By: Ramanpreet Kaur Rohit Kalia Shreyasi Dutta Simranjeet Kaur

In 1970 Anita and Gordon Roddick were inspired to set up a beauty products store after seeing The Body Shop at Berkeley, California. In march 1976, the Roddicks set up their first Body Shop store at Brighton , UK. A case was filed against Anita for using the same name but she fought back. From its inception body shop was associated with social activism- local charity, it printed leaflets , posters and t-shirts with social messages.

Body shop had an unique packaging mechanism.

The core brand identity of body shop was profits with a principle. While body shop opened its second store within 6 months from opening its first store after taking a loan of 4000 pounds, it was growing by 50% anually during the late 70s.

In April 1984, Body Shop opened for the first time at Londons security market. In 1986 Body Shop tied up with Green Peace for Save the Whales campaign. Following this they tied up with Friends Of The Earth in 1990. During the 80s and 90s Body Shop was being accused of hypocrisy. Problem burgeoned when numerous me too retailers mushroomed in UK. In U.S. it faced tough competition from Bath and Bodyworks and overall its new products failed to take off.

The company continued growing in size even as its market value dipped. In 98 Roddick was replaced by Gournay as her radicalism harmed the company.

1999 Gournay initiated a restructuring exercise. In 2001, the operating profits had decreased to $ 18.2 bn. In 2002, anita and Gordon stepped down as cochairmen and were replaced by Bellamy and also repositioned itself to masstige segment. In 2003, its pre taxed profits increased. In 2006, it agreed to be taken over by LOreal in a $ 652 mn deal.

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During 1980s and 1990s critics accused it of hypocrisy. Shareholders complained on diversion of money into social work projects. In early 1990s problems faced for it as many me too retails mushroomed in UK. Contradicting takeover of LOreal.

One of the first firms in the world to publish a proper report in its CSR In 1991- drafted the EU Eco-Management and Audit regulation (EMAS). green book and value report The UNEP ranked both the reports highly in international benchmarking survey of corporate environmental reports

1. AGAINST ANIMAL TESTING

    

considered animal testing unethical It campaigned against it in UK, Europe, Japan, Netherlands and Germany Finally, in 1998 the UK government banned animal testing. Cared about the interests of both vegetarians and animals In 2005, it was awarded the first for Achieving Higher Standards of Animal Welfare

2. SUPPORT COMMUNITY TRADE

Sourced products from marginalized communities for a fair price in a sustainable way. For eg. It sourced marula oil from Namibia, bananas from Caribbean etc.  Model for others to follow


3. IMPROVE SELF-ESTEEM
Marketed products honestly  Focused on products that provide well-being and comfort  Provided good work-culture and motivated employees by maintaining equal opportunity standards.  Promoted self-esteem as one of its values. It challenged unrealistic beauty ideal presented by the beauty industry


It showed respect to women:

launched womens right campaign in 1995  Launched a campaign based on Ruby, a realistic doll which represented real women as opposed to the dolls such as Barbie  Supported a debate on self-esteem  It published and distributed globally the body and self-esteem and generated on the subject  In 2003, it launched a global campaign against domestic violencestop violence at home


4. Defend human rights  In 1998, Body Shop ran a Thumbs up for reconciliation campaign between black and white Australians  In 2000, launched its Human Rights Awards  It also benchmarked its employee management policies against international standards

Founding member of Ethical Trade Initiatives (ETI) and strove to ensure that its suppliers complied with the ethical trade standards. Suppliers were screened by a buying team who were given ethical targets on an annual basis. The company worked with the stakeholders at various levels to share best practices and influence national and international policy on ethical trade issues.

5. PROTECT THE PLANET



     

The company aimed to be a sustainable business and considered protection of the planet as a key responsibility Launched a campaign in 1986 for the protection of planets In 1992, it developed its first international environmental policy It supported environmental materials and technology Encouraged recycled materials and minimal packing It avoided PVC Supported forest stewardship council certification scheme

6. OTHER INITIATIVES
     

Regular donation to charitable organizations The BSF charitable Trust-animal welfare, human rights issues Huge donations to the trusts Sold bracelets in US and Canada to raise $3,00,000 to support HIV/AIDS victims Donated $2,00,000 towards Tsunami Raised voices for violence against children

Body Shop and its founders were called hypocrites Contribution to charity of less than 1.5% of the profit Ex-employees claim of fabricated products Used products animal tested by other companies CTP accounted for only 1% of Body Shops sales

Exploitative wages Aggressive attitude towards critics Anti-city attitude, but still raised funds by being listed at stock exchange 2001-2002 major focus on improving financial position Roddicks initial criticism for LOreal Nestles share in LOreal LOreal buying CSR

Protests by animal activists Return of loyalty cards Lilly lapin bunny mascot Some customers felt betrayed Ethiscore came down from 11/20 to 2.5/20

Ring-fenced values Combining of Body Shops values with LOreals visionary leadership Roddick felt that Body Shop was sold out when it was listed

Over-played CSR Too aggressive with the critics Retention of old management

Thank

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