Lush has been accused of engaging in ‘fat shaming’ by Pool writer Amy Jones. In an opinion piece written for the website, Jones pointed to the fact that, in its promotion of new film What the Health via its Instagram account, the ethical beauty brand concentrated overly on obesity as opposed to any other lifestyle choices that can contribute to ill health, such as smoking or drinking.

“Basically this post is saying ‘Fat people are going to die and it’s their own lazy fault’. Wonderful. Cheers, Lush” wrote Jones. “We don’t need a company which proudly declares in their Twitter header that ‘All are welcome. Always’ to qualify that with a ‘But if you are fat, we are going to make you feel bad about it.”

Jones pointed out that the What The Health website contains a wide variety of facts and figures about lifestyle choices that can lead to ill health, and therefore the brand’s choice to focus solely on fat and weight is ‘telling’.

Lush has since responded to the criticism with an Instagram post captioned ‘Sorry’, and revealed plans to stage an event to discuss body images, but has not deleted the offending posts.