're like, we
need to find a popular comedian, because Matt Rye was
very popular, but they probably never looked at his comedy.

Speaker 2 (01:15):
Yeah, yeah, because it was from twenty twenty three. I
guess he had a stand up special called Natural Selection,
and that especially is where he did that.

Speaker 4 (01:23):
Sells offensive jokes, yeah, or things that could be offensive. Yeah,
you get offended, but yeah, that's his that's his brand
of comedy. So they should have watched his comedy before
they part a little bit. Yeah, I was surprised when
you said he got to be chosen to be someone
spokesperson because of how careful companies are. It's not like,
you know, this is coming out of the woodwork. It's
all this stuff is like that.

Speaker 5 (01:42):
So wow, someone who has a like, I don't know,
natural selection, Like someone should a looked into that a
little bit if they were gonna.

Speaker 2 (01:50):
I mean, there's also the point of view where it's like, well,
maybe they knew what they were doing and they knew
that they were going to be able to come out
and say, oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. We didn't
mean to do this, but now they're getting all of
this attention regardles.

Speaker 3 (02:00):
I don't know if you really can think that far ahead.

Speaker 2 (02:02):
This is setting up being a win win, unfortunately and
fortunately for them.

Speaker 5 (02:06):
Isn't it like the press thing where it's like bad press,
it's still still good press?

Speaker 3 (02:10):
Yeah, and all press is good press. I don't know,
but they heard you have mat.

Speaker 1 (02:14):
Rife with even like what they want me. Yeah, okay, it.

Speaker 2 (02:17):
Looks like a wizard in some of these. It's very interesting.
But they heard you and they took them out.

Speaker 5 (02:22):
Dang.

Speaker 2 (02:22):
There's a new wellness craze, same space kind of that
is now all about correcting your posture. I don't know
why we're calling this a new wellness craze, but I
do love that. It's one thing that you can do
that you don't have to actually change anything about yourself.
Better yourself by sitting up straight. It's getting those posture corrects.

Speaker 1 (02:42):
It's a lot of work. I'll tell you well.

Speaker 4 (02:43):
I've been working on my posture for the last like
year and a half, and it is. It's harder than
it sounds. To like really change your posture. It's all
takes a lot of paying attention to that's true. Why
you're sitting, how you're standing, all that stuff.

Speaker 3 (02:56):
It's hard.

Speaker 1 (02:56):
Yeah, it is hard. It's a huge difference.

Speaker 3 (02:58):
So those vests and to right you can help you
do that.

Speaker 1 (03:01):
They do.

Speaker 4 (03:02):
You're not supposed to wear them that much though, Why
because they're not good for you to wear them too much.
Huh yeah, well so it actually can do damage if
you wear that too much.

Speaker 5 (03:12):
Oh oh, interestingly, it should make something you can wear
all the time.

Speaker 2 (03:15):
Well, they're citing the benefits as making it easier for
you to exercise. You'll notice a visible shift and you're
not just your posture but your confidence. Yeah everything, Your
body will age better, so you're not like calling apart.

Speaker 3 (03:29):
And then this is the funny one.

Speaker 2 (03:30):
It can also make your neck and jaw look more defined,
like a facelifty because you're sitting up straight.

Speaker 3 (03:36):
There's a lot of truth to that.

Speaker 4 (03:37):
It does numbers for your mental health too, really, yeah,
well we think about it. Your spy your spine is
what connects to your brain, and all your nerves run
down your spine. So if your spine isn't straight, and
things aren't running how they should be. You're not going
to be firing the way you should as far as
like the human machinery goes.

Speaker 3 (03:52):
That's so true.

Speaker 2 (03:53):
I always think about it like a straw, and like
those are the juices that need to go up, and
if the straw is bent, the juices aren't going in
the right place.

Speaker 4 (03:59):
Right exactly, And like every single vertebrate has nerves that
come out of it, So you could if be having
digestive issues and it could actually stem from a pinch
in your spine. So standing up straight also helps with
the confidence and stuff like that, but not just because
you feel better because you're standing up straight. Yeah, Also
it feels better because your nerves are able to send
the right signals to your brain.

Speaker 3 (04:17):
This is so amazing. I'm still walking up the straw comment,
but this is very interesting. Great way to picture it,
don't you see it? I see it now. But I
would just need to flow freely.

Speaker 1 (04:26):
Yeah, uh huh.

Speaker 3 (04:28):
That's not even gross, dude, that's real. That's what's trending.