Urban Outfitters discontinues 'suicidal shampoo' after social media backlash
LONDON -- Urban Outfitters has removed "shampoo for suicidal hair" from its shelves after being heavily criticised on social media for being "hugely irresponsible" and insensitive about suicide.
The shampoo takes its name -- "Peachy head" -- from a pun on Beachy Head, a well-known suicide spot in the UK.
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“I never knew my once beautiful hair would actually commit suicide by tossing itself off dramatic white cliffs to the rocks below,” reads the product's description, referring to the white cliffs at Beachy Head.
People on social media expressed their disgust at the brand's use of a suicide pun on its product.
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Others hailed the product as "irresponsible" for making light of suicide.
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And, some called for Urban Outfitters to make a donation to a suicide charity.
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The product -- manufactured by UK beauty brand Anatomicals -- was pulled by stockist Urban Outfitters after a social media frenzy.
“Although the product’s name is a humorous attempt to market a shampoo for hard-to-manage hair, we reevaluated and felt it was not appropriate and it was pulled from the Urban Outfitters website," a spokesperson for Urban Outfitters said in a statement emailed to Mashable.
"We have instructed all of our UK stores to remove the product immediately,” the spokesperson continued.A spokesperson for Anatomicals told the Huffington Post that it had not intended to make light of suicide.
"‘Peachy Head’ has been on sale for a number of years now and continues to be loved by many customers," the spokesperson said.
“That’s not to say we fail to recognise that suicide, and particularly teenage suicide, is a growing problem and we would never wish to be seen as making light of it.”
“Every day of every year, millions of people have a ‘bad hair’ day. They may feel like putting on a hat or even in extreme cases, chopping it off and going for a sleek bob. Never do they feel like killing themselves, although they may feel like killing their hairdresser."
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Topics Beauty Mental Health
Rachel Thompson is the Features Editor at Mashable. Rachel's second non-fiction book The Love Fix: Reclaiming Intimacy in a Disconnected World is out now, published by Penguin Random House in Jan. 2025. The Love Fix explores why dating feels so hard right now, why we experience difficult emotions in the realm of love, and how we can change our dating culture for the better.
A leading sex and dating writer in the UK, Rachel has written for GQ, The Guardian, The Sunday Times Style, The Telegraph, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Stylist, ELLE, The i Paper, Refinery29, and many more.
Rachel's first book Rough: How Violence Has Found Its Way Into the Bedroom And What We Can Do About It, a non-fiction investigation into sexual violence was published by Penguin Random House in 2021.
