By: Kimberly Czechowski
In the early 1970’s, Anita Roddick visited a shop in Berkeley, California called The Body Shop, where naturally scented soaps and lotions were being sold. The store used natural ingredients and helped train immigrant woman. This store inspired Anita to open her own store in the UK in 1976, where she bought the naming rights from The Body Shop. In 1977 Anita’s husband, Gordon Roddick decided to join the enterprise. After only two years, the couple decided to franchise their company and seven years later the Body Shop had 138 stores.
Roddick painted the walls dark green to hide cracks, and her award winning bottles were actually urine sample containers that she bought from a local hospital. When she ran out of the original supply of bottles she did not have enough money to buy more, the Body Shop’s famous refill policy was born. Soon after that she began her own campaigns, focusing generally on recycling and on putting an end to animal testing in the cosmetics industry. The Body Shops displayed posters and made petition sheets available to customers. By the mid-1990s, franchises were asked to support two to three campaigns a year for such causes as AIDS education, voter registration, and opposition to animal testing in the cosmetics industry. The company is best known for their use of natural-ingredients cosmetics market and establishing social responsibility as a central part of company operations. The Body Shop has historically received more attention for its ethical stances, such as its refusal to use ingredients that are tested on animals, its monetary donations to the communities in which it operates, and its business partnerships with developing countries, than for its products.
In order to make sure that The Body Shop continues to live by this mission statement, the body shop created five core Values, these Values act as a practical guide to decision making helping to ensure that their profits are made with principles. These five values are: Against Animal testing, support community trade, activate self-esteem, defend human rights, and protect our planet.
Kimberly Czechowski is a 17 year old senior at Rancho Bernardo High School. She participates in several clubs on campus such as fight against hunger where teens group together to fund raise food for starving children in Africa. Kimberly also is a part of ASB and has a massive amount of school pride. Kimberly’s favorite club is “Interact” which is a club dedicated specifically for community service in her home town. Kimberly is an active member in her church youth group and has a role as a student leader. Kimberly is passionate about her future and plans on majoring in business marketing in college at a four year private Christian university.
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