Lush, Flushed: When Political Positioning Meets the Reality of Going Down the Toilet.
How Mark Constantine turned £52 million losses into moral victory whilst the business collapses underneath him.
There's a magpie sitting in an abandoned wheelchair. Mark Constantine can't see it because he's too busy collecting shiny political positions to notice the business underneath him has stopped moving.
Lush Cosmetics just posted a £52.1 million loss for the year ending June 2024. The UK cosmetics retailer has seen revenue collapse from £995 million in 2017 to approximately £675 million—a 32% decline. The company moved from £33.7 million in cash to £11.7 million in debt in twelve months.
And Constantine's response? Tell customers who disagree with his stance on Gaza not to shop there.
Ever notice how when a business is failing, they usually try to get *more* customers, not fewer?
Here's what kills me. You're posting £52 million losses, borrowing from related parties to keep the lights on, and your big strategic move is telling potential customers to fuck off?
You know what would've actually worked? A massive campaign that just said "FUCK YOU!" Make it your brand. At least then the controversy would be the *point*. People would've been curious. Sales might've gone up, like they did with SpyCops.
Instead, he's accidentally shrinking his customer base whilst calling it principle.
When Political Controversy Actually Sold Soap.
Mark Constantine did crack a formula that worked. Political controversy *could* sell soap.
2018. The SpyCops campaign. Massive window displays—police tape, "Paid to Lie" posters. About undercover police who'd infiltrated activists, stolen dead children's identities, fathered children under false names.
Home Secretary condemned it. #FlushLush trended. Boycotts threatened.
Sales? Up 13%.
The campaign worked because it was true, principled, and backed by operational excellence. Political positioning was marketing. Operational excellence was the foundation.
2021. Quit Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat. Constantine said he was "happy to lose £10 million" over mental health concerns.
Christmas 2021? Sales up 20%. Pre-tax profit £29 million.
Righteous positioning plus operational excellence equals profitable growth.
Except somewhere along the way, he forgot the operational excellence bit.
The Magpie Problem.
You know what magpies do? Collect shiny things.
Constantine's collection: Guantanamo Bay protests, palm oil campaigns, animal testing battles, SpyCops, quitting social media, trans rights partnerships, Gaza store closures.
Each one shinier. Each one narrowing the customer base.
Whilst the magpie collected trinkets, the wheelchair fell apart.
Operating losses: £16 million (2020), £45 million (2021), £30 million (2023), £52 million (2024). The accounts talk about "negative cash flow from operating activities" and borrowing from related parties.
Sound familiar? This isn't principled sacrifice. This is operational failure with expensive window dressing.
Doing a Ratner—But Lying About Why.
Gerald Ratner admitted his jewellery was "total crap" in 1991. Destroyed £500 million overnight by telling the truth.
Constantine's destroying his company whilst claiming it's principle. At least Ratner was honest.
September 2025. Lush closes all UK stores for Gaza. Loses £300,000 in sales, £300,000 in wages. Noble theatre.
Except the £52 million loss has sod all to do with Gaza.
That loss comes from revenue dropping a third whilst costs stayed the same. From burning through £45 million in cash. From spending money they don't have whilst revenue falls.
You see the pattern? Companies don't lose £52 million because of Gaza. They lose it because they've forgotten how to run a business. Political controversy's just expensive camouflage.
The Abandoned Wheelchair.
Constantine knows poverty. Homeless at sixteen. Lived in a tent. "A sheer, blank absence"—when nobody gives a toss whether you exist.
That homeless kid built an empire from his kitchen. Supplied Anita Roddick. Invented the bath bomb. Grew Lush to nearly a billion. Got an OBE.
Now he's steering it from £34 million cash to £12 million debt whilst telling customers to shop elsewhere.
You getting this? A man who survived abandonment is now abandoning 5,000 employees—because he's too busy collecting political positions to notice the wheelchair's stopped rolling.
Lush's employee trust holds 10% of shares. Staff paid above minimum wage per the "ethical charter." Real mortgages depend on this.
Constantine's burning through their futures funding his virtue signalling. Notice what just happened there? The man who experienced poverty is creating it for others whilst claiming moral high ground.
The Anita Roddick Test.
Roddick built The Body Shop on ethical capitalism. Proved you could be profitable and principled.
Then sold to L'Oréal for £652 million. L'Oréal—who tested on animals. She died the next year.
Ever notice how ethical capitalism has a price? Roddick found hers at £652 million. Constantine's finding his at £52 million in losses.
The SpyCops campaign was genuinely principled—those abuses happened. It made money because it was legitimate activism backed by operational excellence.
But at what point does righteous positioning replace actually running the business?
Three Questions.
Is it practical to post £52 million losses whilst telling customers not to shop there?
Is it logical to blame politics for financial collapse when revenue's down a third and you've burned £45 million in cash?
What's the likely outcome when the magpie keeps collecting whilst the wheelchair collapses?
Constantine built something remarkable from nothing. But somewhere between SpyCops making money and Gaza costing it, he started believing political controversy *was* the strategy instead of a component.
The wheelchair needs someone watching the mechanics. The magpie's too distracted.
You see where this is going?
The End Game.
Three outcomes:
**One:** Constantine fixes operations, returns to profit, and positioning becomes genuinely principled rather than performative cover.
**Two:** Lush becomes a tiny niche brand for customers who share his exact politics. A shadow of what it was.
**Three:** Collapse, acquisition, or administration. Constantine blames everyone except the person who forgot running a soap company requires more than collecting positions and telling customers to fuck off.
The financials suggest three whilst Constantine pretends it's one.
You can have all the moral crusades you want. But someone still needs to pay staff and honour contracts. None of that happens at £52 million losses whilst shrinking your customer base.
The magpie sits admiring its collection. SpyCops, social media bans, Gaza solidarity, trans rights. All very shiny.
Doesn't notice the rust. Doesn't see the wheels haven't turned in years.
Just keeps collecting. Because that's what magpies do.
They collect shiny things. They don't build. They don't maintain.
They don't notice when the thing they're sitting on is about to collapse.
Ever notice how the people who talk most about their principles are often the ones whose foundations are crumbling?
## Sources
Lush Cosmetics Limited, Audited Accounts Year Ending June 2024, weare.lush.com | Lush Cosmetics Limited, Audited Accounts Year Ending June 2023, weare.lush.com | The Conversation, "From bath bombs to spy cops," September 2025 | BBC News and The Guardian, SpyCops campaign coverage, June 2018 | Brandwatch, "Lush #SpyCops Campaign: Breaking Through the Backlash," June 2018 | The Guardian, "Lush boss 'happy to lose £10m' after quitting social media," November 2021 | TheIndustry.beauty, social media impact report, November 2022 | Companies House filings, Lush financial statements 2020-2024 | Lush campaigns archive, weare.lush.com | Wikipedia, "Lush (company)" | ITV News, Gaza store closure, September 2025 | Nation.Cymru, Gaza solidarity support, September 2025 | Statista, Lush operating profit data 2012-2023 | Big Issue, Constantine homelessness story, December 2018 | Pink News, Constantine "woke" comments, December 2025 | BBC/Guardian archives, Body Shop sale and Ratner collapse