LUSH: Code of Ethics
If you’ve ever used or experienced Lush, you know the word “ethical” is a huge part of their brand. It’s the basis of their company vision and the key behind their We Believe statement. Here is an excerpt from their website:
We believe…
We believe in making effective products from fresh, organic* fruit and vegetables, the finest essential oils, and safe synthetics.
We invent our own products and fragrances. We make them fresh by hand using little or no preservative or packaging, using only vegetarian ingredients, and tell you when they were made.
We believe in buying ingredients only from companies that do not commission tests on animals and in testing our products on humans.
We believe in happy people making happy soap, putting our faces on our products, and making our mums proud.
We believe in long candlelit baths, sharing showers, massage, filling the world with perfume, and in the right to make mistakes, lose everything and start again.
We believe that all people should enjoy freedom of movement across the world.
We believe our products are good value, that we should make a profit and that the customer is always right.
*We also believe words like “fresh” and “organic” have honest meaning beyond marketing.
Guide to Ethical Buying:
- 100% Transparency: 100% Transparency within the Lush supply is the main goal. How everything is made, where it comes from and the impact on the community that produces it. At the start of the company, Lush realized that some of the materials they were using weren’t authentic like they assumed. From that point on, that cut down on suppliers and stopped dealing with middle men. They started working directly with the sources. Collaborating with farmers and the people in the communities gave Lush a better sense of the materials they were getting. This is why they are able be so transparent.
- Materials/Environment: Everything that Lush buys is in protection of the environments it is coming from and going to.
- Animals: Lush does not believe in cruelty to animals for any purpose. The Lush Buying team works hard on their research of where their materials come from to ensure they are all cruelty-free.
- 100% Vegetarian: All Lush products are 100% vegetarian, 95% of them being vegan as well. Lush is always looking for alternatives of materials that typically come from animals. Lush makes sure that their alternatives offer the same benefits as their animal based counterparts.
Guide to Ethical Social Media:
- Crisis should be handled depending on where it starts. If it is a situation with one customer, it should be dealt with in that place or on that platform. If it is a crisis that will affect the company’s reputation on a broader level, it should be rectified on all social media platforms. Crisis response should be handled by an employee with authority or looked over by someone with authority before posting.
- Recognition is a part of the Lush brand. On Lush products, you can see who made what product and when. Next to this information is an animation of their face. While that is a cool shout out, it gives customers information on employees. All employees are a spokesperson. With their identities available, they must monitor what they post on social media and how they represent the brand.
3. Lush Cosmetics agrees to follow company policy and remain fully transparent on the usage of raw materials online. Lush will promote all products with descriptions of the ingredients used to make them.
4. Let’s educate while being accessible. Talk to our audience. Use the social media accounts to connect with consumers. Don’t just inform, interact. Get an idea of what type of products they want to see in the future. Honesty is ethical. Ask for opinions on behalf of Lush.
5. Lush is an accepting community. Everyone is welcome. Everyone.
6. If you see something, say something. It could be the difference between crisis and solution. Respond the very first time.
7. Know all of the company information before posting or replying. Be careful not to contradict one piece of information with another.
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