The partnership between Lush and Sea Shepherd is producing all kinds of antics, all in the name of stopping sharks from ending up in a fashionable soup dish.
Shark fin soup has started to appear on menus at Chinese restaurants in recent years, where westerners are getting a taste for it. But this has led to a massive rise in sharks killed solely for their fins, a practice that the two organisations want to see banned. And they've chosen to hang Alice Newstead, a former Lush employee from hooks in Lush's Regent Street store today to mimic the fate of the fish.
Related: Lush and Sea Shepherd want to save our sharks
A spokesman for Lush said: "Alice's performance will be very reminiscent of what happens to sharks when they are caught. "When they are caught the sharks are pulled from the water, their fins are sliced off, and they are kicked back into the ocean, so they sink to the bottom and suffer a slow death.
"Fins are the most lucrative part of the shark, which explains the massive escalation in the numbers of sharks killed in the last few years."
Being sold in aid of the cause is Shark Fin Soap - a blue soap made with seaweed and sea salt with a cardboard shark fin sticking out the top. Buy it in store, or online to show your support for the cause.
My only concern is: is the soap vegan? I understand the soap contains sodium stearate; is this from a vegan source?
Hiya
Lush label all of their vegan products, but this one doesn't carry the symbol. I'd guess this is probably to do with the sodium stearate, but may be wrong -- it'll certainly be vegetarian though.