By Terry Oparka
C & G Staff Writer

TROY — Shoppers at the Somerset Collection Aug. 27 missed out on a promotion that Lush Fresh Handmade Cosmetics sales staff had planned to do wearing aprons, smiles and nothing else.

As part of a nationwide promotion aptly named the Naked Campaign, store employees planned to wear black aprons inscribed with the words “Ask Me Why I’m Naked,” which covered the front, sides, and some of the employees’ back, leaving “a little bit of the back” open, to raise awareness about and reduce of the amount of plastic packaging products discarded into landfills, said Somerset Collection Lush store manager Annaleise Wood.

However, when Somerset Collection officials heard about the plan from a Lush press release sent to the mall management, they objected. “They decided that they didn’t feel it was appropriate for the mall or their customers,” Wood said. “We were respectful of that.”

Troy Police Lt. Gerry Scherlinck said that there is a city ordinance that prohibits indecent exposure, which states that a person cannot be nude or partially nude, which is defined as exposing breasts, the genital area, or buttocks. He could not say if the Lush store employees wearing the aprons would have been in violation of the ordinance. "It would depend on how the aprons were situated," he said.
  
He said the mall intervened appropriately. "The promotion was inappropriate for standards in the community" he said.
   
Scherlinck said that in the past, when other promotions were deemed inappropriate, such as a book display depicting sex acts, store managers have been more than willing to desist and comply with local ordinances.

"Stores with headquarters out of town or out of the country aren't aware of local ordinances,"  he said. "We've been very successful upholding community standards without enforcement action."

Ed Naktoor, spokesman for the Somerset Collection, had no comment.

Those Lush employees who volunteered to participate in the promotion are passionate about the message, Wood said. “It takes a lot of bravery to reveal your bum in public. We’re sharing the message in a different form.”

Many Lush products use no packaging at all, she said. “Eighty million pounds of plastic go into the landfills each year. Only 40 percent of plastic is recycled.”

Jennifer Graybill, corporate spokesperson for Lush, said that stores in 23 cities nationwide participated in the Naked Campaign Aug. 27. Somerset wasn’t the only mall in the metro area to nix the event — Twelve Oaks mall in Novi did the same.

She described the campaign as a fun, lighthearted approach to a serious subject, designed to put a smile on someone’s face or raise an eyebrow. The main mission, she said, was to educate people about the different choices in buying goods with regards to packaging.