The Lies of The Body Shop.

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International Business Ethics: Great Britain 
Major Business Ethics Cases

Although there are many unethical cases documented in British history, for the purpose of this report i will limit the scope to the last ten years and to those episodes that were most prevalent in the media. 

The following entails a brief account of three such cases: The Collapse of Barings Bank, The Lies of The Body Shop, and the case of British Airways Vs. Virgin Atlantic. 

 The Lies of The Body Shop 

With 1,000 shops in operation and a presence in 45 different countries, The Body Shop, is a well-established company. If asked about The Body Shop, most people would say it is a high priced health and beauty aid shop that is centered on natural products and environmental concerns. However in the early 1990s this image of prestige and honor was destroyed. With the aid of investigations by cosmetic and health regulators and several lawsuits, the truth has been revealed about what lurked behind the façade. Journalist, Jon Entine, risked a libel suit against himself in order for the world to know the truth. His article "Shattered Image" in the magazine Business Ethics, published in September/October 1994, is commendable.

Anita and Gordon Roddick started The Body Shop in Brighton, England in 1976 based on the innovative idea to offer products that were "all natural" and portrayed a "hip" image. However, Mr. Entine along with others found that the idea was not so innovative because it was stolen. The original "The Body Shop" was in Berkley, CA. Although the Roddick's has denied this profusely, The Body Shop (Roddick) had an uncanny similarity to the Berkeley store in design and products. Not until The Body Shop entered the U.S. market in 1987 was any compensation afforded to the Berkley store. At that time, The Body Shop paid the Berkley store $3.5 million for the name.

The questionable origin of The Body Shop name has been the least of the discrepancies for the Roddick's. The real unethical behavior has been the fact that the company has lied to the consumer and business world. Among these falsehoods is the claim that The Body Shop offers "Natural Cosmetics," and that the company implements high "Quality Controls." The company also claimed that they don’t use products that have been tested on animals in the last five years, and that the firm and especially Anita Roddick are extremely concerned about the environment, and that they run an ethical business between the company and its franchisees.

In his article, "Shattered Image," Jon Entine takes down each of these claims with proof of serious misdealings. He found with the help of cosmetic expert Zia Wesley-Hosford that The Body Shop uses a variety of artificial colors, fragrances, synthetic preservatives, and non-renewable petrochemicals such as mineral oil and carbomers. According to Mr. Entine, none of the company’s leaflets or brochures says anything about these ingredients and that instead they advertise the opposite.

The issue of poor quality control came out in the summer of 1993 when the company shipped out a banana shampoo that had not been tested due to a backlog in Christmas orders. According to a former employee, the tests that did come back two weeks after the product was shipped found e-coli bacteria at levels 1,000 percent above the acceptable standard. A test lab manager was quoted as saying, "you get that kind of reading from swabbing a toilet bowl."

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The Body Shop’s image of protecting animals and the environment has also been tarnished by similar episodes in which the company knowing brought animal tested products from Hoffman LaRoche a company, which had dumped toxic chemicals directly into the New Jersey sewerage system.

The Body Shop worst infraction has been its unethical behavior to its own people, namely the franchisees. At the time of Jon Entine’s article in 1994, The Body Shop had 950 out of 1000 shops belonging to franchisers. Therefore, The Body Shop should have been working primarily as a wholesaler to these shops. In reality, Anita ...

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