Grandparents ‘Horrified’ by Salacious Lush Shower Gel Packaging
The all-natural beauty brand Lush, which is known for its yummy-scented bath bombs and soaps made from so-good-you-could-eat-them ingredients, has amassed a devoted following and was listed among this holiday season’s most-coveted beauty brands.
Therefore, it comes as no surprise that Tracey and Richard Shiner decided to purchase a Lush Little Snow Fairy bath set for their 8-year-old granddaughter this Christmas. What the couple from Essex, England, found written on the bottles when their Macy unwrapped the pink box, however, left them stunned.
The Snow Fairy shower gel contained in the $15.95 bath set sported a label the doting grandparents feel isn’t exactly age-appropriate for a young child. On the back of the bottle under the heading “How To Use,” the instructions read: “If you really don’t know how, then we suggest you find someone you really like and invite them into the shower with you to demonstrate.” (Oof. Talk about a conversation you weren’t prepared to have with your grandkids on Christmas morning.)
The Shiners were “horrified” when young Macy stumbled upon the lewd message after opening her gift, according to the Sun. “My wife spends quite a bit of money in Lush and bought two sets for my two grandchildren. It didn’t say anything about age restrictions or anything,” Richard told the publication, explaining that they had selected an item called Little Snow Fairy for their granddaughter thinking that the name “indicates it’s ideal for kids.”
“I couldn’t believe it said that,” he explained. “Then, of course, Macy was asking me what it meant. I didn’t know what to say to her, so I had to pretend it meant she could bathe with [her brother] Buddy. But that’s not really appropriate either. It was the only thing I could think of to say to her at the time.”
When Shiner contacted the beauty brand to complain and suggest that they either add an age warning of come sort to the gift set or change the labeling, he was initially told that the directions were “meant to be tongue-in-cheek” before being transferred to a customer service manager.
“Innuendo amongst adults is fine, but when you’ve got to explain to an 8-year-old what it means, I think that’s wrong,” Shiner told the manager, who replied that he wasn’t the first person to complain about this. According to Shiner, the manager told him that Lush has received four or five complaints over the past couple of years about the bottle’s suggestive labeling, but nothing has been done about it. Perhaps most surprisingly, Shiner recounted, “he actually said this batch is aimed at children.”
Lush is known for its saucy sense of humor (see: all of its Emotibombs), and the brand garnered international attention in 2015 when its body-positive ad campaign featuring the backsides of four nude women was deemed “completely inappropriate for the family environment” by shoppers at a mall in Australia. But does this mean the grandparents should have known better? Or is the message itself on the packaging just inappropriate? Your call.
Yahoo Beauty has reached out to Lush for comment and will update if we hear back.
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