The Body Shop

How ethical is The Body Shop?

The Body Shop, a make-up owned by Natura Cosméticos S.A., is one of The Good Shopping Guide’s independently-researched skincare brands. (This parent corporation is also the owner of Avon, another health and beauty brand.) This company passes the Ethical Benchmark for our Ethical Make Up Ratings Table.

Following The Body Shop’s example, we encourage businesses in the Make Up industry to adopt more ethical policies.

The history of The Body Shop

British entrepreneur, human rights activist, and environmentalist, Anita Roddick, founded the business. Today, The Body Shop products are offered in around 3,000 outlets and sells a line of around 1,000 goods.

The business, formerly established in Brighton, is now headquartered in London Bridge in West Sussex and is owned by Natura, a Brazilian cosmetics company that is a part of the Natura & Co group. Between 2006 and 2017, L’Oréal, a French cosmetics firm, owned the business. Natura purchased the business from L’Oréal in September 2017 for £880 million.

The Body Shop was purchased by L’Oréal for £652 million on March 17, 2006. Due to L’Oréal’s use of animal testing and Nestlé’s ownership of the business, there was some debate and criticism.

Is The Body Shop actually ethical?

The Body Shop received a good rating for its Environmental Report, opposition to the use of genetically modified substances, and commitment to cruelty-free products.

However, The Body Shop does not perform well in other Environment-related criteria, as it has a severe lack of certified-Organic products. Though the brand claims to use some organic ingredients, the brand also admits that they do not make or stock any fully-certified products.

How could The Body Shop improve its rating?

The Body Shop could obtain Organic-certification for some of its items in order to receive our Ethical Accreditation Award. Without the use of pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and other agrochemicals harmful to both people and wildlife, cosmetic ingredients are grown and produced more sustainably and ethically.