Cosmetics brand Lush Cosmetics announced earlier this month that it would slash its ad spending with Big Tech companies, citing concerns around their “ethical credentials.”

During the brand’s SXSW activation, Lush Chief Digital Officer Jack Constantine explained why the company is cutting its spending with Big Tech companies, including Google, by a third.

“We’re spending millions on Google Ads to protect our trademark, but ultimately they don’t value protecting trademarks, so why should we be spending that money there?” Constantine said.

Big picture: The reduction in Google Ads spending is part of the company’s larger goal to cut its Big Tech spending, he said, due to concerns over how these platforms have become increasingly focused on advertising over the years.

• “We want to focus on creating community and engagement. In the beginning, social media fit with us perfectly…However, as everyone has seen it transition over time, it’s become more of an advertising outlet, and that isn’t something that we personally as Lush feel comfortable with.”
• He pointed to recent controversies, such as when Meta whistleblower Frances Haugen went public with concerns about what she said were ethical issues at the company in 2021. “How comfortable are we being on a platform like that, where it’s not necessarily safe for teenagers or for people to be on if they end up down the algorithms and the rabbit holes that can be presented to them?” he said.

Aside from Google, he did not single out which other platforms the company plans to pull ad spend from, though the company has taken a stand against Big Tech in the past.

In 2021, Lush stopped operating its Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat accounts, saying it wouldn’t return “until the platforms take action to provide a safer environment for their users,” according to its website. At the time, Lush said it would still maintain accounts on Pinterest, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Twitter.

Read the full story here.—JS

This is the third piece in our three-part series on agencies that participated in the largest four-day workweek trial to date.

Just as remote work has become more popular over the past three years, so has the four-day workweek.

Earlier this year, results from the world’s largest trial of the four-day workweek—conducted in the UK between June 2022 and December 2022—revealed that workers are by and large ready to leave the five-day, 40-hour workweek in the past. The study’s authors called the experiment, which included 61 companies and more than 2,000 workers, a “resounding success.”

Given that marketing and advertising was the most-represented industry in the trial, we spoke with three participating agency executives about their experiences, including Claire Daniels, CEO of digital marketing agency Trio Media.

Getting involved

Daniels told us that she became interested in the trial both from an employee happiness and productivity standpoint: “Obviously, the underlying element as a business owner is around profitability, cost savings, and increasing revenue, because it’s about getting more without increasing our costs.”

As with Amplitude and Literal Humans, Daniels said she was concerned about people being stressed or working longer hours to be able to take an additional day off. In the end, she said she was “very much proven wrong.”

Continue reading here.—KH

There are a lot of bad marketing tips out there. These aren’t those.

Definitions: Breaking down the differences between machine learning and AI.

AI: Reasons why ChatGPT could be a useful tool for content marketers.

Linkedin for the linked win: Tips on crafting a successful LinkedIn ad.

Quote: “Smeals.” That’s what Nestlé calls “small meals (or sizable snacks) that fit modern consumption habits,” per Axios.

Read: “Why do we call it spam? Blame spiced ham shoulder, Monty Python and Usenet” (Digital Trends)

Look: One artist reimagined New York’s controversial new “We NYC” logo.

Catch up on a few Marketing Brew stories you might have missed.

• How marketers and creators are thinking about a potential TikTok ban
• What Literal Humans learned after taking part in the world’s largest four-day workweek trial
• Why Amplitude tried the four-day workweek and wants to make it permanent