In today’s ever-growing green marketplace, a brand’s inherent value no longer depends solely on the quality or innovation of its products. Now, more than ever, social and environmental responsibility is a quintessential component of a brand’s valuation to consumers, and one brand, in particular, stands out among the rest in the cosmetics industry.
The Body Shop has a long-standing reputation as an environmentally and animal-friendly company. Other brands can learn from their marketing and corporate responsibility on how to navigate an emerging marketplace that places increasing value on the environmental responsibility and initiatives of the company’s products.
Unlike the vast majority of brands within the cosmetics industry, the Body Shop has continually promoted its products as cruelty-free towards animals. Long before animal welfare was a growing concern among consumers, the Body Shop partnered with Greenpeace in 1986 and launched their “Save the Whales” campaign. In 1996, the Body Shop adopted the “Against Animal Testing” slogan and certified all of its products free from animal testing. In recent years, they have branched out their corporate responsibility by introducing green initiatives such as reducing their CO2 emissions, creating environmentally friendly packaging, and formulating a new range of products focused on minimising the impact on aquatic environments.
While other brands may be at a disadvantage, having not jumped on the green band-wagon that the Body Shop has been seemingly captaining for the last 30 years, they can at least follow their lead on how to add value to their brands through new initiatives aimed at the environmentally savvy consumer. In particular, they must provide transparency to the consumers on how their products are manufactured and how the ingredients are sourced. Modern-day social media is fond of targeting brands or products that use environmentally harmful ingredients or environmentally harmful practices.
One look at PETA’s blacklist of companies that still test on animals shows that many prevalent cosmetics brands are lagging behind the Body Shop in following the trend towards cruelty-free products. It is surprising to see brands like Aveeno, Dove, Maybelline, Revlon, and Kiehl’s still using animal testing. The Body Shop has been ahead of the curve, and it is a long-standing commitment to the environment, animal, and social activism will only continue to increase its reputability and by association the value of its products to its consumers.