The Body Shop may be a household name in the beauty and wellness industry today but few of us might be aware of its long history of philanthropic efforts that go all the way back to its founding days in 1976. Don’t be surprised! This brand’s activism extends beyond just funding.
Thanks to The Body Shop Foundation, they encourage participation through petitions and awareness campaigns, tackling issues like women's empowerment and human rights. Although the Foundation ceased its operations long before the company filed for bankruptcy last month, The Body Shop has had a long history of bringing about positive change in society through its philanthropic activities. And that is every bit worth sharing.
In this edition of #BeyondProfit, let’s explore the philanthropic side of The Body Shop. Are you ready?
Women Empowerment
Throughout its journey as a global brand, The Body Shop has put a strong emphasis on women’s empowerment across different areas - be it education and training, women’s rights, or acceptance and self-love.
In partnership with NGOs like Plan International, The Body Shop offers vocational training and education opportunities for underprivileged women in underdeveloped or developing countries. Equipping these women with a necessary set of skills paves the way for their entrepreneurial ventures or steady employment opportunities - a journey to their financial independence.
In their marketing campaigns, you will often find The Body Shop challenging the traditional beauty standards for women and fostering a culture of self-love and body positivity, where every woman embraces her individual beauty or body shape.
Besides, in 1994, The Body Shop introduced a program called ‘The Body Shop At Home.’ This initiative allowed women to earn a living as entrepreneurs with flexible schedules. In exchange for their financial independence, women registered under this program needed to sell The Body Shop products and get their fair share of the commission. Moreover, The Body Shop is actively running campaigns to combat social injustice issues such as gender inequality and violence against women.
Youth Homelessness
Having partnered with the charity End Youth Homelessness (EYH) in the UK, The Body Shop provides a more holistic approach to helping young generations combat homelessness and rebuild their lives.
Among many of the challenges faced by homeless youth, is the concern of mental health. To combat its vice, The Body Shop has established a dedicated health fund with EYH, allowing the needy free access to therapy, counseling, and more.
And while mental health has its own place in tackling youth homelessness, a stable living situation is vital to long-term self-sufficiency. This is why, through their philanthropic efforts, The Body Shop has helped EYH form a dedicated housing team that helps young women (16 - 25 years of age) find safe housing establishments.
Human Rights
Modern slavery is a critical human rights concern and The Body Shop is taking active steps to combat it, thanks to their partnership with organizations like the Ethical Trading Initiative. To fight human rights issues like labor exploitation, they ensure ethical sourcing in their supply chain. On top of that, The Body Shop has long been associated with agencies defending the rights of marginalized communities. For example, in the 1990s, they organized and ran campaigns for the Ogoni people, an indigenous group in Nigeria that suffered environmental degradation and human rights abuse at the hands of big-time corporations.
Moreover, the Body Shop has lent support to humanitarian organizations like the Children on the Edge, which works to protect and empower children in vulnerable situations.
Environmental Sustainability
The Body Shop has been a long-time advocate for environmental sustainability focusing on reducing their carbon footprint throughout their business operations. To this end, they have been relying on recycled materials for their packaging.
In recent years, they have ramped up the use of recycled plastic in their packaging, with a goal of 100% recycled plastic by 2030. Interestingly, the Body Shop also has refill stations in their stores for customers who wish to reuse their containers and minimize waste.
Moreover, the Body Shop has partnered with Plastics for Change, an organization that works towards bolstering the working conditions for waste pickers in India. Through this collaboration, they source the collected plastic waste for use in their packaging.
By implementing measures to improve energy efficiency in its stores and exploring renewable energy for its operations, the Body Shop is looking to curtail its carbon footprint further and contribute towards a more sustainable tomorrow.
HIV/AIDS Awareness
Recognizing the importance of public health, The Body Shop has conducted worldwide campaigns to raise awareness about the deadly virus, HIV. As younger generations are more susceptible to it, they have had a major partnership with MTV, a big-time youth platform to reach the younger demographics.
The Body Shop campaigns aimed to not only raise awareness about preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS but also fight stigma and discrimination against those living with the disease. They further incorporated fundraising into their campaigns, selling red ribbons, a well-recognized symbol for HIV awareness, with proceeds going to partner organizations supporting people living with HIV/AIDS.
Anti-sex Trafficking
The Body Shop’s most prominent effort in tackling sex trafficking was a collaboration with ECPAT, an international organization working to eliminate the sexual exploitation of children. Together, they launched the "Stop Sex Trafficking of Children and Young People" campaign in 2009. The campaign aimed to raise public awareness about the global issue of child sex trafficking. A major part of this campaign was the petition drive that urged governments around the world to take stronger action against the issue at hand.
This campaign has been known to run for several years before the petition closed in 2011. It was praised worldwide for influencing policy changes in regard to child sex trafficking at the government level.
Youth Political Participation
To amplify the voices of youth in corporate decision-making, the Body Shop introduced its Youth Collective Council in India. It is an initiative that is an extension of their Why25 Program. This program aims to collect 2.5 million signatures to urge the government of India to lower the age of candidacy in the Lower House of Parliament from 25 to 21 years.
As a ground-breaking initiative, the Why25 program works towards tearing down barriers to youth participation in high-level policymaking. It also engages young voters with an impressive goal of adding a whopping 25 million young voters by the rolls this year.
Bottom Line
And that is a wrap of this edition of our new #BeyondProfit series. The philanthropic efforts and impactful activism of the Body Shop should be a constant reminder for businesses of all sizes to foster corporate social responsibility and introduce positive change from within. With their moving campaigns around social and cultural issues of human rights, women empowerment, and environmental sustainability, the Body Shop has touched the lives of millions.
But while The Body Shop couldn’t persist with its charitable works due to the mounting financial strain, there are plenty of organizations out there that thrived while continuing to fulfill their corporate social responsibility. And we can’t wait to bring you more of such stories. Until then, stay tuned!