NEW VOICES: Cosmetics Company Launches Death Penalty Documentary, Abolition Campaign

Lush Cosmetics announced on May 15 it has launched a com­mer­cial effort to raise aware­ness about cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment and sup­port the abo­li­tion of the death penal­ty. The com­pa­ny’s ​“Death ≠ Justice” cam­paign includes the release of a short doc­u­men­tary, ​“Exonerated,” which tells the sto­ry of Ohio death-row exoneree Kwame Ajamu. Ajamu (then 17 years old), his broth­er Ronnie Bridgman, and Ricky Jackson were wrong­ful­ly con­vict­ed and sen­tenced to death in 1975. They were exon­er­at­ed 39 years lat­er in 2014, after the sin­gle eye­wit­ness in the case — a 13-year-old boy who lat­er said he had been coerced by police into false­ly impli­cat­ing them — recant­ed. Lush is host­ing events across the coun­try fea­tur­ing exonerees and activists, with the goal of edu­cat­ing their cus­tomers about the issue. Carleen Pickard, the Ethical Campaigns Specialist at Lush, said, ​“In 2016, death sen­tences, exe­cu­tions and sup­port for cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment were at an his­toric low, mak­ing flaws and fail­ures of the death penal­ty more appar­ent than ever. It’s an impor­tant time to con­tin­ue the momen­tum that 90 mil­lion Americans have built. The more peo­ple learn about the death penal­ty, the less they like it, and we’re excit­ed to bring this impor­tant issue to our cus­tomers.” As part of the cam­paign, Lush has intro­duced a new prod­uct it calls ​“31 States,” an almond- and- rose­wood-infused bath bomb whose name reflects the fact that 31 states cur­rent­ly have the death penal­ty. Lush says it hopes to change that by donat­ing 100% of the pro­duc­t’s prof­its to orga­ni­za­tions such as Witness to Innocence, Death Penalty Focus, and the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty that, the com­pa­ny says ​“are work­ing to mobi­lize and engage Americans and empow­er exonerees to abol­ish cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in the United States.” Earlier this year, as part of the com­pa­ny’s social jus­tice ini­tial­tives, Lush donat­ed prof­its from a lim­it­ed-edi­tion sham­poo bar to fight ani­mal cru­el­ty and released a Valentine’s Day ad that fea­tured same-sex couples.

(S. Wu, ​“Lush Cosmetics Partners With the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty,” Teen Vogue, May 15, 2017; J. Anderson, ​“Buying A Lush Bath Bomb Can Help Fight The Death Penalty,” Refinery29, May 15, 2017; ​“Exonerated,” Lush Cosmetics, May 15, 2017; Press Release, ​“NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS HOSTING SERIES OF EVENTS TO HIGHLIGHT FLAWS OF THE DEATH PENALTY AND CALL FOR ABOLITION,” May 15, 2017.) See New Voices.