POOLE’S cosmetics brand Lush – which last year closed its main social media accounts – is backing a Digital Detox Day.

The event next month aims to highlight the negative effects which the organisers say social media can have on mental health.

Digital Detox Day, on Saturday, September 5, is a collaboration between the mental health campaign #IAMWHOLE, Lush and Zoe Sugg, the businesswoman and vlogger known by her YouTube name Zoella.

It will urge people to step away from social media for a day to take time out for their mental health. It will be fronted by Zoe Sugg and Jordan Stephens of the hip hop duo Rizzle Kicks.

Lush abandons social media channels because it's "tired of fighting with algorithms"

Lush, the Poole-headquartered maker and seller of cosmetics, says more than 40 of its locations around the world will be involved. A limited edition bath bomb will be sold in 19 countries.

The product was created by Zoe Sugg and Lush inventor Jack Constantine and is intended to reflect the YouTuber’s “happy place” of a beachside sunset.

Zoe Sugg said: “I love social media. It’s incredible in so many ways and 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 so 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 co-founder Rowena Bird on quitting social media

Lush closed its main social media accounts last year, saying it was “tired of fighting with algorithms” did not want to pay to appear in news feeds.

Co-founder Rowena Bird said later: “The jury’s still out as to whether that was a good idea or not but ethically we feel good about it.”

It had more than 569,000 followers on Instagram, 405,000 on Facebook and 200,000 on Twitter.