Lush V's Animal Testing

My favourite shop, Lush, hit headlines recently when they confronted shoppers with the shocking reality of cosmetics tests on animals by enacting the tests on a 24 year old woman.  Read more here and watch the live stream (although obviously it won't actually be live at this point!)

The volunteer was relentlessly smeared in creams, injected with fluid and roughly man handled by a "scientist" all in the name of progress for beauty products.  

Lush states that, "people's reactions ranged from shock and bemusement to a total refusal to engage with the suffering confronting them in the 'safe space' of a shop window.  This was a truly shocking first for the high street.  The collective horror provoked by the performance, and the resulting reflection on our own role as consumers and potential changemakers, marks an important step in telling the story of animal testing for cosmetics.  No longer can cosmetics companies hide behind the screen of secretive laboratories, their cruelty is on show for all to see."

 

Please join Lush and support the fight against animal testing by spending a moment of your time signing this petition.  As well as this please check out Lush products that are 100% cruelty free (and smell divine).

Lush Links!

Rabbits!  Happy November! 

(Talking of Rabbits, I have a Rabbit related article coming up later in the week)

I've just had chance to check out the latest Lush Newsletter and I'm so glad I did, as well as gorgeous, cruelty free, hand made products there is a wealth of information which I have been inspired to share with you...

Beautiful Bats (Quite fitting for Halloween) Bats are absolutely fascinating creatures and I will be looking at them a bit more in depth at some point, my boyfriend is studying Biology at University and one of his lecturers is an expert on Bats so I should be able to come up with an interesting article.

Today is World Vegan Day, to celebrate I am going to be vegan for the day.  Well, technically I only realised just before 10am so I will be vegan until 10am tomorrow morning just to make it fair.  I am aiming to become permenantly vegan in the future, once things are more settled and life is a bit less hectic so it's easier to plan meals in advance.  I am vegetarian and carefully consider where my dairy products come from but I do hope to make the switch eventually.   

Why not consider becoming vegan for 24 hours too?  Challenge yourself!

Lush Anti Fox Hunting Adverts Banned.

Have you ever heard of Lush? If you haven't spotted one of their stores then I bet you will have wondered "What is that delicious smell?" as you inhale some of the delicious scents wafting out of their store in which unique fresh organic handmade cosmetics that are not tested on animals are sold. I will tell you more about the glorious Lush another time but I have been shocked to read that Lush's recent anti hunting campaign adverts have been banned by the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) due to a grand total of 129 complaints.

A leaflet by the Hunt Saboteurs Association (HSA) was distributed in Lush stores alongside a postcard by Lush inviting people to forward the postcard to their local police chiefs informing them that despite the hunting ban, people are still hunting.

Lush also held a sales promotion on their website for a Mrs Fox Bubble Bar in which 100% of the proceeds were given to the HSA. (Wow, why didn't I know about this?)

The ASA commented that the complainants raised a range of issued within the campaign including that it unfairly defamed hunts and hunters as well as implying that hunts were intentionally and regularly breaking the law. Also it was argued that the campaign inferred the Hunting Act was not properly enforced and people took particular offence to a claim that "hunting hounds usually lead short lives and are often killed and fed back to the pack" as allegedly this could not be substantiated. Three specific complaints were upheld by the ASA who said there was not enough robust evidence to support the claims that hunts were intentionally and frequently breaking the law, the Hunting Act was not being properly enforced and that hunting hounds were fed back to the pack.

(Fox hunting with dogs is banned so surely if you continue to hunt you are intentionally breaking the law?)

Lush said it regularly undertook animal welfare campaigns and aimed to raise awareness of the 2004 Hunting Act and highlight alleged breaches of the act and its perceived limitations. Also the campaign did not use any graphic or shocking images, bad language or demeaning or abusive names, and believed that customers were unlikely to find the advertising offensive. For Lush's full response to the ASA please take a look here.

I know whose side I'm on. Have a look at some of Lush's gorgeous products which, I repeat, are NOT tested on animals.

Original Article.

Related Article.