“Delete your account”. According to Gen Z, it’s one of the most cutting insults you can dish out (perhaps you remember Hillary Clinton famously serving this up to Donald Trump during the 2016 election campaign).

But it’s also the new mantra of cosmetics giant Lush, who last week deleted their Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat accounts. In a ballsy move, the closure occurred on Black Friday, one of the most lucrative days of the year for online retail.

Why? Well, the company cites recent revelations by Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, detailing the social media platform’s dire effect on mental health. With a combined following of 10.6 million across their channels, Lush is putting their money where their mouth is, announcing via press release that "in the same way that evidence against climate change was ignored and belittled for decades, concerns about the serious effects of social media are going largely ignored now."

Despite the timing, Lush CEO Mark Constantine assured The Guardian that "We haven't done it as a PR stunt, we have done it for genuine reasons." And although the brand previously quit social media temporarily in 2019, Constantine says "We're talking about suicide here, not spots or whether someone should dye their hair blonde…How could we possibly suggest we're a caring business if we look at that and don't care?"

From a business perspective, the brand is confident that the losses they’ll face won’t destroy them, thanks in part to a tightened approach thanks to Covid. But regardless, the move is not motivated by money.

"I'm happy to lose £10 million by quitting Facebook," Constantine told The Guardian. “When it gets to a point that our customers’ wellbeing is being put in jeopardy because of the channels on which we are trying to connect with them, then something doesn’t sit right for us”.

Will this be the start of a new chapter for Lush? Time will tell – but you’ll have to find out the old fashioned way.