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The Body Shop is a global manufacturer and retailer of naturally inspired, ethically produced beauty products and cosmetics. The first store opened in the UK in 1976 to sell a range of 25 home-made and hand-mixed products. It quickly became apparent that consumers were willing to pay for environmentally friendly merchandise and the company has since expanded to sell over 1,200 products in more than 2,100 outlets spanning 55 countries.
In large part, The Body Shop's success has been due to its Founder, Anita Roddick, and her focus on ethical consumption and social issues which resulted in clearly differentiated toiletries and cosmetics. Such vision and commitment to corporate values have formed the essential core of The Body Shop brand.
Vision and values
From the beginning, The Body Shop took an explicit stance on the natural orientation of its products and its ethical supply chain and promoted five basic value messages:
against animal testing;
supporting community trade;
defending human rights;
protecting the planet; and
activating self-esteem.
The strength of these values underpinned the consistency of its branding. In internal and external communications, The Body Shop demonstrated a commitment to discover "who they are" and devoted itself to the idea of a single, unified and consistent organizational "self" through its corporate communications.
However, in relation to vision and values, the key problem for The Body Shop since the late 1990s has been the emergence of a much broader societal and political consensus on the need for environmental awareness in the planning and regulation of both production and consumption.
The organization has been surpassed, in part, by the success of its own lobbying. Its campaigning stance on ethical consumption is no longer a key differentiator; it has, to some extent, become mainstream.
Design concept
The Body Shop's corporate identity, with its distinctive "pod", provided a consistent visual cue in its shops and on its packaging. The company's original shop interior concept,...