A Brand Built On Lies - The Body Shop’s Shameful Decline Into Irrelevancy - Behind The Beauty
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 มิ.ย. 2024
- The Body Shop was THE go-to cosmetics shop for all millennial teens. The brand gained an almost cult following of devoted customers who not only loved The Body Shop's stance on cruelty-free beauty and its environmental impact, but also loved its founder Anita Roddick.
But these claims and ethics would soon be called into question after Anita and, The Body Shop, would be thrust into endless controversies and sales struggles.
Leaving people to question, was Anita Roddick really the 'queen of clean', or a marketing genuis?
Read the full Shattered Image audit here:
jonentine.com/a-social-and-en...
The Standard Queen of Green article:
www.standard.co.uk/hp/front/q...
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Sources:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bod...
www.ethicalconsumer.org/healt...
www.standard.co.uk/hp/front/q...
jonentine.com/a-social-and-en...
nltimes.nl/2024/02/27/dutch-c...
www.independent.co.uk/news/bu...
www.independent.co.uk/news/bu...
money.cnn.com/magazines/fortu...
www.nytimes.com/1991/10/19/bu...
www.forbes.com/sites/greatspe...
www.theguardian.com/world/200...
britishbeautycouncil.com/the-...
www.independent.co.uk/life-st... - แนวปฏิบัติและการใช้ชีวิต
Naming it the BODY SHOP between two funeral parlors… WHAT?
THANK YOU! My first thought!
Maybe it was foreshadowing?
Really is, especially when you consider you can make soap and candles with human fat and skin. The Nazis even made lampshades with human skin. The French did similar during the Reign of Terror.
Honestly, it sounds like something I'd do. I love dark jokes (not punching down jokes, but joke about the concept of human mortality).
Yeah I mean I think I would have just bc the curiosity of the situation would probably make people want to come in hahaha
I stopped liking them when I found out they were an mlm, I had no idea there was so much more.
Yes that’s what I thought this documentary was going to focus on. I was very surprised to learn about everything else! 😮😮😮
I had no idea they were an mlm! Gtfo
@missy2mrs810 the og is not and the mlm body shop stole the name
@@beckyanderson988I’m pretty sure the body shop, the one in the video, started an mlm program and then shut it down when they got backlash
It was Body Shop Home or "at home" and it got shut down 😬
Mom's Birthday - Body Shop
Teacher's Gift - Body Shop
Dad's Birthday - Whiskey😂😂😂
Or TieRack
So true there a time when I gifted everyone I know a body shop gift set
For me it's the other way round 😂
Lp
Yeah or a teenagers birthday
I worked for The Body Shop in 1998 and I was so upset to find out recently that everything they told me about the company was a lie
I used to go in their shops and absorb all that BS, and believed every word of it. I was so proud of myself for being a good Body Shop customer, like I was doing something good for the world. I learned my lesson though, I realize now that companies green-wash an awful lot, and you really have to do research on them before falling for their marketing.
I used to go in with my friends on a Saturday. And spent my pocket money. I feel totally conned when I heard about this. I would have rather have spent my money elsewhere
Trust me, from lip balms as a teen to creams, oil and make up as an adult...my favourite foundation and powder was from The Body Shop...But not for years now 😢
I worked in a (The BS 😂) store on and off from 1999 before I went to uni, and went back for work during holidays. Who knew! Not me 😢
She sounds just like Meghan Markle, no integrity or original ideas, a pathological liar and plagiarist of the highest order, not to mention the Queen of frivolous litigation.
They are true pioneers! They kind of invented what we call "greenwashing" before it was even a thing. Sustainability & Circularity Strategist here. Thanks for the insight!❤
I remember in the 70's a lot of us fell for advertising that made things seem natural, like Herbal Essence shampoo and Sweet Earth perfumes. But the Body Shop took greenwashing to the next level for sure.
Kind of invented?
😂😂😂
I’m not sure if finding novel ways to lie to consumers is worthy of the term “pioneer” 👀
You make it sound like a positive thing calling the scammers pioneers
This explains why The Body Shop tried to sue my little spa business out of existence when they came to America. They tried to claim they owned the rights to my company’s name and all of the products that my partners and I ACTUALLY researched, designed, and produced from ACTUAL natural resources. Unfortunately for Body Shop. I had a lot of clients in the legal biz that loved our little company and came to our rescue. F The Body Shop and its “founder.”
Tats so sad. I hate such big Giant companies who try to kill the small business
JUST THIS YEAR a good friends fiance was working for them, when she showed up to the store locked/a note on the door. They didnt even tell the stire manager that they were closing. So, all of a sudden, she was out of a job, 2 weeks after being promoted to a keyholder managers position. Jesus christ, that is some bullshit. She wasnt given any notice nor did she even recieve her last paycheck! Its been 4 months, still no pay or new job yet.
My location in New York was only given two weeks notice as well, but fortunately I received my last check but no severance pay.
That's horrible! But that must be in the US, right? In the EU or UK this couldn't be happening.
@@calihhan4706 It can and probably did happen in both EU and UK, but they breached regulations. It's a franchise, so it's up to the respective company to correctly handle that specific store that they manage. Sometimes when a store has to close down quikcly like that, the employees are an after thought. :( An article released in march 2024,by independent claims that: "Body Shop admits breaking employment law with ‘brutal’ last-minute mass sacking...numerous women about to go on maternity leave were among those fired with no notice". Also in UK, P&O broke the employment law when they in 2022 fired 800 people without notice. But atleast it's illegal and something can be done, but it can also be difficult at times to enforce these laws, especially if the company disappears during the process.
I’m serious when I say this. If she can tell her to get a job at a high class restaurant. Why? Bc she WILL regain financial security again bc the tips are awesome. And it gives time to look for a job she might want more
@KarinaSankarsingh-vi9ri I've been trying to tell her to be a server/bartender. She says her anxiety cannot handle it. I've been a server off and on since I was 16, and you are right, it always holds me over.
Hi James, I was a body shop at home consultant and area manager for 5 years before they very suddenly told us it was all over. You wouldn't believe some of the things I could tell you about how poorly we were treated- I believe we were what kept the brand going for as long as it did. I'd be happy to chat about it privately!
Didn't Anita Roddick and Mark Constantine have a partnership of some sort?
@@Anna-Rose- He created TBS items for about 15 years in the beginning before selling the intellectual property rights of those products to Anita for 17 million in 1991. So basically, he was a contract employee for awhile.
Damn, I wanna hear this!
There’s a podcast that might be interested in your stories, let me find the name! It’s run by someone who came out of LulaRoe
I worked at the body shop for 6 years, I didn't get an employment contract during all those years. My boss told me "We are all like family here and don't need that" everytime I brought it up.
There's much more to my situation, such as guilttrip when I got sick or was on vacation so that I would work during these times. Also scolding and manipulation. I'm so happy to have left this all behind.
It's incredibly unprofessional to not have a contract. Had my own experiences including the lack of contract with a company founder and found out that this is how they take advantage of people who don't know better. I'm sorry for what you went through, and happy that you are free 😊
Hey! This podcast is run by an ex-LulaRoe member and might be interested in hearing from you:
When these capitalist corporations lead with "were like a family " I'm leaving because it tell me your not going to respect me and other employees labor and are gonna expect free/cheap labor with a smile on my face. It's a red flag to me , because we actually getting treated like family ny paycheck wouldn't be low enough for me to barely be making it above the poverty line and my labor would actually be appreciated not exploited. I'm soy you had to go through that these capitalist will drain every ounce of labor out of you and be mad your not kissing their feet for labor you had to do .
The Body Shop should never have abandoned their very basic 'handmade on a kitchen table' look. They went all fancy and sophisticated with their packaging and store look, became like all other cosmetic brands, and lost the eco conscious teens that were their biggest customers. They all presumably migrated to Lush who have kept that raw and basic styling. I knew TBS were doomed after the restyle.
More recently, they started only selling large sizes, which is too expensive. The original smaller sizes were great, becos you could try out lots of products, and not break the bank.
I thought the same. It used to be affordable and suddenly the prices went crazy as well. That was after they were bought out though. As a 90s teen I used to love going in there and buying basic skincare and the animal shaped scented soaps, oh and white musk!
The segment about the B&B Works closing down suddenly reminded me when I worked at Aaron brothers (when they were still operating and had entire store fronts) I will always remember doing my closing shift, then coming back the next morning for work only to find the store closed and giant signs all over for a liquidation sale. No warning beforehand, no nothing. Even my manager looked gobsmacked and spent the day writing reference letters then took us all out for lunch. Spent the last couple months of that job helping a third party company gut that store.
Remember, any company with a fiscal responsibility to shareholders and profit will never be on your side.
I'm so sorry that happened to you.
@sharimeline3077 is what it is, and the next job I got, I used to propel myself into my career job. That experience helped teach me important lessons when it comes to dealing with businesses, though!
"Remember, any company with a fiscal responsibility to shareholders and profit will never be on your side." This should be carved into giant monuments in every single state.
My only experience with the body shop was also my first experience with makeup in general! I asked my mom to take me to get makeup when i turned 13, and we went to the body shop and met the nicest woman ever. She didnt try and sell my mom a bunch of stuff, told me i should only ever wear eye shadow because i was too young and pretty, and even gave us a sample for vitamin e lotion for my eczma (it helped a lot!)
I had no idea that the body shop was, well, like this until this video. It makes me feel even more like i got super lucky. I hope that woman is doing great wherever she is :)
When I was a kid in the early 90’s (living in Wycome) the highlight of my week was going to the body shop and smelling all the perfumes. Buying bath beads and animal shaped soaps. Such great memories! It’s a shame the company wasn’t so great.
I miss Ananya so much, it was my favorite of perfume all. I used to get them to scent my lotions and body wash with it. Curses on them for lying to us about so many things.
It was the mango soap for me
@@sharimeline3077 Ananya was AMAZING. It was my signature scent for ages. Those little bottles of oil were great.
I loved the Satsuma ❤
Yeah I was a teen in the late 90s and was saturating my skin with tee tree oil
I worked at a Body Shop store in Australia a long time ago. I had nasty allergic reactions to a lot of the products, including EYE MAKEUP, but my manager still forced me to use them, and to put them on customers’ skin. I wasn’t even allowed to wear gloves, even when I showed her what it did to my skin. I could never understand being forced to demo a body cream on a customer’s arm when they could literally do it themselves.
That manager made me cry on almost a daily basis, but head office loved her… I quit and never shopped there again. 🤷🏼♀️
I could never use their products because they would make me break out. I was confused bc I thought their products were supposed to be natural and good.
Same experience in the US. I wouldn’t buy their makeup, so they made me put on from the testers. My eyes always reacted.
That sounds like legit torture, wtf ? So sorry you had to deal with such bs ❤
just a correction: animal testing still happens on non-chinese cosmetics in china, their new policy just doesn't demand it before it being sold. instead, any non-chinese brand selling cosmetics in physical stores in mainland chine "might" be tested on animals if the agency responsible so chooses, without letting the brand know beforehand. so L'oreal still isn't cruelty free.
I heard about that! I swear I heard that either the Body Shop or another company had gotten in shit because it came out that their "Non animal tested" products was tested on animals but they were claiming otherwise because they said "WE never did it so we didn't have to say it might have been" which is insane to me.
@@Steampunkfox143 truly, and these days i see so much l'oreal products listed as "cruelty free"... like how??
@@joannasldr6456 I suppose they think if they don't do the animal testing themselves, then their hands are clean.
Also, some stuff like retinol are pretty much made by loreal and then private labeled by smaller companies so it's hard to say if even your super ethical small company is actually cruelty free.
Getting megacorps and china to stop animal testing is the only way to make sure we aren't buying into it.
@@dismurrart6648 if they're certified to not be using ingredients by suppliers that test on animals, they don't use retinol from L'oreal. there's thankfully other (smaller) suppliers of retinol that don't test on animals :)
I worked for the body shop when they were owned by L’Oréal they are exactly the same as any other retail, obsessed with sales, small hourly contracts a week (but expect you to be available everyday and have no life) no progression. I remember we were encouraged to tell a “story” about the ingredients 🤣
F***k that.
@@englishrose5483 exactly, and that’s why I left. Towards the end I was working at two different stores and had very few days off because they were so understaffed as the higher management was so disorganised
When I worked there , they would make us work8-10 hour shift with no break or lunch on busy days like holidays. Management told us that bereavement days when an employee’s uncle died was her vacation days ….
🙄🤡
Yes, I worked there once but only lasted a month. The boss was horrible. She even timed you washing the make up brushes after someone had a makeover. 🤨
I feel like the companies who outwardly preach how good and ethical are, always are the most abusive to their employees
that is just straight up evil
@@harlsqirl 🙄 Let me guess you are in debt and b🔥tch about how unfair it is
I will say i always used to get "the body shop" & bath and body works confused all the time - they felt like essentially the same store in the mall
Same, lol.
I just realised they were different last year 💀very similar
Omg LOL I’m just now realizing that the entire time I was watching this video, I was thinking he was talking about bath and body works 😂 Yeah I clearly have the same problem lol too funny
I thought the Body Shop was so boring compared to Bath & Body Works.
@@monicapatton1405And funny, I always felt the opposite! IMO, Body Shop had good, "natural" fragrances, and Bath and Body Works was stinky, artificial stuff.
Early 90s as a teen, every girl in my school had those tiny tub of lip balm, I had kiwi & the oil perfumes..dewberry. Mid 90s, I adored their make up!!
I loved the dewberry oil in the early 90s 😊
Yes! I had the kiwi one and it was amazing!
I’ve got a dewberry and tea rose oil still which i treasure. I wish they would’ve kept the classic perfume oils
I remember the kiwi lip balm being in Jane Magazine or one of those & when I got it I felt so cool.
@@KitraNtheFirst I loved Jane magazine!
Would love to hear how and when they became an MLM. They had a whole branch of the company called "The Body Shop at Home" which didn't come to the US until about 2020 I believe.
It was much earlier! I got the pitch at a party in the 2000s! I never heard of it again after that though.
@@mbel22 Wow I didn't realize that they had been around that long.
@@mbel22same! I went to a party in about 2003-4.
@@Andrea-tf1leThe Body Shop started in the 70s!
@@claresherman2278 The company as a whole started in the 70's but it didn't become an MLM until recently
As one of their head office employers who was part of the 40% cut, I can testify that the whole situation was a shhh show. It felt very much like the administrators did their research to get away with as much as they could while steamrolling over everyone who dedicated themselves to trying to keep the company together. I even moved countries to America for a role and only 3 months in, I was told that I had to move back, causing me huge financial and emotional fall backs. The hypocrisies were insane. It was the passionate employees who kept the company values, never the ones in charge. Blind ambition without awareness.
Could you make a rise and fall of Yves Rocher? While the Body Shop shopping experience laid heavily on the store visit, Yves Rocher was the Queen of mail order. Their mail order brochures, selling tactics, and the little figurines they gave away free were legendary. At some point if felt like in my country there was only one anti-aging cream available; Yves Rocher's brown case one.
I totally fell for their fairytales as a young teen. It would be amazing if he did.
I used to get y ves rocher in the late 70s to 90s. They had a wonderful foundation in a beige tube, made my skin look fantastic until they discontinued it. They had a lavender scented cleanser and lavender toner in a bottle with a green fliwer shaped lid. Loved their foot cream after a hard day's work. Loved chevrefeuille perfume and ispahan. They always seemed to be giving away watches,scarves and bag hamamelis body lotion was good too.i remember that rich night cream matching daycream and eyecream, it was a bit too rich to use except in very cold winters. I still have a bott.e of clea and their monoi oil products i use in summer it has lasted so long and hasnt gone off. I wonder why they didnt make it. I remember putting their little stickers on the orderform and paying by cheques every month foor the instalments if i wanted a big order for christmas and birthdays.😊s
The Yves Rocher shops in my current workplace (Saudi Arabia) seems to be on the way out. They stopped selling their makeup now and the shops look unappealing compared to the Middle Eastern brands. I get the feeling YR might exit the market earlier than TBS here.
I love their lip balm...my mom still gets the catalogues and the appeal is still the same for us
OMG my grandmother bought boxes and boxes of stuff and couldn't use it all up before she died :(
I worked at the Body Shop in the very early aughts and it forever killed my faith in the stories these brands sell through their products: fair trade, global issues, integrity in consumption and absolutely ethical treatment of employees. Whatever Anita set out to do and maybe even did for awhile was long gone by the time I arrived and it was very clear that we were there for one purpose only: to make as much money as possible--for them. And yeah, I know, that's capitalism blah blah but the cognitive dissonance with the Body Shop was insane. I was treated horribly by management and their minions, there were zero benefits or employee initiatives, but all day long we had to effect an act for the customers that we lived in this hippie-dippy bubble of kind beauty when it was anything but.
Finding out myself and my colleagues/some of my closest friends, some of which had worked for the company for 15+ years had lost our jobs after weeks of watching the company fall apart was heatbreaking. We were left with minimal to no advice on how to claim our redundancy through the government and waiting for the payment left us with scraps to live with for weeks. It's truly put a sour taste in our mouth which is a real shame as we stood by this company fiercely for a long time. Sadly, I won't be surprised when the brand disappears for good.
The United States has no tax funded severance program, so employees with more than 2 decades of tenure received nothing. We were told on a Friday morning, at 9am, that our jobs had been eliminated and the US would cease all operations. All health insurance benefits were also terminated without notice. It took me over 2 months to finally begin receiving unemployment benefits.
Years ago, The Body Shop's body butter was my holy grail, specifically the coconut and shea flavors. Literally no other cream/butter I tried could save my hands from cracking and splitting in the winter, but TBS's was the perfect mix of moisture, hydration, and occlusion. But nothing good lasts, they did a massive base reformulation a few years ago and doesn't work as well for me T_T crazy to see how much was going on behind the scenes...
Have you tried L'occitane's shea butter one?
@@MsBNoodle I have, I picked up a set from Costco a while back I believe! But unfortunately, they didn't feel very long lasting and the moisturizing didn't feel as deep, I found myself having to constantly re-apply and still not enough :(
@katl8825 ah shame I hope you find something that works I get the same and it's very painful
Let me know if you find something (or other commenters do), I used to buy their Hemp ultra dry hands creme because it's the absolutely ONLY product that makes my hands at least a little bit better. I have very dry hands that look very old (I'm mid 20s, but had this issue since high school), used to have my skin cracking open too. I refuse to use petroleum or paraffin (Nivea cream has it), anything else even labeled as "strong" doesn't work at all. Only makes it feel soft for a while, then it all comes back to how it wash after just a single wash or when I run out of product ☹️
Omg the body butters were EVERYTHING. Was gutted when they changed the formula. The new formula is just a cheap cream now
When I was a young teenager in the late 80s / early 90s, I loved the Body Shop. Especially their ice blue shampoo which made my frizzy hair all smooth and shiny like nothing else I’d tried! And of course at that time we knew nothing about the reality behind their ethical claims and took what they said at face value.
I was annoyed when it all started to come to light, but by then I’d moved on to other brands who were doing the same sort of things, but cheaper and better.
Great video, this very thoughtfully and fully covers all the issues, lies, and controversies over the company’s lifetime - it’s clear you put a lot of work into your content, and it really shows. 💜💜💜
Was waiting for someone to mention Ice Blue shampoo. Loved it!!!
And the jojoba oil conditioning shampoo, orange spice shampoo & coconut shampoo together with the protein cream and hair salad conditioners.
Ice Blue Shampoo was the best
I didn't pass their trial period last year for not stalking the clients enough. They set unrealistic sales goals and the workers are usually stressed out.
I also loved their unproved claim that their edelweiss extract products are more effective than retinol....
The edelweiss vs retinol thing cracks me up because a worker there tried to get me to get the serum and like, girly I use The Ordinary for that, sorry. Alas their new formula for the Vitamin C moisturiser works even better for me than the previous formula (went from cream to a lighter gel), so Idk what to do now, because I don't feel like supporting such a shady company, yet at the same time some of their products work extremely well for me.
I actually worked at the Guernsey store right from Nov 2022 until February 2024 as a part time job. I actually loved it, my team was absolutely amazing.
Though, the problems ended up being with those at the top of the chain. A week before I was due to leave (I found a full time job, nothing to do with TBS), we found out that our store had been sold, coming into effect the next day. We couldn’t even ask questions because the UK people on the call didn’t even have any answers. The whole thing was shrouded in mystery - we heard that we would hear from the new owner “soon”. “Soon” meaning a couple of weeks. We had no clue what was going to happen with the store.
Eventually, the closures were announced. But Guernsey and Jersey weren’t shut by admin - we were in a completely different situation. It turned out Body Shop International had shouldered the burden of running the shop onto the holdings company, taking all the benefit from it.
The closing sale was done cash-only to pay the remaining staff, as there were questions about whether they’d be paid for their time since the sale.
oh hey, I'm from Guernsey too! it felt like the shop disappeared so suddenly! I didn't buy much from there but I loved going in and smelling all the testers 😅
A very well known beauty journalist recently did a column on basically 'save the body shop, they're amazing'. Such corkers as how they were a trailblazer and their amazing hiring practices. Oh how I laughed.... the employees I spoke to in a closing branch said they were having to re-apply for their jobs, and let's not start on the trailblazing. Mind you, this was the same journey who gleefully posted how much they loved Eurovision this year, so I guess reading the room, or the facts isn't their strong point. (Rant over)
Brilliant video, so good to see a brand expose video thats so well researched and organised
I watched only 10 minutes of the videos and i already feel like Anita never was anti capitalism and against animal testing
oh, seeing how horrible Eurovision was this year, I am totally not surprised that journalist is so delusional about body shop too
What’s the problem with enjoying the Eurovision?
@@iditgreenberg Simply put Israel as a member of the European Broadcasting Union is allowed to participate in Eurovision. Due to the I/P conflict going on a bunch of people began calling for the EBU to blacklist Israel from Eurovision, which didn't happen so many people participated in boycotts and protests over this.
Note this is completely bullshit, as Israel is nowhere near the worst country as far as Human Rights Records go that was allowed into Eurovision, and nobody was throwing a fit about the others (such as Azerbaijan).
@@iditgreenberg My comment isn't appearing on my end, so I'll restate it, due to the recent I/P conflict many people have begun calling for a Boycott of, and Protesting Eurovision for not blacklisting Israel (Qualification for Eurovision is determined by membership in the European Broadcasting Union, which Israel is part of, and therefore Israel qualifies).
Do Note, as far as Human Rights Records go, Israel is nowhere near the worst country in Eurovision, even if we are counting only extremely recent history (just look at Azerbaijan). So IMO, the protests and boycotts are really silly, as they only threw a fit over Israel, and had absolutely no problem with the countries that have a considerably worse record. Like if you are going to call for a Boycott due to the participation of a country with a questionable Human Rights Record, you should be willing to do that when it comes to all participants that have such a record, not just the only Jewish State in the competition (aka Israel).
The bodyshop went bankrupt in Norway, they announced it on Thursday last week. I work in a mall and every time I would walk passed the store I would think to myself how boring it would be to work there because I hardly seen any customers in there. The staff looked bored too 😝
I worked at one in Canada for 3 months, it was the most boring job of my life lol. I couldn’t take it.
I stopped working at TBS just a week ago, and few weeks back I had a customer tell me that he was just in The Body Shop in Norway and they didn't have any Hemp hand creams. I immediately thought that it sounded sus. Here you go, here's my answer, they closed down.
It was honestly always so boring to me. I would walk through there as a teenager and leave and go to Bath & Body Works to get the fun stuff.
They Are bought up again in Norway by former owner and Are still trying to survive ☺️ my local body shop are restocking this week. I love their aloe, edelweiss, E vitamin, tea tree and C vitamin products as they don’t break me out and I actually see improvements. I absolutely loooove their Shea, argan, Morenga and strawberry body products, as well as their castor oil, ginger and Shea hair products 🥺 love my local shop in Tønsberg, the employees Are the sweetest.
I’m so sad that body shop marketing and so on, Are based on lies. It was my Go to shop after the reformulatian/re-branding because of the great products, charity work and so on
@@Ingrid-fk7sp Have you tried anything from LUSH? That company is actually ethical and stand by what they say
I used to work at The Body Shop. What annoyed me was them pushing the eco friendly vibe but when deliveries came they were wrapped in layers of plastic that just got thrown away and couldn’t be recycled. Yeah some of their skincare is ok but a lot of it still contains sulphates and the natural ingredients marked on the packaging only really make up a small percentage of the ingredients list.
Also rubbed me up the wrong way that they were so proud their fresh ingredients were picked by POC in developing countries and how much they ‘helped communities’ by giving them jobs. Just felt very patronising overall. Don’t get me started on the constant pushy upselling standards we were expected to follow.
So sulphates are not evil. Most cleansers will have sulphates.
I did too, this was exactly it.
Interesting point about upselling. I used to love a mooch in the shop but stopped going in years ago after getting hounded by the shop staff. I felt that everyone who was working would approach me at least twice! I'd leave feeling harassed & not buying anything.
@@kb2007xox I have nothing against sulphates. My point is that they made it seem like the natural ingredients made up the majority of the products, and that isn’t the case.
@@kathydilullo6740 yeah I felt so bad bothering customers all the time but we’d get in trouble if we didn’t approach every single person 😭
True story but I worked at The Body Shop in Victoria Station in the early 2000s and Anita walked in with her granddaughters. She grabbed see bobbles and a hair brush, asked to go out the back to do her granddaughters hair and of course we obliged because, you know it's Anita! When she was done she thanked us and was on her way. It was only afterwards that we realised that she hadn't paid for the hair bobbles or the hair brush 😳 we had to ring our area manager who told us to simply write it off on the stock. She wasn't ceo at this point either. Just the face of the brand. So yeah that happened 😳 😂
NGL i loved the body shop in the 90's. NOTHING came between me and my White Musk. Not even my severly inflamed skin caused by one of their face creams 😂😂😂
I used to love their white musk scent!!
If you weren't there, I don't think people today can understand how unique and cool The Body Shop was back then, in the UK especially.
@@BarbaraT. Exactly!!! I'm from the Netherlands and they were huge here. The stores are still open
😂
I was a fuzzy peach girl
Oh i'd forgotten about white musk,teenage me loved it,went through bottles of the stuff😂.
Those fruity glycerin soaps were fascinating to me as a kid, and their honey lip balm in the tube is still my holy grail honey lip balm that I've been trying to find a replacement for. Preferably from a company that doesn't suck.
After I moved to America, I noticed that the products here just weren't the same. Very grainy, very low quality, which surprised me because I thought they were all sourced from the same manufacturer. They definitely fell off my radar when I realized that it was all just so crappily made and they would discontinue things after just a couple of months it seems.
I have a really clear memory of Body shop being sold to L'Oréal. The outrage was so enormous. I think the Body Shop was so part of people's regular in person shopping that any change felt really relevant to so many people in a way that other brands weren't. Their products were also affordable enough that we could buy something as teens with pocket money and certain products were in every bathroom pretty much. I only learned they were an mlm and their shady origins much later but it was hard to make it all make sense with the ethics they portrayed.
Just goes to show you, companies lie and greenwash all the time. Fortunately we can research the brands we buy from fairly easily these days. We couldn't back then.
When they sold out to L'oreal I noped right out of ever buying anything from them ever again.
There used to be an auto body repair place in my town called "the body shop" across the street from a cemetery
There used to be a swingers club called The Body Shop across the street from a cemetery in the town I went to college 😂
The prices have gone up and the quality has gone down…used to love their hemp hand cream (loyal customer for 12+ years) and the formula changed and not for better!
That cream helped my husband heal the eczema on his knuckles about 8 years ago, but I stopped buying it after the formula changed. ☹️
Yes, the new vegan formula is crap compared to the old one
I really love Hempz, specially pineapple for hemp lotion. Been using it for 20 years now wow
Same that was the only cream that can help with my extremely dry hands. Literally nothing else works for me
I work there and don’t get me started. The new formulas are fucking awful. Look for batch codes that start with XV - those are the last of the good ones.
How can anyone really think any company is anti capitalist? If she was truly anti capitalist she’d be selling that stuff at a little booth in a farmers market or giving it away to friends, not becoming a globalized brand
OH my god. I am LITERALLY SHOCKED. I didn't know about any of these!!! I remember being obsessed with the Body Shop as a kid! This is insane. WOW. I Love this Behind the Beauty series already!
I always loved the body shop's products, but when I tried to get a job at my local store, the manager of the store was so rude and vicious towards me so I stopped shopping there for years.
I worked at a couple of the top performing body shops in NYC in the mid 2000s. I am completely flabbergasted. We definitely knew nothing about these controversies. It was almost cult like in the way that you had to learn about the ingredients - where they came from and the benefits- as well as being tested on these things and also consistently monitored on if you were relaying this information to the customer along with upselling them. As someone commented earlier they really are a pioneer in greenwashing.
What i do remember quite clearly working there is how deathly afraid everyone was of the district manager at that time. To the point that whenever she was to visit we'd have to work extra hours preparing the store making sure it looked exactly like the diagrams and instructions that were sent out, and that shelves were stocked to the max for the promotional time period. And when she came she'd also test you on product knowledge and critique whether or not your clothing, hair and makeup was regulation ( they only provided an apron). I also remember at one point that it was a company wide issue that employees were not being allowed to take breaks, to the point that a memo went out stating that it was the law that employees should get their legally mandated breaks.
Thank you for this video and presenting all this information. It flipped a switch in my brain in terms of my experience working there and how much was wrong with the entire way the business was set up and how employees were treated. I enjoyed my time there - it was my first real job making my own money as a teen heading off to/in college. I loved the products and at that time I'm my life enjoyed the perks of free products at launches and the employee discount was great. But i also am speaking as someone who never got to work full time hours (another issue) . So disappointed to learn it was a house built on lies from inception.
Oh gosh… in the 90’s I was such a Body Shop devotee. The banana hair products and Satsuma soaps were my go-to’s. And they had a certain shade of lipstick that I so WISH I could find today!
My 21 year old step daughter uses the banana shampoo!
That satsuma soap is such a throwback, wow. My dad loved that stuff. Anything citrus smelling, he thinks is fantastic. Made him a very easy person to buy for 😅
Body shop is quite expensive in Poland. I can buy organic, natural skincare products for much, much less in my local drugstore...
I’m surprised you didn’t mention The Body Shop at Home (their MLM arm of the company). That’s why I thought they were sketchy. I had no idea about this other stuff!
I used to love Body Shop so much. When I was in high school in Germany, Body Shop was basically the only 'brand' I really knew, and I used their face wash, foundation, eye shadows, make up brushes, really anything I could get with my allowance.
When I moved back to Korea a few years later, even though there are so many more skin care/make up brands that are really good, and there weren't that many Body Shop stores, I remember the first year or so I still kept trying to buy from Body Shop.
Eventually, I found more Korean products that work well on me, plus it was just such a hassle to find a Body Shop store, that I kind of forgot about it and haven't bought anything from them in over a decade now.
A few years ago I saw a video that said it's an MLM which already completely threw me off, but I had no idea about all the rest that James shows in this video! Wow, it's so much worse than I thought. I'm glad I stopped buying from them, but also a bit sad for my past, younger self who so passionately used a lot of their products, spending all the money I could on them, thinking it was the best thing for my acne-prone sensitive skin.
Ich habe ihre Körperbutter so geliebt! Habe sogar die CDs in den Boutiquen gekauft. 😢
The Body Shop was my favourite shop growing up in the 80s!! As a teenager in late 80/90s the Body shop was absolutely packed with us teenagers it was like Christmas every Saturday it was that busy!!! … Then in 2000s they started getting staff to go up to you when you walk in started loosing its vibe. .. shop seemed empty 😕Still love white musk and many things. Loved pineapples facial wash too,bath pearls etc
The chokehold their satsuma products had on me in the 90s 😂 & if you loved their kiwi lip balm from that era, buy Glow Recipe’s Plum Plump lip balm! It feels almost identical but less sticky, and of course with much better ingredients. I did always feel like the Body Shop was greenwashing, before we had the word greenwashing. Thanks for telling us the whole story in such an entertaining video! Really enjoyed this one.
Yes!! I was obsessed with Satsuma. I still love that scent actually. I get my fix from Basin now.
I was at secondary school in the 90’s and you couldn’t walk around a corner without smelling White Musk and Dewberry body sprays! TBH, no other retailer came close to The Body Shop with those fragrances in my opinion! Shame the quality dropped below par rapidly! I’m truly shocked at this. I knew bits, but wow! 💜
Used to love the body shop as a kid, but looking at the shop everytime I walk past it in town its a graveyard
This is so true, every time I walk pass its empty with shop assistants.just.standing around
I used to work for the Body Shop back in 2017 when it switched for Loreal to Natura. I enjoyed it at first and never realized how many lies were taught to us in our training class, until your video showed me just now. But I'm honestly not surprised. While I never met anyone higher up than my district manager, they were all extremely toxic. Aside from our starting team, they only hired people they personally knew like family, friends, etc. I was lucky to get a new job before things got messy. If anyone wants the full story I'm willing to tell it in another comment lol.
Tell us!!!
Tell us! 👀
@lyxfeldt @neko1542 Where do I even start lol. Well we opened a brand new store. One of the key holders (girl 1) had some serious potential to be Assistant Manager, so the District Manager and our General Manager wanted to train her and boost that potential for her promotion. They basically promised and guaranteed she would have the position after a certain amount of time. Then another girl (girl 2) was hired, she personally knew our manager outside of the workplace. Within a month, girl 2 was promoted to a key holder. After about 6 months for most of us, about 3 months for girl 2, our District Manager came in for a visit to discuss the Assistant Manager promotion. We suddenly found out that girl 2 would be promoted to Assistant Manager, which we were shocked by. Girl 1 had been doing all this extra training work for nothing apparently. Girl 2 hadn’t done anything to really show she could be a manager. Our other key holder (girl 3) decided to step in and talk to our District Manager about the decision, because we were all upset about it. Apparently she took this as an attack and girl 3 had to sign a reprimand form. Girl 3 ended up walking out that day. We kinda just accepted the decision they made which we were pretty sure it was because girl 2 had been partying with our manager and promotions were just a popularity contest now. Anyways, I left not long after that but I got the run down of everything else that happened. The General Manager was fired because she forgot to send in the monthly deposit. Girl 2 was fired for fraud because she would sign up customers for rewards but would use her email to steal their birthday coupons. Girl 1 quit and became a flight attendant. Basically everyone I knew left and the store is probably closed now.
@lyxfeldt @neko1542 Where do I even start lol. Well our team had opened a brand new store. We had 2 key holders and one of them (girl 1) had been promised and started to train a bit for being our assistant manager. The District Manager wanted to see more progress with her before fully giving her the position. A couple months later they had hired girl 2 as a regular associate, because she was very close with our Manager outside of work. She ended up getting promoted to key holder within a couple of weeks. Our District Manager came in for a visit to discuss the assistant manager position. We were all shocked when we found out girl 2 was getting promoted to assistant manager instead of girl 1, who had been working extremely hard for the position. Our other key holder, girl 3, knew we were all upset over the decision. So she decided to discuss it with our District Manager. Apparently she felt attacked by the discussion, so she made girl 3 fill out a reprimand form. Girl 3 quit and left right there. I left not long after that, but I heard about the rest that happened. Our Manager was fired due to not sending in the quarterly payment on time. Girl 2, who became assistant manager, was fired due to fraud. Essentially she would put her own email into customers reward accounts and steal their birthday coupons. I honestly learned that in our store it was just a popularity game.
Please tell!
I remember hearing that a portion of the business became part MLM. In 40 plus years on this planet I have never stepped into The Body Shop.
I remember when the San Francisco Bay Area Body Shop changed its name to Body Time. I always assumed that they were sued because the British shop had the name for longer. It's a shame that they didn't know that they'd been ripped off. They might still be around today. They were always my favorite "Body Shop" and their China Rain scent was a classic.
Body Time on Telegraph Ave in Berkeley was my favorite place in highschool.
Such a shame, my school had a house named after her. She lived near I grew up.
The dead bodies made their way into the lotions 😂
Embalming fluid serums 🙃
Fight Club style
"All natural body fat"
😁 Royston Vasey vibes😁
@@JamesWelsh An "embalming fluid facial" definitely sounds like some sort of skincare fad that would go viral on Tiktok 🤣
I live in SoCal and didn't know any of the controversial stuff. I've used their products for decades, but had been buying from Ulta the last few years. I've moved on to Tree Hut for body wash, scrubs, and butters.
Thank you for the information. 🖤💜🖤💜
The body shop Norway filed for bankrupcy just last thursday, the 30th of May, though it has been bought and the new owners will be reopening some stores it seems. It’ll be really interesting to see how long it lasts
I used to shop at the original Body Shop in Berkeley, CA, but I had no idea why they changed their name until now 😮.
Same here! I used to work at Living Foods on university, (who knows what that is now) and used to shop there.
I always thought that was where they 'started out'
Gosh, I worked at Body Shop from 2015-2018 and had no idea of any of this, totally believed the stuff they told us about the brand's history and ethics! We knew the L'Oréal stuff because that was that era but not the rest. I've always been so loyal to the skincare, long after I worked there, but they just kept discontinuing everything I liked! There are still a handful of products I love, but not nearly as many as if they'd kept their stock the same! We were also told the name was a deliberate joke because of the funeral parlours. Very Sweeney Todd.
Sidenote - James, what is on your skin in this video?! That GLOW! 😍
Wasn’t there more drama between them and Lush? Something about Lush creators claiming The Body Shop stole their ideas too?
Yes there was! Mark Constantine was very open about his hatred of Anne. But this video was already quite detailed, I suppose he couldn’t find a place to put it.
It's interesting that lush was founded the same year the article about the body shop came out. I don't believe Roddick was what she said she was, but its clear that Constantine had an agenda also.
It's pretty disguisting as a young child of 10 upwards I was paying extra to buy their products like many others believing we were saving animals.
The l’Oreal thing was a huge scandal, but people still think it happened after Roddick died…
I worked for The Body Shop for two weeks in the 1980s. It was hideous and I ended taking them to the small claims court for unpaid wages ( I won).
I remember being a kid in the late '80's/early '90's and my mom getting body shop products from my grandmother for Christmas. I thought they were soooo fancy, after my first surgery in 1991 my aunt & grandma made me a little get well basket and it had a little pot of kiwi lip balm in it, (it was exactly like the laneige lip sleeping mask), I am embarrassed to admit that even after it was long empty, I kept that little pot on my dresser 😂 I don't think I've ever used anything except that lip balm, a shower gel and a bath soak/bubble bath from them. I was shocked when I recently heard about the MLM side to them, in the states they were just small stores in our malls.
I’m shooketh! I remember going on a science school trip to the Body Shop factory in the mid-90s.
Body Shop stores are now either completely empty of customers, or permanently closed.
The Body Shop was massive here in Australia too. British stores will often has a presence here, and Australian stores (like Typo) often has a presence in the UK. The markets are very similar.
I worked in a body shop, as a seasonal worker one Christmas when I was in college.
Worst job ever. Was treated so terribly by the regular staff..
Mind you it was in the year 2000.
But still.
Body shop, take it or leave it.
Great video.💜
I’m showing my age now. My skincare journey originated in the 80’s with the body shop and loved the glycerin oatmeal scrub and the kiwi lip balm. Early 90’s I graduated from Clinique to Clarins. In the millennium, I’m now between LaMer and SK-II.
This was so well done! I knew of some of their controversies but never everything. It’s a shame they weren’t who we all thought they were. Thanks James for doing an amazing job!!!
Omg YOUR SKIN HERE🥵 pleaseee tell us what you’ve used for that glow! Love your storytelling as always
James, I LOVE LOVE LOVE that you listened about making the categories on your videos!! You are absolutely awesome for doing this!! But, I didn't explain it right bc I didn't know the terminology. So here it is, down in on the 'play bar,' can you put 'segments or chapters' into each topic that you discuss within a video? Sometimes, I like to jump to juicy stuff. Thank you James!! Keep it up!!!
For what it’s worth, I love this format of video. Coupled with the way you always present facts, it is super engaging and informative.
I second this
I was a customer consultant and team leader for about 10 years, happy to answer any questions 💪
I was so disappointed; they once sold their soul to L'Oreal. I have not shopped there since.
We had a huge body shop here in South Africa, the shop is so tiny now, I'd be too scared to walk in a knock everything over 😅
Plus they have 3-for-2 sales all the time... but the shops are still empty.
I was looking for a comment from a Saffa lol.
I signed up for a bodyshop loyalty card as a young uni student nearly 10 years ago and I never got the promised birthday voucher. When I tried calling them they said they didn't even have my card number on the system. Yikes. And you're so right about the tiny stores. I would feel so nervous because a lot of their products are in glass or seem fragile.
I see they attempted a rebrand and still sell their stuff in clicks. I wonder if they will continue.
Oh my gosh I had no idea about most of this awful history to the Body Shop
I remember the first articles about the founder in her kitchen creating the first products. I’m grateful now that I didn’t become invested in the company or products as a teen when they began. How gutting for loyal from the start customers to find out how much greenwashing had been going on 😮
I still have a bottle of the old fashioned design of Satsuma. You will pry it out of my cold, dead hands. I'm American and grew up in a rural area, so I didn't find The Body Shop until after I graduated in 1999. I never got super into it, but I adored satsuma, strawberry, white musk and mango. I adored getting to chose my scents and do custom mixes.
Satsuma was my favourite body butter!! And back in the early nineties I wore their white musk perfume oil and oceana...I can still smell oceana now when I think about it 😢
Her renaming “Korean Washing Grains” to “Japanese Washing Grains” is a BIG YIKES
Cant wait to watch this as I wondered what happened to the brand.. love you James - epic content as always x
I used to love the Body Shop, particularly because of their stand against animal testing and buying ingredients from small local producers worldwide. I don't recall the articles you mentioned, but I do remember the announcement they were selling to L'oreal and that's when I stopped buying from them. I realised what a hypocrite she was. Someone who really cared about cruelty free products would never dream of selling to a company that does test. I've never looked at them since.
Same, I stopped at that time too. I was quite disappointed
THE BODY SHOP in between two funeral parlors???? Some jokes write themselves 😂 😂 😂
I just miss the animal shaped soaps they had in the 90s. I ownded so many of them that I still have one or two knocking around to make my knicker drawer smell nice 😂 x
Great Vlog, it is like a documentary. I recall the rise of the Body Shop in the late 80’s to early 90’s and would always stop at one while shopping at the malls. Eventually I would hear word of mouth of stories of their controversy with the founders however this was before the internet and I never knew details of what was happening. It was vaguely said that the products were not as natural and that the founder was shady. Thanks for the biography and telling the story! Cheerio from across the pond✌🏽
What a wild ride this was, James. I appreciated the little chapter title pages. Very fancy.
The Body Shop just went bankrupt here in Norway, like last week. I loved TBS as a young teenager, but now as an adult I found them quite boring. The controversies didn't help. I did like their coconut dry oil, though, but that was discontinued here in Norway some years ago.
Super interesting! In the 90s/00s, this was one of my favorite stops in the mall. Glad you did a deep dive! Would love to see you talk about the MLM aspect, and MLMs in general.
So she stole went to the oringal Body shop, brought stuff, stole they name and trade marketed it and sued Bath And Body works and the original bodyshop and think nobody was gonna find out her corrupt ways smh she's a sick person.
She stole from American women. And try to be slick about it.
James, hair and skin are looking fabulous 😍! If influencer work ever fails to inspire you (hopefully it will NEVER), I honestly think you have a calling as a journalist. This type of video has such a journalistic feel and I am all for it! You take such care to gather the facts and it shows. Nothing is sensationalized. Just the facts with a sprinkle of well-deserved snark sometimes in some of the videos. The best blend of personality and facts.
I agree! He could discuss any topic and I’m interested because he’s so passionate. A great storyteller and gentle shade thrower when deserved 😂
Personally as someone who turns beet red when I enter a slightly heated room I absolutely cannot stand how often he complains about his nonexistent/ non-visible rosacea. That's just vile.
@@dontknowdocare I’m sorry you have to deal with that but just because his might not be as intense as others and he doesn’t show it on camera doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. The internet is cruel, I wouldn’t want to film if I was feeling self conscious about my skin.
He looks greasy af
So excited for this new series!! I actually worked at the Body Shop in Brighton in 2009. I remember many people coming in and questioning the ethics all the time, specifically since it was owned by Loreal then. It was a horrible place to work, the managers put an insane amount of pressure on us. One of my teenage friends at the time died of bone cancer, and the body shop were sponsoring(?) teenage cancer trust. There was literally a picture of my dead friend's face in our store on the charity board (it was just a coincidence). It reminded me every day of her death, and I was literally asking every customer at the till to donate because I was passionate about it (I never mentioned my friend though of course!!). My managers probably loved that I tried so hard because of my dead friend. It makes me feel sick to know how much money the company was probably profiting from that. But anyway, the managers were very abusive and mean. No one lasted there. We had to come 15 minutes before our shift to read information about the company, and know the figures. If you were a few minutes late (like, 12 minutes before your shift started) you were told off and told you were late. It's one of the worst places I've worked. But I did honestly like the products. Looking forward to seeing the rest of your series! And I love the long format videos
I read about a few of this things before, and just ignore them... but boy, I feel like I just found out, there is no easter bunny 😭 I loved the body shop in the 90's and Anita was a role model for me. No more denial. Thanks for the insight. ❤
Really fantastic video! Love this series ❤ Thank you 😁
It should be a red flag for people when they support ethics, but go onto the stock market, AND if they have extremely rapid growth in a ten year period. Both of these things tell me The Body Shop never actually wanted to do good after they noticed how much money they could make. The second any company gets shareholders it stops being about whatever the original belief behind the brand was, and becomes all about making these parasites money. The same can be said for rapid growth since Stanley Cups are being produced at an alarm rate to meet demand, or it did, and they ended up having lead inside of their products, something that should NEVER be in something that holds consumable liquids. When you grow fast you only think about how to make money short term, so things like ethical production goes out the window.
Apparently that’s a standard thing for tumbler makers - not saying it’s good but it’s not just a Stanley cup thing! Also, I work at a company that is solely focused on trading and market watching and you couldn’t be more right. NOTHING actually matters to a public company except for GROWTH year after year. They will literally be sued by shareholders if that isn’t the main goal 🙃 morals over the sake of extreme wealth for a few
I LOVE this video idea!!! Super excited for this series I miss longer videos!! Great work James🌸
I worked for them in the early 2000s and the manager raided the charity tin to top up the till when the sums didn’t add up. And when customers brought their empties for us to recycle, it all just got dropped in the normal trash.
Their fuzzy peach scent body wash was EVERYTHING to me at 16, and i recall them being a fun place to go in hoghschool. But before I heard anything about them being an MLM I stoped going just because they stopped carrying the products that were well liked. Also last time I went in one it looked like a knock off Aveda
I can’t hear you over how loud your skincare is, your face is giving freshly steamed plump dumpling.
Enjoyed listening to this thanks. A real eye-opener. Growing up in the 90's i constantly smelt of Dewberry, Vanilla or Fuzzy Peach. Really thought The body shop was groundbreaking for its time, shame it turned out to be a bit of a sham.
Great first effort for this series James! I definitely love this kind of researched long form stuff into brands. My only suggestion really is pausing the chapter breaks a bit longer so I can read the titles and maybe adding a music change to those title cards so it stands out a bit more.
TBS was huge in my youth, but not something we could afford. When i was older i used and enjoyed a lot of their products, but Lush was starting to take the attention away from them.
I know you probably couldn't include everything you found out about The Body Shop but I think its important to remind people that they also had an MLM component with their own army of boss babes. Also, The Body Shop Canada was actually forced into bankruptcy because The Body Shop UK actually took all of the money The Body Shop Canada had in its bank accounts to pay off the UKs debts, leaving Canada to go into a deficit it coudn't afford.
My daughter worked for the body shop for years. She just left. She was bullied for years by the managers there. I was atva point of reporting them to trading standards . Thanks for getting the truth out
Thanks James. That was such a well documented journey of the company. I worked in their Hove store for a year before university. 2 decades before I really understand skincare and ingredients. I loved working in the little shop at the time, one of my favourite jobs. But I'm glad I'm aware about who they really were. Education is power!