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Some would say she sold out.

But retail rebel Anita Roddick, who this year sold her chain of beauty-product stores, The Body Shop, to the multinational L'Oréal for $1.2 billon (U.S.), is still going strong.

At 63, she's fighting for the causes that have always motivated her.

"The hidden victims of domestic violence are the children," said Roddick last night, in town to help launch an in-store Body Shop campaign against domestic violence.

The chain will be donating proceeds from sales of a $4.50 bar of soap to the Canadian Women's Foundation, which works to prevent violence in the home and supports shelters for women and children leaving abusive situations.

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Click on "Body Shop founder" under breaking news

By the way, I can't let this go: scroll down the article and you'll find this lovely gem:

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"My relationship with L'Oréal is very intimate," says Roddick, a petite brunette who opened her first store in 1976

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PLEASE tell me what being a petite brunette has to do with ANYTHING?!?!?

(Sorry, I couldn't get the direct link to work, it caused bad sidescroll. This has never happene to me before.)

[ 03 August 2006: Message edited by: bigcitygal ]

The vast majority of The Body Shop's staff are women. One of the nice things (PR-wise, anyhow) The Body Shop does is that they encourage their (extremely low-paid) staff to go to women's shelters and give the women there makeovers to improve their confidence. They sell postcards and other trinkets with progressive themes (confidence in your body - violence against women - destruction of the environment) and they give a percentage of the proceeds to organizations that stand against violence towards women.

But how does Anita Roddick figure women who work at The Body Shop could leave an abusive spouse if they're earning $8 per hour? How does Anita Roddick figure that the environment is helped when her stores put pressure on their workers to try and get customers to make an average sale of X amount of money, and X number of items (yes, it's that mathematical) by encouraging each customer to buy impulse "add ons" that they don't need at the cash register? Did you know that when you walk into The Body Shop, your entire visit is choreographed right down to how long you spend in the store before you're greeted by the associate? That the associates are under pressure to make a certain ratio of sales per walk-ins? (They count by using a little infrared counter at the entrance, so they know how many people have walked into the store, vs. how many sales at the cash register.)

Now, I understand that this is just good sales practice, and I don't really have that huge a problem with it, I guess, except that the associates are pushed to sell the way commissioned sales associates are, but they don't get the reward of a commission - no, they just get their puny wage, and a huge discount off of the merchandise - too bad you can't eat bubble bath.

So, if Anita Roddick is so concerned about the plight of women, and she wants them to be strong and autonomous and to get away from abusive spouses, why does she disempower her mostly female employees by paying them wages that would make it incredibly difficult to leave an abusive spouse? Oh, she's doing it for the CHILDREN. How sweet. So, let's see, a Body Shop associate has a kid or two and a husband who's beating the crap out of her. I'm sure she'd find it really easy to leave her husband and find a place for herself and two children on the wages she's being paid.

Guess what, Anita? Your words don't mean shit if you don't live them. You had the opportunity to dip into some of your obscene profits and share the wealth with your workers, but of course you didn't. You could have been different, but you're not. In fact, you're worse. At least Walmart doesn't pretend to give a shit about their workers or about women's activism.

[ 03 August 2006: Message edited by: Michelle ]

[ 03 August 2006: Message edited by: Michelle ]

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Originally posted by 500_Apples:
Not to nitpick, but most retail stores require boxing day and christmas eve.

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That's fine, kind of. We know most retail jobs are crappy and the owners don't even pretend otherwise.

[ 04 August 2006: Message edited by: Farces ]

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Originally posted by Farces:
comment deleted. This topic is so interesting I forgot I was not supposed to be in here. Sincere apologies.

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PS: Just so nobody thinks I was trying to pull any nastiness -- I basically moved my question to a new topic in the Labor and Consumption forum.

[ 04 August 2006: Message edited by: Farces ]

On one level I feel that any effort to raise awareness of violence against women is good, as it may continue to expand the circle of women and men who need to know how pervasive this is in our society.

But of course there are many ways to provide political support, and I've always hated the "For every product sold we'll donate $1.00 to (fill in name of charity/cause here)" I figure if you're a big corporation, then frikkin donate a couple hundred thou and get your damn pic in the paper and then it's done, and can do some good.

Raising wages in a notoriously low paying sector would of course be a very direct way to support the issue, making the Body Shop a viable option for women to make a living wage, which goes far to help with leaving abusive relationships. But no, that would be asking too much. Capitalists gotta make that profit of course.

Hey, I never said Anita was rocking and great. I just felt that it was better than most other organzations have done.

[ 04 August 2006: Message edited by: bigcitygal ]

[ 04 August 2006: Message edited by: bigcitygal ]

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hemp lip balm

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Ha! Good one! I got some great Burt's Bee's stuff. Bought at a cute local store in Toronto (Outer Layer), but you can get Burt's Bees anywhere crunchy granola is sold!