Lush stunt reveals nothing new in packaging debate

Staff from luxury cosmetics shop Lush threw off their clothes and took to the street naked (except for their aprons) to encourage shoppers to buy products 'naked' and without packaging.

No doubt it was a successful promotional tool for Lush founder Mark Constantine, who presents a programme on Channel 4 tonight (13 July) entitled 'Packaging is Rubbish', in which he will talk about packaging's impact on the environment.

While most of us have probably seen the odd pack that could be classed as 'unnecessary' or 'excessive', the pre-show promotion has once again highlighted the general lack of understanding about packaging's role in protecting products and preventing waste, not to mention the aesthetic appeal of a well-designed pack.

Combined with the Women's Institute's latest anti-packaging exercise, a study that is effectively a thinly veiled attempt to drum up further public protest, packaging once again finds itself under attack and with very little opportunity to return fire.

Despite all this negativity, I can't help feeling sorry for those poor Lush staff, though. If their experience was anything like that of the 'naked' cucumbers in a study by the Cucumber Growers' Association earlier this year, they would have shrivelled up very quickly compared with their well-wrapped peers and would have been left on the shelf to rot.