Reply from the Body Shop re JKR... just so dreadful...

They are probably bringing someone off furlough to urgently reprogram the chat bot with words like ‘inclusive menstrual movement’

I think they're hoping to Christ nobody bothers waiting 8 minutes.

Thought I'd just have a chat with them, see how far I get. Wonder if the 8 minute wait is down to many women asking them why they hate women.

We all need to educate ourselves, be inclusive and stand together so that we can end the shame and stigma around periods

Or alternatively:

"A marketing company told us we should sell the idea that we care about periods (we are not sure why we bought the Body Shop, but we seem to remember something about values based marketing), but as we don't care about women (See our gender pay gap report), we are very happy to increase stigma around sex."

Somehow its only the men and non-binary people who can menstruate, lactate, gestate etc. etc that need particular rights because they need access to birth control and maternity leave, but why dwell on that kind of unpleasantness!!!!!

Lets just pretend that women suffer discrimination because they wear so much pink!!!

Have a bath bomb!!!!!!

And do we think those bonus hopping executives are passionate about menstruation and women’s rights?

Answers on a biodegradable sanitary pad ....

Body Shop uk headquarters is based in Hove, where the woke go to live in the woke Brighton bubble area with "woke only no bigots allowed" on job advertisements.

Apart from the men on the board of course, they are the capitalists that bonus hop around consumer goods companies negotiating guaranteed bonuses for their first two years and then piss off to the next mass produced product shifter company once their guarantees have been paid and there's no more bonuses coming in, to do the same all over again. It's a merry go round.

'The Body Shit' - I like it...

This will be a business school case study in the next year or so

Yep! Agree Fanta.

Lots of people are asking for the jK period pack tweet to be taken down as offensive. Problem is BS will have hired that agency to get clicks and retweets with its posts on their behalf and stat’s reports will show this one has gone off the scale.

They have to leave it there and get behind the ‘any pr is good pr’ argument, or remove it and explain to BS why their shiny new PR strategy has taken rather steep early nosedive.

To use their own parlance, it’s looking less ‘Awesome‘ and more ‘Shit’ just now for WokeAgency.

Completely fascinating though.

I watched The Square last week, such a brilliant film!

My son is here at the weekend, he works at a hipster pr firm, I will watch it with him and bring up the body shop bubble being burst

I've seen that yourvagesty, it's sublime. I might watch it again. Thanks

There's a film called 'The Square' (I think it's on Netflix) that is about a Busy and Important CEO who books a bright and shiny PR agency without fully understanding their proposals. Inevitably, bad things happen.

It's worth a watch, especially if you happen to work at Body Shop HQ and you want to watch something that will make you feel less alone in your mistakes?

'His pay is dependent on profits. He has absolutely no need to believe any of what is being said and you won't get to hear what he actually believes.'

Yes - I have had this conversation with a few people whose businesses are pushing this ideology.

They don't care what they promote, nor do they care about the damage they are doing.

I have spoken to a few people who will be dealing with the fallout that whatever they say or give - it will never be enough for these groups. I have also pointed out that the crazy mishmash of pride and BLM flag will insult parts of both groups, so watch out for that. They just shrug and say 'I have no choice - I do what is approved (by middle managers with axe to grind usually).

On the evidence of the pullback in the replies to complaints from out and out activism to a bland thank you for writing, and Sonia Poultens tweet about them being caught on the hop it's clear that they are now having an internal inquiry into how they got where they are.

There will be a lot of headless chickens running around trying to figure out what to do. The marketing execs will be trying to explain away massively insulting JK Rowling as a campaign launch whilst the finance executives will be trying to calculate the bottom line impact of proceeding with this strategy after this damaging start. I would not like to be the tosser that approved that tweet. The pr agency have the line on their website "thumb stopping five line messages". Well it was that alright but not in a good way.

It's a fascinating moment in the future of identity politics marketing and a classic case of group think amongst the believers in this bubble coming smack up against the knowledge of how small their target market is.

I wonder if the WEP woman who left saw this coming. Would love to find out.

I bet the tits at the PR agency will be saying but but but we got 12k likes on Twitter for our dumb tweet. 12k non binary students may not be enough fit the finance director I suspect.

This will be a business school case study in the next year or so.

Mmm, fair enough.

CEOs approve things on the basis of the profit and loss forecast and marketing strategies are always speculation based on how ideas might play out. They have taken a punt on identity activism because he's been told it is going to be profitable. His pay is dependent on profits. He has absolutely no need to believe any of what is being said and you won't get to hear what he actually believes.

It's boring old capitalism.

The CEO will probably trust the shiny Marketing/PR Director and their focus groups/stats to tell him what will work. Or not.

Do you really think the CEO doesn't know what the PR agency is doing? That he'd let them take the company in a direction he doesn't approve of?

But you are writing to the CEO, not the stupid pr agency, telling him the agency is wrong. Don't assume he is bought into the language, most men pay this shit little attention, and certainly don't feel the need to refer to themselves as biological. PR is delegated to his executive team who have deployed a shitty strategy. That's the message. He needs to hear its a niche idea and pretty grim.

Anyway, apologies if I am being overly critical, just a important point that Julia Long seared into my brain in her speech in the House of Commons. She's right.

Each to their own, @FantaOra. I really do get your point, but it's like talking to a brick wall with these marketing agencies. And when you say "woman" they will redefine it, leaving the point lost.

That's how I see it anyway, and that is why I used those terms.

???
Just that, what is a non female element?

Who gives a shit if pomo PR agencies thing a failure to commit to identity language is transphobic, their use of the word transphobic is part of the identity pr strategy. You are writing to the CEO to tell him that this language is bullshit and not to use it and yet you are defining yourself in relation to it. Just speak in plain words that 8 billion people use and don't join in with the whole natal sex nonsense.

??

What a a non female element?

You are being played.