Lush’s Error 404 bath bomb to help fund #KeepItOn digital rights campaign
Howard Lake | 26 November 2016 | News
Handmade cosmetics brand Lush has introduced Error 404, “a bath bomb with a difference”. Sales of the fizzy fragrant product will help organisations fight against government-enforced internet shutdowns.
All profits from the sale of the Error 404 bath bomb will be donated by Lush to a global Digital Fund that supports the work of charity Access Now and other grassroots organisations working in the field of digital rights. The total fundraising target for the Digital Fund is £250,000.
Lush is selling the product appropriately enough for £4.04.
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The product is hand-made from 13 ingredients including vanilla extract, gardenia extract, antique gold lustre, citric acid and glacier blue lustre. It should be dropped into the bath, where its gold exterior will fizz away, revealing a blue pool “with a secret message”.
Error 404 and #KeepItOn
Error 404 is the standard HTTP code for indicating a “page not found” on web servers. It is the kind of page that users might see if their government shut down the Internet in their country.
According to Access Now:
“An internet shutdown happens when someone— usually a government — intentionally disrupts the internet or mobile apps to control what people say or do. Shutdowns are also sometimes called “blackouts” or “kill switches”.”
Access Now has documented over 50 internet shutdowns in 2016 alone, “and the number is only increasing”. The organisation and Lush chose Black Friday (25 November) to launch the global #KeepItOn campaign against internet shutdowns together with a limited edition Error 404 bath bomb.
Anyone purchasing the bath bomb from Lush’s website will encounter a intervening page that mimics an Internet shutdown on the device, which then resolves into an explanation of the #KeepItOn campaign. They can choose to proceed to the Lush page or to sign Access Now’s petition to world leaders.
Digital Fund
The Digital Fund will offer grants from £100 to £10,000 to grassroots activists and charities protecting freedom of expression in the digital era.
The application process will start on 7 December 2016, and the deadline for completed applications to be submitted is 15 January 2017.
Applications are accepted from anywhere in the world. Smaller organisations will be given priority, “particularly those hoping to create long-term change through education, advocacy and campaigning, or those tackling the root cause of the problem”.
Lush Charity Pot
Lush supports other causes and groups from profits from sales of some of its products. In particular The Lush Charity Pot scheme supports local and global organisations fighting for human rights.
- In 2012 we covered The power of the 404 page to help missing children.
- The 404 page has featured in most of our digital fundraising training courses over the past 20 years.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.