Have you seen the latest campaign from e.l.f. Beauty? It’s big and bold, and it encourages more diversity across U.S. corporate boardrooms. The eye-catching media campaign began appearing on digital screens surrounding Wall Street in New York earlier this month and is called “So Many Dicks.”

The campaign is part of e.l.f. Beauty’s ChangeTheBoardGame, an ongoing awareness and action initiative designed to help double the rate of women and diverse members on corporate boards by 2027 by spreading the word to other companies. So, why is e.l.f Beauty focusing on getting more women and diversity on corporate boards in the U.S. at large? Because, according to Chief Marketing Officer Kory Marchisotto, e.l.f. Beauty is a different kind of company.

“We disrupt norms in everything we do, from creating a team of passionate owners to ensuring diversity in the highest seats of power,” she said. “We believe we are the only publicly traded beauty company to grant every employee meaningful equity every year.”

The campaign grew out of the fact that e.l.f. Beauty is “one of only four publicly-traded companies in the U.S. with a board of directors that is two-thirds women and one-third diverse”, according to Marchisotto. “Changing the game with purpose continues to deliver results. We achieved 20 consecutive quarters of net sales growth and market share gains. We believe that if we normalize inclusivity, we will all win. We want everyone to join us in Changing the Board Game to ensure the next generation of leaders see themselves reflected in the highest seats of power,” she continued.

To drive awareness and motivate change, e.l.f. developed an out-of-home campaign in New York and across all e.l.f. channels that is running through June 10. The ads feature bold headlines that call out stats about current boards — and inviting others to learn about how diversity can drive profitability for everyone. These are among the first disruptive amplifications of many more to come in e.l.f.’s long-term commitment to this movement.

Working with purpose-driven agency OBERLAND, e.l.f. Beauty started the campaign by conducting research on corporate boards in the U.S. The companies identified and categorized the race and gender of each person serving on the boards of U.S.-based companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ using publicly available biographies, images, public statements, and information provided in public filings. This included 36,957 existing board members across 4,429 publicly traded U.S. companies. Once the data was in hand, the statistics were astounding. It included the following:

  • There were 566 men named Richard, Rick, or Dick (Dicks) serving on these public company boards;
  • Black women and Asian women barely outnumber men named Dick, with only 806 Black women, and 774 Asian women;
  • There were only 283 Hispanic women on these same boards, only half the number of “Dicks”;
  • There are 19 times more men named Dick than the 29 women of Middle Eastern descent on these boards’
  • There are only three Native American women serving on these boards compared to 566 men named Dick.

e.l.f. Beauty is encouraging existing board members to visit the website and verify/update their gender and race to ensure the database it created is the most accurate representation of corporate boards in the U.S. You can do so here.

For another campaign that is part of its ChangeTheBoardGame initiative, e.l.f. Beauty teamed up with legendary tennis star and equity advocate Billie Jean King. In a series of  video spots, King picks up her racket and launches fact-filled tennis balls at an in-progress board meeting. She serves up, for example, that women make up only 27 percent of U.S. corporate boards and the average U.S. corporate board is 88 percent white. King previously partnered with e.l.f. Beauty to commemorate the 50-year milestones of the “Battle of the Sexes” and equal prize money at the U.S. Open.