e.l.f. Beauty used one absurd stat to push corporate board diversity

Diversity data on corporate boards existed, but it was abstract. e.l.f. Beauty and agency OBERLAND built a first-of-its-kind dataset, categorizing the race and gender of 36,957 board members at 4,429 U.S. companies from public filings and biographies.

The finding was absurd and unmissable: 566 men named Richard, Rick or Dick served on those boards — more than the 283 Hispanic women, and 19 times the 29 women of Middle Eastern descent. e.l.f. named the campaign after the number itself and put it on digital screens across Wall Street.

The naming was deliberate: 'So Many Dicks' was chosen over 'Too Many Dicks' to call men in rather than call them out, keeping the tone inclusive while the hard data did the arguing.

Turn a shocking statistic into a name people remember

A name everyone repeats carried the data further than charts could.

Manual research made the statistic impossible to dismiss as spin.

Wall Street placement put the message in front of the people who fill boards.

The playful tone invited men to join rather than defend.

Data alone doesn't move people; reframe a dataset until it produces a headline people repeat — a memorable name can carry a whole campaign.

The campaign caught fire, becoming a viral cultural moment and the centerpiece of e.l.f.'s Change the Board Game initiative, which sponsors diverse board candidates through the NACD and targets doubling the rate of women and diverse board seats by 2027. It was shortlisted for the Cannes Lions 2025 Titanium prize.