OAKLAND, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 1, 2025--
In a world of one-trick ponies, e.l.f. delivers a glow that really goes the distance. e.l.f. Cosmetics, a brand from e.l.f. Beauty (NYSE: ELF), launches a new campaign today starring multi-hyphenate, multi-talented, multi-tasker, Halo Glow Liquid Filter.
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e.l.f. Cosmetics launches new “The Many-Trick Pony” campaign highlighting e.l.f.'s holy grail, Halo Glow Liquid Filter. Featuring the voice of Rebecca Black, the spot showcases how this multi-tasking product is the definition of a workhorse.
e.l.f. Cosmetics launches new “The Many-Trick Pony” campaign highlighting e.l.f.'s holy grail, Halo Glow Liquid Filter. Featuring the voice of Rebecca Black, the spot showcases how this multi-tasking product is the definition of a workhorse.
e.l.f. Cosmetics launches new “The Many-Trick Pony” campaign highlighting e.l.f.'s holy grail, Halo Glow Liquid Filter. Featuring the voice of Rebecca Black, the spot showcases how this multi-tasking product is the definition of a workhorse.
e.l.f. Cosmetics launches new “The Many-Trick Pony” campaign highlighting e.l.f.'s holy grail, Halo Glow Liquid Filter. Featuring the voice of Rebecca Black, the spot showcases how this multi-tasking product is the definition of a workhorse.
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And, of course, e.l.f. couldn’t have “The Many-Trick Pony” without a talking horse. And who doesn’t love a talking horse!
The clever and comedic spot literally stops the music, disrupting a perfectly ordinary and expected beauty commercial. “The term `one-trick pony’ is actually very offensive,” interrupts the long-locked pony, blonde extensions blowing in the wind. “We prefer `multi-talented small-boned horse.’”
The voice belongs to singer, songwriter and DJ Rebecca Black. This pony is out to prove that there is more sparkle behind Halo Glow Liquid Filter than meets the eye. Designed to be worn in so many ways—as a glowy base, mixed with foundation, a highlighter, or even solo for a filter-like finish—Halo Glow Liquid Filter is the definition of a workhorse.
"In the e.l.f.iverse, we celebrate many superpowers. Self-expression is encouraged in every beautiful form. When it comes to Halo Glow Liquid Filter, they include cruelty free, accessibility and being the greatest glow booster you’ve ever seen. 'The Many-Trick Pony' is our rally to unapologetically live your bold truths – and an e.l.f.ing hilarious excuse to make a horse talk,” said Kory Marchisotto, Chief Marketing Officer of e.l.f. Beauty. “We’re not being shy that Halo Glow Liquid Filter can shine in a thousand ways—and you don’t need anyone’s permission to do it. We’re reminding our community that there’s power in e.l.f.ing the status quo, one unexpected move at a time.”
“Becoming the multi-talented small-boned horse was nothing short of an honor,” said Rebecca Black. “The Halo Glow Liquid Filter is such an amazing product, and I am so excited to be working with e.l.f. on such a creative campaign.”
Rebecca Black—yes, the pop-disrupting and cult-followed queer icon, Rebecca Black, whose rise to fame for her 2011 viral sensation “Friday,” was a perfect partner for a product that refuses to be defined by just one moment. The social buzz following the release of her new album “SALVATION" and a sold-out SALVATION tour across the U.S., Europe and the U.K. made her a natural fit for this campaign about reinvention, versatility and, of course, glow.
Directed with a wink and packed with personality, the campaign video starts down the well-worn path of a serious model walking through the fields in an evening gown. Sound familiar? The bold disruption with a kind heart comes from the real heroine, “The Many-Trick Pony”, brimming with sass, charm and humorous self-awareness.
Her message? Don’t underestimate the power of someone or something that can do it all.
“The Many-Trick Pony” campaign is live across digital platforms including Hulu, Amazon, Peacock, Tubi and e.l.f.’s owned channels. The video is part of a broader content ecosystem including out-of-home and social media throughout the U.S., U.K. and Canada. The campaign was created with creative agency partner, Mischief.
And there’s more to come. To anyone who pigeonholes our e.l.f.ies, watch out!
View the full campaign video here.
About e.l.f. Cosmetics:
e.l.f. Beauty (NYSE: ELF) is fueled by a belief that anything is e.l.f.ing possible. We are a different kind of company that disrupts norms, shapes culture and connects communities through positivity, inclusivity and accessibility. e.l.f. Cosmetics, our global flagship brand, makes the best of beauty accessible to every eye, lip and face by bringing together the best of beauty, culture and entertainment. Our superpower is delivering universally appealing, premium quality products at accessible prices that are e.l.f. clean and vegan, all double-certified by Leaping Bunny and PETA as cruelty free. We are proud to have products made in Fair Trade Certified™ facilities. Learn more at www.elfcosmetics.com.
About Rebecca Black:
Rebecca Black (@msrebeccablack ) is an artist who defines her own path. An undisputed icon of underground music, fashion, and queer art scenes. Most recently, the internet adored Mexican-American singer, songwriter and DJ stepped into a new era with “SALVATION,” a 7-track project which presents hedonistic, confident bangers that cascade through electronic sounds, drifting from synth-driven confessionals and also pulling back into four-on-the-floor mayhem. These led to performances at the GLAAD Awards and Tamron Hall. Nearly a decade since her iconic cameo in Katy Perry’s video for “Last Friday Night,” Black will join Katy Perry on her tour, following Katy asking Rebecca during the sold-out SALVATION Tour encore in Los Angeles.
e.l.f. Cosmetics launches new “The Many-Trick Pony” campaign highlighting e.l.f.'s holy grail, Halo Glow Liquid Filter. Featuring the voice of Rebecca Black, the spot showcases how this multi-tasking product is the definition of a workhorse.
e.l.f. Cosmetics launches new “The Many-Trick Pony” campaign highlighting e.l.f.'s holy grail, Halo Glow Liquid Filter. Featuring the voice of Rebecca Black, the spot showcases how this multi-tasking product is the definition of a workhorse.
e.l.f. Cosmetics launches new “The Many-Trick Pony” campaign highlighting e.l.f.'s holy grail, Halo Glow Liquid Filter. Featuring the voice of Rebecca Black, the spot showcases how this multi-tasking product is the definition of a workhorse.
e.l.f. Cosmetics launches new “The Many-Trick Pony” campaign highlighting e.l.f.'s holy grail, Halo Glow Liquid Filter. Featuring the voice of Rebecca Black, the spot showcases how this multi-tasking product is the definition of a workhorse.
NEW YORK (AP) — No quick dispatching of disease investigators. No televised news conference to inform the public. No timely health alerts to doctors.
In the midst of a hantavirus outbreak that involves Americans and is making headlines around the world, the U.S. government's top public health agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has been uncharacteristically missing in action, according to a number of experts.
To President Donald Trump, "We seem to have things under very good control," as he told reporters Friday evening.
To experts, the situation aboard a cruise ship has not spiraled because, unlike COVID-19 or measles or the flu, hantavirus does not spread easily. It has been health experts in other countries, not the United States, who have been dealing primarily with the outbreak in the past week.
“The CDC is not even a player," said Lawrence Gostin, an international public health expert at Georgetown University. “I've never seen that before.”
Not until late Friday did CDC actions accelerate.
Health officials confirmed the deployment of a team to Spain's Canary Islands, where the ship was expected to arrive early Sunday local time, to meet the Americans onboard. They said a second team will go to Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska as part of a plan to evacuate American passengers from the ship to a quarantine center. Also, the CDC issued its first health alert to U.S. doctors, advising them of the possibility of imported cases.
The CDC's diminished role in this outbreak is an indicator the agency is no longer the force in international health or the protector of domestic health that it once was, some experts said.
The hantavirus outbreak is “a sentinel event” that speaks to “how well the country is prepared for a disease threat. And right now, I’m very sorry to say that we are not prepared,” said Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, chief executive officer of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.
Early last month, a 70-year-old Dutch man developed a feverish illness on a cruise ship traveling from Argentina to Antarctica and some islands in the South Atlantic. He died less than a week later. More people became sick, including the man's wife and a German woman, who both died.
Hantavirus was first identified as a cause of sickness of one of the cases on May 2. The World Health Organization swung into action and by Monday was calling it an outbreak. About two dozen Americans were on the ship, including about seven who disembarked last month and 17 who remained on board.
For decades, the CDC partnered with the WHO in such situations. The CDC acted as a mainstay of any international investigation, providing staff and expertise to help unravel any outbreak mystery, develop ways to control it and communicate to the public what they should know and how they should worry.
Such actions were a large reason why the CDC developed a reputation as the world's premier public health agency.
But this time, the WHO has been center stage. It made the risk assessment that has told people the outbreak is not a pandemic threat.
“I don’t think this is a giant threat to the United States,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, director of Brown University’s Pandemic Center. But how this situation has played out “just shows how empty and vapid the CDC is right now,” she said.
The current situation comes after 16 tumultuous months during which the Trump administration withdrew from the WHO, has restricted CDC scientists from talking to international counterparts at times and embarked on a plan to build its own international public health network through one-on-one agreements with individual countries.
The administration has laid off thousands of CDC scientists and public health professionals, including members of the agency's ship sanitation program.
As this was playing out, Trump's health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., said he was working to “restore the CDC’s focus on infectious disease, invest in innovation, and rebuild trust through integrity and transparency.”
The CDC has not been completely silent on hantavirus.
The agency on Wednesday issued a short statement that said the risk to the American public is “extremely low,” and described the U.S. government as “the world’s leader in global health security.”
Said Nuzzo: “Not only was that not helpful, it actually does damage because a core principle of public health communications is humility.”
The CDC's acting director, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, posted a message on social media that the agency was lending its expertise in coordinating with other federal agencies and international authorities. Arizona officials this week said they learned from the CDC that one of the Americans who left the ship — a person with no symptoms and not considered contagious — had already returned to the state. WHO officials said the CDC has been sharing technical information.
The CDC also is “monitoring the health status and preparing medical support for all of the American passengers on the cruise,” Bhattacharya wrote.
But federal health officials have mostly been tight-lipped, declining interview requests.
In interviews this week, some experts made a comparison with a 2020 incident involving the Diamond Princess, a cruise ship docked in Japan that became the setting of one of the first large COVID-19 outbreaks outside of China.
The CDC sent personnel to the port, helped evacuate American passengers, ran quarantines, shared genetic data on the virus, coordinated with the WHO and Japan, held public briefings and rapidly published reports “that became the world’s reference data on cruise ship COVID transmission,” said Dr. Tom Frieden, a former CDC director.
Some aspects of the international response to the Diamond Princess were criticized, and it did not halt the outbreak or stop COVID-19’s spread across the world. But some experts say it was not for the CDC's lack of trying.
“The CDC was right on top of it, very visible, very active in trying to manage and contain it,” Gostin said, while the agency's work now is delayed and subdued.
Instead of working with nearly all of the world's nations through the WHO, the Trump administration has pursued bilateral health agreements with individual nations for information sharing, public health support, and what it describes as “the introduction of innovative American technologies.” Roughly 30 agreements are currently in place.
That's not sufficient, Gostin said. “You can't possibly cover a global health crisis by doing one-on-one deals with countries here and there,” he said.
Associated Press writers Ali Swenson in New York, Darlene Superville in Washington and Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, New Mexico, contributed to this report.
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Passengers on the the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, watch epidemiologists board the boat in Praia, during their voyage to Spain's port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo)
Workers set up temporary shelters in the area where passengers from the MV Hondius cruise ship are expected to arrive at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Crew members of the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, wait their turns for a first interview with epidemiologists, during the voyage to Spain's port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo)
Health workers in protective gear evacuate patients from the MV Hondius cruise ship into an ambulance at a port in Praia, Cape Verde, Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)
A Spanish Civil Guard officer inspects the area where passengers from the MV Hondius cruise ship are expected to arrive at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
