Lush, an international company of fresh and cruelty-free handmade cosmetics, has announced that it is abandoning Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, WhatsApp and TikTok “until these platforms can be a safer environment for those who use them.”
The British company compares the damage of these platforms with the passivity with which environmental problems have been treated for many years : “In the same way that the evidence on climate change was ignored and belittled for decades, concerns about serious effects of social networks are hardly recognized ”.
“We have already tried to leave social networks , but the fear of missing something, of being left behind, has been able to us and we have returned. […] So here we are again, trying to drop everything at once. This time, our decision has a lot to do with the information that has recently come to light about the damages to which the current algorithms expose younger people , as well as the lack of legal regulations of these platforms ”, reports the company .
In statements to 20BITS, the company acknowledges that as a brand they “love” being on these platforms and are “as addicted as anyone else.” However, they assert, “it is clear that something must change, social networks are causing damage to the mental health of young people and creating social problems.”
While one option would be to “wait for them to make changes,” recent Facebook Papers leaks about their own internal meetings show that Mark Zuckerberg’s company has “no desire to change things . ” “So we can’t wait for them. We feel an obligation to take our own steps to protect people from harm and manipulation they may experience when trying to connect with Lush on social media, ”they conclude.
Jack Constantine, CDO and product inventor at Lush, states that ” social media is now designed to keep people engaged for as long as possible , with algorithms built to prevent them from tipping and relaxing,” therefore, he continues, They are “the complete opposite” to the philosophy of the company and to the objective of all its products in general.
Lush recognizes the possible negative effects of the decision . Indeed, Jack Constantine admits that “there is no denying that there is business risk”, but stresses that “people are being given priority over profit.” “We know that we will lose customers, engagement and visibility, but it is also exciting, since when you remove the dependency on those platforms, it forces you to be creative,” he says.
Mark Constantine, co-founder, CEO and product inventor, estimates that the company could lose £ 10 million in the short term . A pound per follower, since the company currently has 10 million fans on these platforms. However, they note, Lush’s direct sales from social media account for only 0.5% of total sales.
“We have ten million followers on our social networks with whom we will not be able to communicate as before. It’s an exciting challenge figuring out how to interact with them in other ways and we know it won’t happen overnight. “
Thus, in the words of Jack Constantine, instead of focusing their efforts on these platforms, they will focus on their website and content creation . “We are going to create a strategy for YouTube based on daily updates and news, and we are also going to experiment on other digital platforms like Reddit. There are many other places where the community is communicating away from mainstream channels ”, clarifies the Lush CDO.
In addition, it ensures that they will continue to work through other tools they already used , such as newsletters , physical storefronts, the Lush Times printed catalog and channels such as LinkedIn , Twitter or Pinterest.
