The Body Shop Becomes Multinational Profit Shop
campervanHan | 23.03.2006 11:46 | South Coast
The Body Shop Becomes Multinational Profit Shop.
By CampervanHan. – apologies for the late posting, I’ve been ill!
Last week UK cosmetics company, The Body Shop, was sold to L’Oreal for a reported £652.3 million. The Body Shop, founded by Anita Roddick, the daughter of Italian immigrants, started in a small Brighton premises. The company very quickly established itself as one of the leading natural cosmetics manufacturers, and now have over 2,000 stores worldwide, 304 of these are in the UK.
Anita and Gordon Roddick are said to have netted £130 million from the sale of their 19% stake in the company, and as far as many ethical consumers are concerned, Anita Roddick has abandoned her values and sold her principles to L’Oreal, the worlds biggest cosmetics company who own brands including Lancôme, Cacharel, Garnier, Maybelline and Ambre Solaire. Roddick is said to have announced that this “is the best 30th birthday present that The Body Shop could have received.”
In 1999 The Body Shop was voted the second most trusted brand in the UK by the Consumer Association. According to the company profile The Body Shop products are made entirely ecologically, according to very strict standards respecting man and environment and the company have always been aggressively opposed to animal testing. L’Oreal banned animal testing of its products in 1989 but still allows ingredients that have been tested on animals to be used in its products. L’Oreal have long been the target of anti-vivisection groups, environmental organisations and ethical consumer groups as the company also allows harmful chemicals in its products and are part owned by Nestle.
The Body Shop head offices are in Watersmead, Littlehampton, and the administrative and manufacturing operations employ over 1,000 people in an area desperately in need of employment opportunities. The sale comes as no surprise to those who had suspected The Body Shop of manufacturing products for other companies. For the last 2 years insiders at the manufacturing plant have reported that The Body Shop have been making products for L’Oreal, Debenhams, and Molton Brown.
In the late 1990’s The Body Shop profits dropped rapidly causing an overhaul of management structures, the purchasing of franchised shops, and outsourcing operations. I fear that this time profits will drop rapidly because faithful customers of The Body Shop will now be voting with their wallets and will not be putting money into the pockets of multinational companies like L’Oreal and Nestle trading behind the ethical principles that The Body Shop once had. I think I’ll be purchasing shares in Faith In Nature and Urtekram, both highly transparent companies, who lets hope, 30 years down the line don’t sell out to some Nestle shite company.
www.ethicalconsumer.org
www.thebodyshopinternational.com
www.thebodyshop.com
www.buav.org/cosmetics/bluffersguide.html
www.animalaid.org
www.uncaged.co.uk
END
By CampervanHan. – apologies for the late posting, I’ve been ill!
Last week UK cosmetics company, The Body Shop, was sold to L’Oreal for a reported £652.3 million. The Body Shop, founded by Anita Roddick, the daughter of Italian immigrants, started in a small Brighton premises. The company very quickly established itself as one of the leading natural cosmetics manufacturers, and now have over 2,000 stores worldwide, 304 of these are in the UK.
Anita and Gordon Roddick are said to have netted £130 million from the sale of their 19% stake in the company, and as far as many ethical consumers are concerned, Anita Roddick has abandoned her values and sold her principles to L’Oreal, the worlds biggest cosmetics company who own brands including Lancôme, Cacharel, Garnier, Maybelline and Ambre Solaire. Roddick is said to have announced that this “is the best 30th birthday present that The Body Shop could have received.”
In 1999 The Body Shop was voted the second most trusted brand in the UK by the Consumer Association. According to the company profile The Body Shop products are made entirely ecologically, according to very strict standards respecting man and environment and the company have always been aggressively opposed to animal testing. L’Oreal banned animal testing of its products in 1989 but still allows ingredients that have been tested on animals to be used in its products. L’Oreal have long been the target of anti-vivisection groups, environmental organisations and ethical consumer groups as the company also allows harmful chemicals in its products and are part owned by Nestle.
The Body Shop head offices are in Watersmead, Littlehampton, and the administrative and manufacturing operations employ over 1,000 people in an area desperately in need of employment opportunities. The sale comes as no surprise to those who had suspected The Body Shop of manufacturing products for other companies. For the last 2 years insiders at the manufacturing plant have reported that The Body Shop have been making products for L’Oreal, Debenhams, and Molton Brown.
In the late 1990’s The Body Shop profits dropped rapidly causing an overhaul of management structures, the purchasing of franchised shops, and outsourcing operations. I fear that this time profits will drop rapidly because faithful customers of The Body Shop will now be voting with their wallets and will not be putting money into the pockets of multinational companies like L’Oreal and Nestle trading behind the ethical principles that The Body Shop once had. I think I’ll be purchasing shares in Faith In Nature and Urtekram, both highly transparent companies, who lets hope, 30 years down the line don’t sell out to some Nestle shite company.
www.ethicalconsumer.org
www.thebodyshopinternational.com
www.thebodyshop.com
www.buav.org/cosmetics/bluffersguide.html
www.animalaid.org
www.uncaged.co.uk
END
campervanHan
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