Lush to close its social media accounts

'This isn't the end, it's just the start of something new'

Cosmetics brand Lush is quitting social media for its UK business, it announced on Monday.

The popular company famed for its eccentric bath bombs shared the news on Twitter, explaining that social media was “making it harder” for the brand to communicate with its consumers.

“We are tired of fighting with algorithms, and we do not want to pay to appear in your newsfeed,” reads the first of several tweets.

The thread continues: “So we’ve decided it’s time to bid farewell to some of our social channels and open up the conversation between you and us instead.

“Lush has always been made up of many voices, and it’s time for all of them to be heard. We don’t want to limit ourselves to holding conversations in one place, we want social to be placed back in the hands of our communities – from our founders to our friends.”

Lush, whose social media accounts remains active for now, boasts significant followings on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, with 596,000, 423,000 and 202,000 respectively.

News of the brand’s departure has been met with surprised and critical reactions from fans, with some describing the decision as “bizarre” while others said it “doesn’t make sense”.

“If a business/brand wants to open up the conversation with their customers why would they move away from where their customers are (Social) and focus more on call centres and email support, which is disruptive and less convenient for customers?” wrote one person in reference to another tweet from Lush that directed people towards its customer care team.

Another critic of the decision added: “Social media is the best customer service tool and you have direct access to your customers. Also what about the people on Twitter over 200k followers are they not important?”

In a longer statement provided to The Independent, Lush explains that abandoning its social media channels is part of a wider strategy to “cut out the middleman between ourselves and the Lush Community”.

“However, we understand that this isn’t an action that can be supported just yet in all markets,” it continues.

“In line with this change in our strategy, you’ll start to see the rise of Lush personalities online. This isn’t a replacement for the brand channels but an opportunity for our customers to connect one-on-one with people within Lush based on the various categories.

“This isn’t the end, it’s just the start of something new.”​