When e.l.f. Beauty launched a campaign starring controversial comedian Matt Rife last month, many of its target consumers were surprised and offended by the choice.

• Rife had previously received criticism for domestic violence jokes and other material. For some e.l.f. consumers, using him in an ad felt like an off-brand choice, given the brand's large female audience and historical championing of DEI initiatives.

When consumers control digital discourse, brands face heightened pressure to get their messaging right, creating a market for AI-generated testing and vetting that detects potential backlash.

Keeping up with culture

“The speed of culture has outpaced ad tech,” said Crystal Foote, founder of Digital Culture Group. “E.l.f. didn’t have the proper tools to say, ‘Is Matt Rife the right spokesperson?’ and just went off their assumptions.”

• In an interview with the Business of Fashion, CMO Kory Morischotto said Rife’s TikTok following is 80% female and 75% under the age of 40—making him the right fit on paper.

"Particularly with younger consumers, they want to engage in a two-way dialogue or conversation with brands," said our analyst Sky Canaves in a “Behind the Numbers” episode, stressing that “brands don't control the narrative of their campaigns as much as they might try to."

That's where technology can potentially fill in the gaps of brand knowledge, moving at that rapid speed of cultural awareness.

Using AI to identify blind spots

Agency Digital Culture Group plugged the e.l.f campaign into its Audience Resonance Index (ARI), an AI tool that predicts consumer responses to campaigns. After identifying a brand’s primary, secondary, emerging, and unintended audiences, the tool uses live data to predict each group’s responses.

“We try to make sure we’re reaching the right audience and really eliminating any type of media waste by focusing on relevance instead of reach,” said Foote. “We said, ‘Here’s an opportunity to reverse engineer success for our partners and let them know based on their RFP how to have more audience relevancy for their campaigns.'”

Digital Culture Group's ARI identified misalignment between Rife and e.l.f’s core audience, which they said are 18-34 year-old beauty enthusiasts.

“You have your core audience and your broader audience, and [e.l.f. Beauty] was looking for a broader audience,” Foote said, adding that the goal should always be to “make sure those loyalists who have been with you since day one continue to feel comfortable buying your product.”

The Rife campaign was seen to diverge from e.l.f.’s core audience values of social responsibility and inclusivity, and brands pulling back on these efforts are facing financial consequences.

• Some 40% of Gen Z adults, and 19% of total US adults, have stopped using and purchasing from brands that have reversed or contradicted their DEI efforts, per a March Ad Age and Harris Poll survey.

"Maybe someone follows him on Instagram, but when it comes to beauty, they might say, ‘I don’t want that type of talent representing the brand that I purchase,'” said Foote.

Spotting overlooked audiences

While one of ARI's primary functions is preventing brand missteps, it can also uncover unexpected growth opportunities. The tool recently helped a telecommunications client discover an entirely new market, said Foote.

• The firm selling its prepaid lines used ARI to expand beyond their typical audience of families looking for basic, low-cost lines for their children.

“ARI uncovered a new segment of urban professionals that wanted to open up a new line, but didn’t want to do so on their personal line because it would’ve been more expensive,” she said. “Those are the data signals it told us that we should be investing in, and now they’re creating a whole new campaign surrounding that effort.”

While audience expansion can create new opportunities for brands, the risks must be careful and calculated, said Foote.

“When it comes to advertising, we are really shaping culture and being provocateurs, and we have to be very careful what we’re putting out in the atmosphere,” she said.

This was originally featured in the EMARKETER Daily newsletter. For more marketing insights, statistics, and trends, subscribe here.