ETHICS

Ethics at 'The Body Shop'

Ethics at 'The Body Shop'

Introduction

The Body Shop (also known as the Body Shop International PLC) was founded in the year 1976 by Anita Roddick. Today, it has stores in over 61 countries at more than 2400 locations worldwide. The headquarters of the company is Little Hampton, England. The Body Shop is part of the L'Oreal Group, one of the world's leading cosmetics and personal care organization (The Body Shop, 2008).

Anita Roddick visited a shop in the 1970s which sold naturally made soaps and lotions and this inspired her to form the company. From the time of inception, the company has experienced over 50% growth annually.

The company started focusing on social well-being particularly from 1986 when they formed an alliance with Greenpeace of UK to save the whales. Soon after, the company started to launch other promotions that were related to social causes, creating a lot of media and public interest. The company started to participate in community events, CSR events and other social events across the globe. Soon afterwards, they became open public critics of the normal practices adopted by cosmetic and personal care companies. Their initiative against animal testing was proof of their movement against environmentally harmful practices happening in the world.

During one interview, Anita Roddick said that she believed in putting forward solutions that supported human rights and worked against human rights abuse.

Ethics at the Body Shop

In the mid 1990s, the company initiated social audits and now this practice is adopted worldwide by most leading companies. The Body Shop claims it stands for more than just the sale of their goods. They want to do business but they want to do it the right way. Some of the main initiatives taken up by the company include:

Community Trade

The Body Shop has committed to the practice of ...