The Body Shop

[ChristinaXYZ]

The DT has an article about the problems The Body Shop is having. Whilst it is no doubt right that it has had troubel finding its way post-Anita Roddick, I do wonder how much pissing off many women in their 40s and 50s who loved it as teenagers but don't believe in gender identity or some of their other political stances has affected them.

I have not bought a single thing since they mocked JK Rowling for standing up for women. It was my go-to place for small pressents for women and teenage girls. I bought stuff for me there too. Now not only do I not buy there any more DC and MIL know I won't shop there and have stopped buying me things from there too.

Gender is not mentioned in the article but many of the comments point it out as an issue.

"Amid dwindling sales and profits, the chain’s Brazilian owners Natura & Co are considering selling it off – just six years after buying it for €1bn from French beauty house L’Oreal.

“It is no exaggeration to say that 2022 was the most difficult year in the history of The Body Shop,” Natura & Co, which also owns beauty business Avon, said in its most recent annual report. “An extraordinary set of external factors significantly disrupted the business.”"

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/08/30/body-shop-lost-grip-britain-beauty-market-lush-rituals/

Lush is bizarre. The shops look and smell like giant bags of Haribos <vom>

Same. Never bought from them again after the JKR incident. And Lush can also do one.

I'm another one who has never shopped at the Body shop or Avon since their attack on JKR. Neither have my girls.
I've never ever set foot in a Lush,the stench alone puts me off,without their dodgy politics.

I withdrew my custom from The Body Shop after someone I know started doing the MLM version and spamming social media with products and limited-time offers and invitations to contact her about getting on the bandwagon. It wasn't difficult. Lush was harder because their products were my (relatively) cheap luxury, but there are plenty of people who make pretty soap on a very small scale and, as the saying goes, do a happy dance when someone buys their product.

I feel like that too - those names have a real nostalgia kick but as you say then they mocked JKR and all of us - for caring about women and the safe-guarding of women and children.

Lush seem very superficial. I haven't bought anything from them for a while. I can across this blog about them https://mitheringsfrommorningside.wordpress.com/category/lush/ and it does not make for good reading.

As a PP said I hope they are reading this because one tweet, just one tweet and many dedicated custoemrs it seems have just stopped shopping there. And as I say it is not just my custoemr but the people who bought me presetns there because they knew I like oen thing or another. All stopped. I unsubscribed and satyed off their website and out of their shop which is a handy 5 minute walk from me. And as a couple of people have said it has been my stickiest boycott - one I have never broken because there is nothing they do that you can't get something similar elsewhere.

They are not as important as they think they are.

For those who can't read it, the most like comment below the line on the article is:

"The Body Shop supported Stonewall trans ideology, why would women want to spend their money there?"

I hope this is a lesson that more companies learn.

I haven’t spent a penny in any of their shops either, and I used to love their products. Likewise Lush. They can all bugger off.

I used to love their body butters but haven't shopped there since the JKR incident. They took their loyal customers for granted.

I have serious issues with dry skin due to renal disease and had been using body shop for over 20 years. but no idea they had been messing around with gender wokeness. what I did notice is that in the last 12 months the quality of their products have done downhill RIDICULOUSLY but prices are still extremely high

I’ve boycotted Lush for a LONG time - which I wish I didn’t have to because I bloody love their products and I used to spend a lot of money in there but my principles are more important than a bath bomb - and I have boycotted Body Shop too.

TBH, Body Shop long since lost their way, boycott or otherwise. They used to have unique products and ethics and now they’re just another ‘meh’ high street brand owned by a big corporate. I can buy better products elsewhere.

Another one here who has been boycotting them since the JKR thing.

As soon as I became aware of that awful tweet I rounded up every single Body Shop item that I could find in the house, and took a photo of it all, which I sent to their customer services, pointing out that I'd been a very loyal customer until then, but would never buy from them again.

At the time I was quite shocked when I realised how many of their products I actually owned. I was such a big fan but can't say that I've particularly missed them.

I stopped buying from them after the JKR business. Had bought from them for nearly 40 years. To be fair, I don't miss their products!

I would love for this gender stuff to all be over and to wake up and discover that The Body Shop had sent JKR a big basket of 80s Body Shop classics in retro bottles, green labels, black tops and all, by way of an apology and posted a picture of it with a grovelling retraction of the original offending tweet all over their social media and displayed in all their shop windows!

But I am not holding my breath.

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/310115124312873035/

I think their issues have nothing to do with their stance on these issues. The main reason is they have competitors these days ... you can buy similar beauty sets everywhere for less and they don't have the prestige of higher end brands. Or there's lush of course. When I was a teen there was only body shop, pharmacies or fussy make up counters in department stores

I boycotted both Lush and Body Shop. They've lost out significantly there. I used to spend there as a teen and twenties adult and when I started making real money I stuck with them because they were a recognised brand abroad.

So they lost my current, modest, regular custom and my more powerful 'actually earning and have money to spend on luxuries' future.

I did used to buy the whole drops of youth range religiously so if anyone knows of a complete similar set that works for sensitive skin I'd be grateful. I loved the product, but they don't seem to realise that a lot of their original customers were steadfast in their morals (animal rights etc). We've real sticking power for boycotts and alternatives. It's why we went there to begin with!

I am sure @gogomoto there are many reason why their sales are falling but to knowing alienate many women is just stupid PR and poor business thinking. And if their board room is stuffed with the kind of idiots that think actively alienating some of your customers is a good plan then frankly the rest of their decision making might be a bit off too.

So their gender obsession might well not be the only reason, the main reason or even a big reason they're in trouble but having out of touch management, who think being offensive about women haing views is ok, sure is the main reason.

As the article points out beauty sales are strong and holding up against other trends, they don't need to be in trouble they've dug themselves a hole with a woke spade hence their pointless campaign to lower the voting age which has nothing to do with their products.

Oh gosh. I am old. Ish.

Teenage money was spent in the Body Shop - local shops - lovely for presents - and "Cosmetics to go" - mail order. Some of you are probably like ugh? Cosmetics to Go - they were the predecessor to Lush. So you filled out an order form from their paper catalogue and put it in the post. Some time later a lovely smelling box would arrive. With full recyclable packing - it really was a trend setter.

But no thank you now to either and not for a long time. Like most other PPs I will not have my gender critical views taken in vain. I spend my money appropriately. My teenagers don't really know either brand and are quite indifferent. Just to hear a PP mention "Pink Grapefruit" - my favourite body wash for years. I now use Ginger by Origins. Or the grapefruit equivalent. So do you hear that Bodyshop? How much revenue have you lost? PS but not sephora - disaster customer service. Shame.

I won't buy from them again.

@socialdilemmawhattodo I remember CTG, someone bought me a soup that was - IIRC - packaged like a wedge of cheese. Didn’t smell like cheese (thankfully!) but I remember being amused by it.

I think Lush had a make up brand in the early 2000s, which might have been a resurrection of the CTG brand. They had a shop in Carnaby St and I remember buying black kohl and glittery eyeshadow in beaded pots. I loved it.

WHY did they have to become insufferable?

They apologised for supporting Woman’s Place UK with a charity pot donation at it upset some of their blue fringed staff and customers.

I was a regular spender there too. No more. There are some products I badly miss, but that tweet was disgusting.

Actually they don't have a range with honey as a key ingredient.

The honey was dropped from the almond milk & honey range awhile ago;any products you find with the honey still in is old stock.

Come on now;if you're going to bad mouth a company at least do it with statements that are truthful.

I did some work for Anita Roddick back in the Bronze Age, when she was still in charge. She was a woman of principle, highly intelligent but with a GSOH.

RIP, I’m sorry what has been done to your vision.

I’ve not been in since the tweets.
I used to buy my mum a big bottle of white musk once a year for birthday or Christmas, plus stuff for cousins and friends.
The men’s range was quite nice and felt good quality for the price compared to some of the other men’s brands that seem to go from cheap to tacky to silly prices so it was a nice in between type of place and product.
Never paid for anything from lush, just the smell from outside could trigger a migraine but I used to get odd bits through my old job and it was all a-bit shit even for free.
sister got my son a bath bomb for Christmas, he had his Christmas morning bath and was covered head to toe in glitter all day and it stained the bath.