Did a man die in Essex after being overpowered by the smell of scented soaps in a Lush store? No, that's not true: the news article claiming it happened originated on a satire website, it is not real.
The story originated from an article published by the Southend News Network on June 1, 2018 an was titled "Man dies after being overcome by smell of scented soaps in Lush" (archived here). It opened:
A 23-year-old man from Westcliff On Sea in Essex has died after being overcome by the combined smell of 74 different scented soaps in his local branch of Lush.
The emergency services were called to the store in the Fairfax Drive Commercial Centre shortly after 3pm on Friday afternoon - they were responding to reports that a male was unconscious.
A witness said: 'I was standing with my girlfriend and we were discussing whether or not we should try a blended buttock balm containing sandalwood and ostrich, when suddenly we noticed a young lad who was looking very uneasy on his feet.'
Users on social media would only have seen this title, description and thumbnail:
Man dies after being overcome by smell of scented soaps in Lush
A 23-year-old man from Westcliff On Sea in Essex has died after being overcome by the combined smell of 74 different scented soaps in his local branch of Lush. The emergency services were called to the store in the Fairfax Drive Commercial Centre shortly after 3pm on Friday afternoon - they were responding to reports ...
The Southend News Network is a satirical site pretending to be a news organisation by the English coast in Southend. They have a disclaimer on their about page that reads (in part):
Southend News Network was originally started in October 2015 with no real aims or objectives in mind other than to add a satirical/spoof-like touch to issues that people are passionate about in Southend On Sea. Above all else, SNN is all about having the occasional 'dig' at the powers that be, as well a slightly bigger and more frequent 'dig' at certain elements of local media!
Several of their stories have been mistaken for real news in the past and the site was recognized by the local authorities as an "official news outlet".
We wrote about southendnewsnetwork.net before, here are our most recent articles that mention the site:
- Fake News: Thousands Did NOT Protest On The Streets After Arrest Of Tony Robinson
- Fake News: 500,000 Obese Children Did NOT Sign Petition For Jamie Oliver To Just F*ck Off
- Fake News: Royal Wedding NOT Cancelled, Meghan Markle NOT Deported
- Fake News: EU Did NOT Force Ice Cream Vans To Replace Chimes With Recorded Diabetes Warning
- Fake News: Work NOT Underway To Rotate Big Ben So It Faces Mecca
