L'Oréal takes over Body Shop

15 June 2006 - No change or all change? You may remember that when L'Oréal took over The Body Shop, there were assurances that the whole management and executive team would remain the same.

You didn't really believe that, did you?

Five members of the board have resigned (Peggy Bruzelius, Howard Mann, Jack Keenan, Irene Miller and Gordon Roddick), to be replaced by former L'Oréal UK chief Tom Vyner and current L'Oréal CEO Jean-Paul Agon, along with four others. Two board members remain, along with Dame Anita.

Now, how does that phrase go, "plus c'est la même chose, plus ça change"?
 

Go to our 5-point Action Plan!

More...
Read what some of our supporters have said here

1 June 2006 - Shameless! The Body Shop expose their brass neck. More...

25 April 2006 - What the Body Shop are saying to their staff
We've received a question-and-answer sheet that The Body Shop are saying to their own employees about the sell-out. You can see it, with our comments, here. For a fuller response from ourselves, view here. For a company that prided itself on its ethical standard, it's all rather sad.

29 March 2006 - The Body Shop brand slumps
Marketing magazine Brand Republic announces that The Body Shop's brand has slumped since the takeover. Well, now, there's a surprise. Go there!. [External link]

17 March 2006 - Cosmetics giant L'Oréal has produced some shock news for the ethical-living world: it is taking over the Body Shop. Naturewatch has now responded by asking supporters to boycott the Body Shop.

Naturewatch has been involved in a long-running campaign against L'Oréal. Although the company claims not to test their products on animals, the reality is that their ingredients are being tested, as we show in our fact file.

It may perhaps seem an odd marriage, since the Body Shop is widely perceived as being a pioneer in bringing ethical living onto the High Street. But L'Oréal probably feels it could use a more ethical image – and if L'Oréal can buy one rather than developing one in-house, so much the better!

Although L'Oréal states that it plans to operate the Body Shop as a stand-alone business, with founder Anita Roddick continuing in her current role as consultant, the simple truth is that all Body Shop profits will now belong to L'Oréal.

Naturewatch has always adhered to a strict rule of taking the parent company's animal testing policy as an overall guide as to whether a company should or should not be endorsed. For this reason we are no longer endorsing the Body Shop and are asking our supporters not to shop in its retail outlets (that's some 1,900 shops in 50 countries across the world, according to the Body Shop website), host any Body Shop parties in their homes or attend any such Body Shop function.

Now, if L'Oréal were to adopt all of the Body Shop's original ethical principles across its whole range - that would be interesting!

Boycott the Body Shop – its parent company tests on animals

In short, we feel that the Body Shop has 'sold out' and is not standing by its principles. We are asking our supporters to take a leaf out of Anita Roddick's book and, to quote directly from the Body Shop website, 'boycott cosmetic companies that continue to test on animals' and not to buy from the Body Shop from now on. We will adopt the day L'Oréal receives full ownership of the Body Shop and it is re-registered as a company as an 'official' launch date for our new campaign. We will add new details here as and when they become available.

Press Release | L'Oreal Fact file | History of our campaign

News index | Compassionate Shopping index