LUSH Tells the Naked Truth about what it means to be an environmentally-friendly company

I had to chuckle the other day when I heard about this PR stunt that was projected to get a lot of attention at the Somerset Collection in Troy...

LUSH, a global company that sells toiletries and shampoos was planning to have employees disrobe for a half an hour to promote its products' environmentally smart "naked" packaging (they don't use bottles or tubes). The employees that volunteered would have been wearing aprons that said "Ask me why I’m naked." Their butts would have been the only *private* part exposed.

The Somerset Collection was quick to veto the idea saying something along the lines of "our customers are too conservative for this type of promotion."

In my opinion, I think it was a genius way for them to get attention, even though the event didn't happen. I heard a few radio interviews and saw media coverage in the local papers and it made me curious, so naturally I checked out the company's Web site and made a mental note to stop by the store next time I'm at Somerset.

According to the site, more than 50 percent of the store’s products are package-free, and all of its paper bags, cardboard boxes and re-useable tins are made from recycled materials. It's also states that packaging contributes to 2 percent of overall greenhouse gases, and plastic uses 8 percent of the world’s oil resources. The U.S. consumes 79.6 million tons of packaging each year, and more than half ends up in landfills.

During last year alone, approximately 3 million plastic bottles were not manufactured, transported and disposed of because customers chose to buy LUSH’s solid shampoo bars instead of a bottled product.

To me, they have a wonderfully 'cheeky' idea. I give 'em mad kudos for trying something interesting, even if it doesn't take off with the masses.

Too bad Somerset doesn't seem to have much of a sense of humor in all of this...