“Social media was not designed to look after people’s health, but our products are,” explains Lush chief digital officer Jack Constantine. “It is counter-intuitive for us to use platforms that keep you hyper-tense, engaged and anxious.” With this in mind, the cosmetics brand decided to stop posting on four major social media platforms, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat.
Lush has a long history of taking up political stances, from fighting animal cruelty to donating to grassroots digital activists working to keep the internet free, open and safe. Their digital activism therefore might not come as a surprise. However, the brand also withdrew from major social media platforms in 2019. In the end, it didn’t work out, and the digital team decided to return to social media. This fact might undermine the perceived authenticity of their current digital strategy.
People are increasingly sceptical towards brands and their purposeful actions, however, at the same time, they do expect brands to take a stand towards major societal issues. Especially in times when governments fail to do so. We’re curious to see if brands are indeed able to (re)build trust among people by banning their own presence on untrustworthy social channels.
