#Gayisok – What if your love was illegal?

Background

Lush actively supported LGBT rights, and while many societies had seen huge progress in LGBT rights, the general public was still mostly unaware that 2.8 billion people lived in countries where being LGBT was a crime.

Lush wanted to raise awareness about the fact that in 76 countries it was illegal to be gay. And that in 10 it could cost someone their life.

They also wanted to raise money to support small grassroots LGBT charities, especially those working in countries where being gay is a crime.

Idea

The aim was to set in motion an online movement in social media letting the world know why #GayisOK.

During pride month, Lush partnered with the charity AllOut, a movement for equality supporting LGBT rights as human rights with over two million subscribers, to launch a campaign asking, "What if your love was illegal?".

Lush launched a soap bar called Love. The point about the new product was that it was illegal to sell it in 80 Lush shops due to the hashtag #GayisOK embossed on it.

The new soap and the hashtag fuelled conversations while profits from sales went to support LGBT charities working in those countries where the campaign was outlawed.

The #GayIsOK campaign ran in 825 Lush shops and through Lush Online, kicking off with a 24 hour marathon of activities across the globe.

Results

The initial target of reaching 10 million people worldwide was surpassed in three days. The campaign reached 30 million with direct messages about #GayisOK and a further 40 million after the US Supreme Court ruling on marriage equality.

The hashtag trended on facebook in the UK on Pride Day.

Celebs who visited Lush shops to take selfies with the soap included Tanya Burr, James McVey, Fleur de Force in the UK and Alba Parietti in Italy, Ariel Winter in the US.

Tanya's instagram post alone got 200k likes. Alfie's video featuring the soap got 600k views and 50k likes.

In addition, 107,000 bars of soap were sold, breaking the target of £250,000 and at least 10,000 people became new members of AllOut thanks to the campaign.

Our Thoughts

So there are so many things about this campaign that are interesting. Firstly, it's a great use of the product as an advertising medium, every bar of soap running the provocative hashtag. Secondly, it's a great use of the product to convey an attitude as well as a message. Spangly gold tells you everything! Thirdly it's a great use of the product as a totem around which a movement can revolve itself. As indeed it did.

Here's a brand declaring its values loudly and proudly. And my bet is that the commercial rewards for this bravery were not insignificant. Doing good is good for business.