Judge Judy, aka Judy Sheindlin, is Judge Beauty in e.l.f.’s Super Bowl commercial.
For its first national Super Bowl ad, e.l.f. Beauty is turning to Judge Judy, aka Judy Sheindlin, to drive home the value that’s driven the brand’s rapid growth.
Sheindlin, currently star of “Judy Justice” on Amazon Prime and FreeVee and for a quarter century before that on her syndicated “Judge Judy” show, is her usual no-nonsense self. “Beauty fades,” Sheindlin says from the bench. “Dumb is forever,” she adds as she presides over a lesson against overspending on cosmetics.
Shadow was the creative agency, with Tinuiti handling media and Zach Woods directing.
Mixing courtroom metaphors, litigants before e.l.f.’s “Judge Beauty” are stars of the courtroom series “Suits,” including Rick Hoffman, who charges Gina Torres with wasting money on high-priced cosmetics.
Sheindlin asks Torres incredulously: “$92 on foundation?!” Torres replies: “I just wanted to look glowy.” Sheindlin sentences her to a seemingly not-so-bad outcome—“$14 glowy skin” via e.l.f.’s Halo Glow Liquid Filter complexion booster, which was the brand’s top-selling item of 2023.
But, speaking of high-priced, e.l.f., a fast-growing brand well known for its quick-turnaround value-priced “dupes” of higher-priced products, spared little expense on casting for the spot, including singer-songwriter Meghan Trainor as a courtroom reporter, with a jury box filled with comedian Benito Skinner, aka Kooper the Gen Z Intern; Sarah Rafferty from “Suits,”; Ronald Gladden from “Jury Duty” and NFL alum and sports analyst Emmanuel Acho.
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E.l.f. makes a play on its “Eyes Lips Face” heritage with a “Eyes. Lips. Facts” tagline that mimics the over-the-top seriousness of courtroom shows. And Sheindlin is her usual tough-talking self, calling Hoffman a “putz.” She’s more colorful still in the 60-second social media version, telling Torres at one point: “Don’t pee on my leg and tell me it’s raining,” a line that might not have passed network muster.
The Super Bowl ad comes as “Judy Justice” prepares to gain broadcast distribution this fall on more than 100 channels via a syndication deal, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter, which notes the show will continue to stream on Freevee and Prime. Sheindlin has also drawn recent headlines for campaigning for Nikki Haley in her Republican primary race against Donald Trump.
“With Judyisms, the one bangers never stop,” said e.l.f. Beauty Chief Marketing Officer Kory Marchisotto. “You are on the set and you are just dying. They never get tired.”
Courtroom drama worked for the creative approach both because it’s popular with e.l.f.’s consumers and because Sheindlin’s no-nonsense approach made sense for the value message, Marchisotto said.
“Especially in this broader macroeconomic environment, our core value proposition continues to emerge as the star of every conversation,” she said, adding that being an inclusive brand and having cruelty-free products also were important, which played a role in messaging and casting.
“True crime” and courtroom drama are major forces in entertainment today, so they’re also playing more into e.l.f. creative, Marchisotto said. That similarly led the brand to launch a 15-minute “Cosmetics Criminals” true crime documentary parody last year.
“We are seeing Judge Judy at the pinnacle of her career at over 80 years old,” Marchisotto said. “And we’re seeing the ‘Suits’ cast rising”—the series became the most-watched show on Netflix in December with 3.1 billion minutes viewed in a single week, as reported by Nielsen. So e.l.f. asked the Shadow team how to put those two things together, Marchisotto said, to bring the brand’s values to life through courtroom drama.
