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USA - California. Lush Cosmetics Launches Campaign to End Death Penalty
January 10, 2026: January 10, 2026 - California. Lush Cosmetics Launches Campaign to End Death Penalty in California
Lush Cosmetics this week launched a California-wide campaign across its 35 shop locations calling on Gavin Newsom to commute all of the state’s more than 560 death sentences.
From Jan. 9 through Jan. 20, every Lush shop in California will feature window displays and in-store materials designed to educate customers on how to voice support for clemency, according to the company.
The campaign is being conducted in partnership with the US Campaign to End the Death Penalty, the Responsible Business Initiative for Justice, and Clemency California. Organizers said the effort is intended to urge the governor to turn his stated opposition to capital punishment into permanent action by commuting all death sentences to life without the possibility of parole.
As part of the campaign, Lush plans a projection action outside the California State Capitol on Monday, Jan. 12, at 7 p.m. The projection is scheduled to take place at 11th Street along the pedestrian walkway above Bistro Bravado in Sacramento to elevate public awareness and emphasize the urgency of clemency.
“Governor Newsom has spoken clearly about the failures of the death penalty and his goal of ending it in California. He now has a historic opportunity to act on those convictions, commute every death sentence, and ensure that the progress already made cannot be undone. This moment calls for leadership rooted in human dignity and fairness,” said Carrie Harambasic, head of business development at Lush North America.
California has the largest death row population in the United States, with more than 560 people living under death sentences, many for decades. While executions have been paused and the death chamber dismantled under Newsom’s administration, the death sentences themselves remain in place, leaving open the possibility that a future administration could reverse course.
Advocates opposing capital punishment argue that it does not deter crime, is often applied unfairly and in racially biased ways, risks irreversible error, and diverts public resources away from victims’ services, prevention efforts and public safety.
Lush said it is joining other business leaders who have publicly opposed capital punishment, including Richard Branson and Matthew Stepka, both members of the global Business Leaders Against the Death Penalty campaign, of which Lush is a participant.
“Lush’s campaign injects new urgency into the growing chorus of business voices calling on Governor Newsom to commute California death sentences. Business leaders understand that the death penalty is not only inhumane and ineffective, but a massive waste of public resources. We urge Governor Newsom to act now — the state’s communities and businesses will be stronger for it,” said Maha Jweied, CEO of the Responsible Business Initiative for Justice.
Campaigning has been a core part of Lush’s business ethics since 2006, according to the company, with past efforts focused on human rights, environmental justice and animal protection. Lush said that history is driving its current advocacy as California faces what organizers describe as a critical opportunity to permanently end the death penalty.
The company’s opposition to capital punishment dates back nearly a decade. In 2017, Lush featured its Death ≠ Justice campaign in all U.S. shops, raising awareness about what it described as the flaws of the death penalty, particularly the risk of executing innocent people. Through sales of a limited-edition 31 States Bath Bomb, Lush raised $132,000 for organizations working toward national abolition efforts. The company also hosted events in shops across five major U.S. cities and released a documentary, “Exonerated,” about Kwame Ajamu, who spent 28 years on Ohio’s death row for a crime he did not commit before being exonerated.
Lush officials said commuting all remaining death sentences to life without the possibility of parole would complete the work already underway in California and create a lasting legacy on the issue.
https://davisvanguard.org/2026/01/governor-newsom-commute-death-sentences/#:~:text=SACRAMENTO%2C%20Calif.,more%20than%20560%20death%20sentences. (Source: davisvanguard.org, 10/01/2026)
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