Kitty More Business strategy 02

Body Shop takeover – Ethical business as usual

Body Shop appears to be winning the fight to convince people the company’s standards have remained since its takeover by L’Oreal

It has been a turbulent year for Body Shop. Its $1 billion takeover by French cosmetics giant L’Oreal eight months ago raised unplucked eyebrows across the ethical business world. Animal rights and environmental campaigners, many of them long-term Body Shop supporters, threatened a boycott. Founder Anita Roddick was widely accused of selling out.

Such is the emotion invested in small ethical brands. Body Shop, Ben & Jerry’s, Green & Blacks – these are the darlings of corporate responsibility. One by one, bigger brands have swallowed them up. But each time, concerns over their future seem to have been exaggerated.

Body Shop’s director of values, Jan Buckingham, admits: “Obviously there’s an impact on perception.” But internally, the takeover has not altered the company’s management structures. Body Shop operates as a separate, ring-fenced entity, reporting into L’Oreal.

Reassuring stakeholders that Body Shop could preserve its values and identity under new leadership was a challenge, says Buckingham. The main bone of contention was animal testing. L’Oreal is a company that historically has tested cosmetics on animals, while Body Shop prides itself on opposing vivisection.

Under its new owners the company maintains its strict policy of refusing to use ingredients that have been tested on animals since 1990. Since that date L’Oreal has not tested finished products on animals, something now prohibited by European law, although individual new ingredients are still tested.


http://www.ethicalcorp.com/content.asp?ContentID=4936