Lush - 1792 Exchange

Rating Overview

Lush is Medium Risk.

Lush often yields to political activism in shaping corporate governance, potentially alienating consumers, dividing employees, and harming shareholders. The company implements race and identity-based policies that replace merit, excellence, and integrity with preferential treatment and outcomes. Lush occasionally embraces corporate initiatives that redirect its central focus from business goals to partisan policies and divisive issues at times. This approach fails to safeguard free exercise, free speech, and free enterprise.

Rating Criteria

Corporate Weaponization Risk Levels
Criteria	Risk Level
Cancellations	Lower Risk
Discriminatory Philanthropy	Lower Risk
Employment Protection	High Risk

Corporate Weaponization ⓘ

Corporate Governance and Public Policy Risk Levels
Criteria	Risk Level
Advocacy Bias	High Risk
Funding	High Risk
Political Actions	No Data

Corporate Governance and Public Policy ⓘ

Rating Criteria Detail

Criteria Risk Level Rationale

Corporate Weaponization

Criteria:

Has canceled customers, suppliers, or vendors due to their political views or religious beliefs OR corporately boycotts, divests, or sanctions regions, people groups, or industries.

Risk Level:

Lower

Rationale:

Lush has not publicly canceled customers, suppliers, or vendors based on political views or religious beliefs (1).

Criteria:

Charitable giving (including employee matching programs) policies or practices discriminate against charitable organizations based on views or religious beliefs.

Risk Level:

Lower

Rationale:

Lush does not appear to discriminate against charitable organizations based on views or beliefs (1).

Criteria:

Employment policies fail to protect against viewpoint or other discrimination and/or are ideological in nature.

Risk Level:

High

Rationale:

Lush requires its employees to take allyship training (1). The company requires its senior leadership teams, hiring managers, product inventors, people team and recruitment team to take unconscious bias training (2). Lush does not provide viewpoint protections for its employees (3).

Corporate Governance and Public Policy

Criteria:

Uses corporate reputation to support causes, organizations, or policies hostile to freedom of expression.

Risk Level:

High

Rationale:

Lush opposed various state and local legislation intended to protect parental rights, girls’ sports, bathroom facilities, and gendered spaces (1)(2). The company opposed legislation in Iowa intended to protect parental rights, girls’ sports, bathroom facilities, and gendered spaces (3). Lush opposed the Florida Parental Rights in Education Act, which would prohibit teaching gender identity and sexual orientation to kids in K-3rd grade (4). The company is a member of the “Don’t Ban Equality” business coalition, which advocates against any abortion restrictions because they are “bad for business”” (5). Lush signed an open letter endorsing the Equality Act, a contentious proposal to amend the 1964 Civil Rights Act by adding sexual orientation and so-called gender identity as protected categories. The legislation would, among other implications, grant biological men access to women-only spaces such as sports teams and public restrooms, and compel healthcare providers to deliver sex-denying healthcare (6). Lush partnered with the National Center for Transgender Equality in 2018 to promote its trans rights campaign and gave away 75,000 “How to be a trans ally” booklet in stores (7)(8). The company implemented a fact sheet for trans and non-binary employees, introduced gender neutral bathroom signs and removed gender language from its website and shops (9). The company partnered with Galop, to implement legislation that will protect LGBT+ people from “conversion therapy” and in 2022 various Florida Lush locations released a limited-edition Gay is OK soap to support Equality Florida (10)(11). Lush released a statement in support of the BLM movement (12). The company started an internal community group for its Trans and Non-Binary employees, enabled payroll information to be available without dead naming or misgendering, made pronoun badges accessible, and implemented an internal gender diversity and inclusivity training program (13). Lush published a series of articles on its website about gender ideology and how to be a transgender ally (14). Lush has a speaker series on such issues as White Fragility and Microaggressions (15). Lush advocates for ideological causes, organizations, and policies (16).

Criteria:

Uses corporate funds to advance ideological causes, organizations, or policies hostile to freedom of expression.

Risk Level:

High

Rationale:

Lush provides a benefits package for employees that covers travel/lodging costs for an abortion (1)(2). The company donated $3,900,000 to LGBTQ+ organizations and causes (3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10). Lush created a limited-edition bath melt donating all proceeds from the sale to the National Center for Transgender Equality and the Canadian Center for Gender and Sexual Diversity (11)(12). Lush’s charitable giving organization “Charity Pot” supports various LGBTQ2+ groups including; Garden State Equality, Familia TQLM, Transilient, Get Real, and South Carolina Youth Action Project (13). Lush partnered with the ACLU to support LGBTQ rights during Pride Month (14). Lush funded the Movement for Black Lives, Black Men Build, Dream Defenders, Black Voters Matter Fund, Black Youth Project 100, Southerners on New Ground, Marsha P. Johnson Institute, ACLU of Louisiana and ACLU of Georgia (15). Lush funded The Black Curriculum (16)(17). Lush sponsored the Rally for Abortion Justice in partnership with the Women’s March (18). Lush supports Drag Queen Storytime (19). Otherwise, there are no publicly known cases of Lush using corporate funds to advance ideological causes, organizations, or policies (20).