“I think it’s just a fear of death. I can’t bear to go to sleep. There’s very little, you know, between an entrepreneur and a crazy person.”—Anita Roddick

She wasn’t crazy…just way ahead of her time. When Anita Roddick founded The Body Shop in 1976, the world was just awakening to the idea that a business could be built for the betterment of people and planet. As Roddick herself noted in a 1996 High Profiles interview, “Five years ago, when I went to Harvard to talk about social responsiveness and social responsibility, the notion of business as a community, the notion of spirituality in the workplace, I was like an alien. Now, I get invited to talk on those subjects.”

And talk, she did. But Anita Roddick was more than a talker. She was a doer. In addition to building a global, multimillion dollar business, Roddick campaigned for domestic violence victims; fought to ban animal testing; pioneered flexible working initiatives; and founded Children on the Edge and The Body Shop Foundation.

In a 2001 interview with ABC News, Roddick said her business philosophy was based on social responsibility and environmental change.

“You’ve got to have a real belief that business…is more about public good, than private greed. I passionately believe that. I don’t believe that this ever-increasing accumulation of wealth is the answer.”

Ironically, the quest for wealth contributed to The Body Shop’s downfall. In 2006, The Body Shop was acquired by L’Oréal. At the time, Roddick said the move enabled her to be a “Trojan Horse” within the multibillion-dollar multinational and work for change. Unfortunately, Roddick died in 2007 from a brain hemorrhage. She was just 64. Without its leader, The Body Shop lost its way. In 2017, L’Oréal sold The Body Shop to Natura. Last year, Natura sold The Body Shop to Aurelius, a private equity group. In February, Aurelius put The Body Shop’s UK division into administration and warned that a significant number of its UK stores could close within the coming months. Last month, the retailer ceased US operations and filed for bankruptcy in the US and Canada.

The company founded by Anita Roddick ushered in a new era of corporate consciousness. The Body Shop’s demise is a body blow to the industry.

Tom Branna
Chief Content Officer
[email protected]