Dorset cosmetics retailer Lush has thrown its weight behind the world’s first Digital Detox Day on Saturday September 5.

The collaborative project involves mental health campaign #IAMWHOLE; Zoe Sugg, Founder of Zoella, and Lush.

Fronted by Zoe and #IAMWHOLE Co-Founder Jordan Stephens the day aims to:

• Bring awareness to the negative effects that social media can have on mental health.
• Encourage social media users to build a healthier relationship with their platforms and devices.
• Ask participants to step away from social media for a whole day, taking time out for their mental health and themselves.

Lush has confirmed that more than 40 of its worldwide locations will be participating in Digital Detox Day.

Nineteen of the countries will be selling a limited edition bath bomb called IRL.

It was created in person with Zoe and Lush inventor Jack Constantine, to encapsulate her happy place of a beachside sunset in the bath.

The fragrance is a new blend using mood enhancing oils including neroli oil, orange flower absolute, ylang ylang oil and rose absolute.

All money raised from the bath bomb will go into a fund where grants will be available to global grassroots mental health organisations.

Jordan, who co-founded #IAMWHOLE with Spirit Media in 2016, said: “Social media has become such a huge part of all our lives.

“I know all too well the negative impact it can have on mental health if we don’t set boundaries.

“Digital Detox Day is all about taking some time out to reflect, so we can form better relationships with ourselves and our devices.

“As someone who has really grown up online, Zoe is the perfect person to lead this campaign.

“I’m proud that #IAMWHOLE is able to partner with both Zoe and Lush to raise awareness as well as funds for grassroots mental health charities.”

In the week leading up to Digital Detox Day, #IAMWHOLE will be releasing a series of discussion panels around five key talking points on Zoe’s IGTV channel:

• Body Image
• Cyberbullying
• Anxiety
• Human Connection
• Setting Digital Boundaries.

The campaign will also be encouraging members of the public to draw a circle on the palm of their hand with the word ‘OFF’ in the middle.

The action will take place on Friday September 4 – the day before Digital Detox Day – to signify participants are off from social media.

Zoe Sugg is a businesswoman, content creator and multiple Sunday Times bestselling author.

In more than ten years online, she has amassed over 25m followers across her YouTube and Instagram channels.

Eight years ago, Zoe was among the first content creators to speak openly about her mental health online.

Opening up about her anxiety and panic attacks so honestly led Zoe to become a huge source of support to her millions of followers.

In 2014, she became the very first digital ambassador for the mental health charity Mind.

The charity campaigns to improve services and raise awareness as well as provide support for those dealing with mental health issues.

Zoe said: “I love social media.

“It’s incredible in so many ways.

“It has helped build communities and businesses, and given people a platform in order to share their stories that might not otherwise have been heard.

“However, as the years have progressed and social media has grown in size, it’s clear that it has its flaws too.

“Comparison, criticism, cyberbullying, a disconnect from reality and real life.

“All of these things and how often we are scrolling can have such a negative impact on our mental health.

“This is why I am so happy to be working with Lush and #IAMWHOLE on the very first Digital Detox Day campaign.

“A day to reflect offline about how we live our lives online and to introduce boundaries into our social media usage.

“I have been a huge fan of Lush for years.

“To be able to create a bath bomb for this campaign in order to raise money for grassroots mental health charities has been an absolute privilege and I can’t wait for everyone to enjoy it.”

Lush itself made the decision to permanently detox digitally in April 2019 when it closed several of its UK social media channels including Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

The company said that as it did not pay for advertising only six per cent of its followers were seeing Lush content in their newsfeeds.

A statement added: “Going forward the UK strategy is to primarily focus and invest more heavily in our owned platforms, where we have seen stronger engagement, rather than rely so heavily on third parties.”