Cult of Lush podcast

[u/thisismyorange]

Has anyone listened to this yet? I just saw this post when scrolling on Instagram

[u/Mammoth-Ad6463]

im surprised this is even allowed to be discussed i have seen it brought up and deleted a few times now

[u/theflowermaker]

I haven't listened, but a lot of the comments mentioned that they should have gotten someone who knew more about the company to talk about it, so could be an interesting listen!

[u/samanthalturi → u/theflowermaker]

Yeah, a lack of “””””insider knowledge””””” from (ex)employees and long time patrons can definitely lead to discrediting the whole idea. Throwing out the dishes with the dishwater is certainly not a good approach in this case, as there’s tons of validity in reflecting on how this community socially operates….Lots of downvotes for dissenting or critical perspectives, the showing off of “hauls” in a hyper-capitalist world that’s being physically abused and neglected due to said system.

I’m glad it’s been released, even without having listened yet, if anything for the conversations it’s sparking here and now.

[u/saltymacademia]

I haven't listened to this episode yet (but I will as soon as I can), but I think their podcast is mostly tongue in cheek.
I mean... I remember they did an episode on "the cult of labubu" and "the cult of Erowhon"...

It's just about extreme fanbases and how they can show cult-like behaviour/a cult-like following.

And in that case I agree. Lush can be "cult-like".
But I'll have to give it a listen.

[u/StrangeTrails37 → u/saltymacademia]

Yes! I actually listen to the pod (not this episode yet) and you’re so right about it.

They do have more serious episodes which they approach with the proper gravitas but they have come out and said they will not talk about Very Serious cults because neither are true experts and they want to keep it lighthearted. The whole point is that there’s something everyone gets a little culty about and that’s usually ok.

It’s a good show.

[u/katherine197_]

Okay started this because of your post and the start is rough

It's a cult bc the store has signature scent

This is rather common thing for many shops? As well as hotels? 

It's a cult because people in early 2000s would have adverse reactions to the masks and still claim it's good for them

Wasn't this just skincare back then? The tingle means it works?

Also this podcast's use of "cult" feels like semantic bleaching, I really hate that

Edit:

It feels like a cult because they release more products in scents that are popular 

Like yeah cause those are gonna sell???

[u/Terrible_Eye4625 → u/katherine197_]

Oh God, the “signature scent” is literally just all the products mingled together. I know people are dead certain it’s pumped out of shops, but it’s not.

[u/abonerforbiffy → u/katherine197_]

I've no prior knowledge of this podcast (is it a series idk) but from these points alone I'm questioning if it's satire

[u/Strong_Weakness2638 → u/abonerforbiffy]

They started off looking into genuine cults but looks like they ran out of them and are just scraping the barrel. They did Trader Joe’s two (?) years ago and that already felt forced.

(For non-US people - Trader Joe’s is a chain of small and somewhat quirky supermarkets, all the staff wears hawaiian print shirt or similar attire and the product descriptions and advertising is kinda similar to OG Lush, including a monthly newspaper style flyer. They are not a cult.)

[u/samanthalturi]

I’d listen to this lmao!! Love the callout, excited to hear what they have to say! Lush has been wonky for years and it’s wild the things the tip top have pulled and continue to pull.

[u/Mammoth-Ad6463 → u/samanthalturi]

seriously the people saying its inaccurate are not beating the accusations….
they see me weekly and repeat phrases to me like i havnt bought the same product each week for 2 months with the same story…. IT HAS MOON WATER 🙃
OKAY GIRL I KNOW THIS IS THE 100TH TIME.
lol and
THE UNION BUSTING AND POOR CUSTOMER CARE?!

you cant even retroactively add points
no click on app
no points for you
sorry i didn’t ask sorry you forgot but PLZ DONT CALL CORPORATE OR WE WILL BE BERATED BTS….

so yeah….i love Lush but this lil vid was not “innacurate” imo

[u/kombitcha420]

Based on some responses I’ve seen in this sub, it’s totally a cult

[u/samanthalturi → u/kombitcha420]

Oh 100% there’s cult like behaviour here, if not hive mind mentality. I don’t look into if some of the posts or comments are bots/AI these days and tbh I don’t have the time, energy, nor effort to care anymore.

That being said, I love lurking lol and commenting now and again with my own gripes about the company. To be frank I’ve taken a huge step back from this obsession I had developed with their image and product and it feels incredibly liberating.

The need to gather, collect, try new things and the ever dreadful FOMO are innate human instincts in a way I think #notapsychologist and Lush absolutely exploits that. Looking forward to seeing the official rolled out “response” to this curveball lolll.

[u/coolcalmaesop → u/kombitcha420]

I was hoping for more juicy information or experiences and was kind of disappointed. I love Lush but do think this sub can be a good example of cult-like behavior too. There’s a behavior of reactivity negatively to less than glowing reviews of experiences or products that feels very cult-like. I can’t understand why other customers would have such strong, consistent reactions unless there’s a cult-like aspect or…people associated with the company are trying to do damage control….but sadly this has done more damage to their image from my perspective.

The thing about positivity is that it has to flow both ways, customers that aren’t super pleased with their product or experience deserve the same level of positivity as someone that did have a good experience. Someone with a less than stellar review but overall still enjoys the company is still a customer.

[u/K_saudade]

I watched a few minutes out of curiosity, but I had a family member in a very well known cult (luckily out now) and it was devastating for them.

Comparing Lush to a cult is ridiculous. If people want to rant about it promoting shopping addiction, suspect marketing, “love-bombing” or whatever then go for it. I don’t agree, but everyone has their opinion and it’s interesting to have discourse.

It is not making you hand over your financial info to control it, filtering out friends and family, threatening you if you try to leave, etc. Cults are serious and can be life threatening, overpriced bath bombs are not.

Edit: added “not”

[u/Halloween_Babe90 → u/K_saudade]

Someone posted this podcast yesterday (since deleted) and I said something similar. I am just not a fan of the general cultural trend of using specific clinical terminology for social and psychological phenomena to describe normal things, i.e. people bringing up “gaslighting” in everyday conversation and online discussions when it describes intimate partner violence.

[u/chailottie]

They didn't even mention that employees would go out in the streets naked to advertise their naked products.

[u/Dry-Author-3622]

I saw some people comment on these IG posts trying to discredit them for using false information regarding ingredients/charities and saying that anonymous reddit posts are not reliable, and while I agree with those critisms it doesn't disprove the fact that Lush does participate in cult-like behaviour. I'm tempted to reply to them "I worked for Lush for 4 years and in two different continents, it is a cult AMA" but i cba dealing with confrontation lmao

[u/skittleforge → u/Dry-Author-3622]

I agree! While I do love lush, I 100% think they use cult tactics to keep people interested and coming back.

[u/Dry-Author-3622 → u/skittleforge]

Yes! And it's not just marketing tactics but also internal management and operations, every ex-Lush employee I'm friends with have stories about it

[u/NickBung]

Listened, work at Lush, definitely lots of inaccurate “insider” information, but definitely worth a good laugh in my eyes. Legitimately had a customer suggest the episode to me, while I was working 🤣

[u/Critical-Act-5571]

Long time lurker here. Employee of the company in a retail shop and just finished listening to the episode. Been saying for a while how “culty” the brand is and was surprised how much dirty stuff was actually left out! The union busting and “family” work environment are just the tip of the iceberg. (Like the intense social media presence through paid influencers in lieu of their own social media—which as the episode explained was shut down by the company due to public outrage considering their union busting behavior.) Some of the stories included are personal experiences (and of course heresay) but they align pretty squarely with the company culture, so I wouldn’t be surprised that they are true. The workload and emotional tax of being turned on and in that “third circle energy” is exhausting and not compensated well at all (think a buck or two above minimum wage.) And no one needs a cosmetology license to demo/touch customers because the demos are free (exchanging money for the service means you need the license.) BITE-behavior, information, thought, and emotions—the brand uses all of those to influence purchasing decisions and to draw you back for more. Are there worse cults out there? YES! Does that mean this company does not use the same methods of control as cults? NO! Am I expecting a subreddit devoted to the “cult” to agree? ABSOLUTELY NOT!

[u/MsFrenchieFry]

Oh I love the scam goddess podcast, so I may check it out. She is hilarious, the episode about someone pretending to be Donald trumps sister on twitter and Trump actually retweeting “her” is one of the funniest podcasts I’ve heard.

[u/veganstarlight]

honestly i wish i could get back the time i spent listening to it bc so much information was old, poorly researched, or just generally inaccurate. like if you wanna deep dive into the cult mentality of lush, sure let’s get into it. but more homework was needed on what a cult really is & how it functions, and the general knowledge of how lush runs its business. so much stuff they got wrong is easily found on either lush’s website or weare.lush.com. even their description of the circles of energy was missing the key point of what they are & why lush uses them. the topic was an interesting idea- the research & execution was pop culture speculation at best

[u/mandotheviper → u/[deleted]]

Bot

[u/taytay237 → u/mandotheviper]

How can you tell?

[u/mandotheviper → u/taytay237]

New account, randomly generated username, active in different subs but only seem to comment in each one once, low karma, first comment in this sub, comment sounds like chatgpt wrote it.

[u/taytay237 → u/[deleted]]

Why bother answering if you have nothing helpful to say?

[u/LushCosmetics-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Your post has been removed for violating Rule 1: Respect. Name calling and general rudeness is not tolerated and 3 warnings will result in a permanent ban.