e.l.f. Cosmetics released its true crime parody ‘Cosmetic Criminals.’ It’s based on cosmetic pinching by near and dear ones in households everywhere. The parody released in select theatres in California, USA, ahead of the release of Paramount pictures’ ‘Mean Girls’ movie.
‘Cosmetic Criminals’ by e.l.f. Cosmetics is the first-ever branded content spot to run on the big screen. The parody documentary has a 15-minute run time and is based on cosmetic pinching. Further, it circles around a priced e.l.f product ‘borrowed’ by a near or dear with no intent to return it.
“Our e.l.f. community was the first to tell us about widespread e.l.f.-pinching within their households,” said Laurie Lam, Chief Brand Officer, e.l.f. Beauty. “Borrowing e.l.f. holy grails from family and friends without the intention of returning, a.k.a. Intergenerational Cos Crime is a global phenomenon – between siblings, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives – even grandparents are not spared. This insight from our community sparked an incredible idea we had to act on.”
The brand has a customer base across generations and genders, from boomers to GenZ. Hence, a movie like this is most likely to generate a lot of questions and laughter.
e.l.f has also converted this social insight into a merch collection aptly named Cosmetic Security on its website elfcosmetics.com. The collection includes a teddy bear, a faux planter and also a hollowed-out book by Heidi N Herre. All of which are perfect secret hide-outs to safeguard your e.l.f. beauties from pinching.