ELF launches “So Many Dicks” campaign in Wall Street to promote boardroom diversity

13 May 2024 --- ELF Beauty is trying to “Change the Board Game” and add more diversity in US corporate boardrooms. The cosmetics brand’s latest media campaign can be seen on digital screens surrounding New York City’s Wall Street with the slogan, “So Many Dicks.”

Working with Oberland, ELF conducted research on corporate boards in the US, discovering that men named Richard, Rick or Dick serving on these public company boards outnumbered women and diverse groups. ELF aims to aid in doubling the rate of women and diverse members added to corporate boards to 6% by 2027.

ELF Beauty is one of four publicly traded US companies out of over 4,200 with a board of two-thirds women and one-third “diverse”. Beauty chairman and CEO Tarang Amin says the company’s board of directors is helping fuel business growth which has been quite strong with 20 consecutive quarters of net sales growth. ELF is one of five consumer goods companies in the US with that record.

“One of the most important things a diverse board does is bring in multiple viewpoints to make better decisions. At ELF Beauty, empathy is part of our business model because it brings us closer to our community and the things people in the community care about,” explains Amin.

“A diverse board also helps us stay culturally relevant among multiple affinities. It’s the unique combination and diverse school of thought that helps us lead innovation and brand demand in the industry.”

“So few of everyone else”
ELF Beauty and Oberland identified and categorized the race and gender of each person serving on the boards of directors of US-based companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq Composite using publicly available biographies, images, statements and information. This included 36,957 existing board members across 4,429 publicly traded US companies.

ELF reveals there are double the amount of men named Dick on company boardrooms than Hispanic women.The research revealed there were 566 men named Richard, Rick, or Dick serving on these public company boards. All Black women and Asian women on boards outnumber men named Dick, with 806 Black women and 774 Asian women. There were 283 Hispanic women on these same boards, half the number of “Dicks.”

There are 19 times more men named Dick than the 29 women of Middle Eastern descent on the recorded boards. There are three Native American women serving on these boards.

ELF asserts that the data fueling “So Many Dicks” has “never been categorized this way” and researched manually, “illuminating underrepresentation in boardrooms that make decisions at companies that fuel the US economy.”

“ELF’s commitment to diverse representation isn’t limited to within the four walls of our company. We want to normalize diversity — and if it takes some ELFing in-your-face advertising to do it, we’re happy to put it on some of the biggest screens you can imagine,” says Kory Marchisotto, chief marketing officer at ELF Beauty.

“The aim of the data, the database and the compelling ad campaign is to invite others with us on this journey to drive real impact and help corporate boards more accurately reflect the world around us.”

The company encourages existing board members to verify and update their gender and race to ensure the database accurately represents corporate boards in the US.

Wall Street spotlight
Wall Street is known as a global business hub, which is why ELF hopes its campaign will attract maximum attention. The “So Many Dicks” movement is also launched across all of the brand’s channels. The ad will run until mid-June around the Financial District, including in The Oculus in the World Trade Center.

ELF previously partnered with Billie Jean King for “Change The Board Game.”The campaign imagery features “bold” headlines citing stats about current boards and invites passersby to learn how diversity can drive profitability. ELF says these are among the first amplifications of many in its “long-term” commitment to the movement.

Changing the game
ELF kicked off the “Change The Board Game” initiative earlier this year when it announced a partnership with the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) and its sponsorship of 20 women and or diverse board-ready candidates through NACD Accelerate.

“This campaign demonstrates the ROI of DEI in a way that gets people’s attention, hopefully compelling them to join our cause. It is our belief that broad representation of the marketplace is part of a successful business plan, and an inclusive workforce and board gives the best context to achieve that,” concludes Drew Train, CEO of Oberland.”

Earlier this month, tennis star and equity advocate Billie Jean King and ELF Beauty partnered for the initiative. King previously partnered with ELF to commemorate the 50-year milestones of the “Battle of the Sexes” and equal prize money at the US Open.

By Sabine Waldeck

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