the body shop and lush

The body shop was founded by late Dame Anita Roddick in 1976. She was an environmental and human rights campaigner that started the body shop with 25 products in a small shop in Brighton in 1976. the customers were encouraged to recycle the packaging initially this was because she didn't have enough bottles. The products were ethically sourced and not tested on animals, at that time it was a pioneering idea. it was also the first company within the beauty industry to introduce fair trade. The issues only come when she sold the company to loreal in 2006. loreal was a controversial choice there as they as a company continue to test on animals. that was part of the appeal to many. part of the reason for this to be a problem for the company is that it goes against a lot of the ethos of the company. especially as Dame Roddick had such strong opinions about the beauty industry, she even called it "a monster selling unattainable dreams". she justified selling the company with that it could act like a trojan horse that could change the industry, unfortunately, Roddick died in 2007 so whatever power she had of the direction was lost. That might be the reason for the change of branding. the once quite simple and muted packaging has been replaced with bright colours and patterns. 

Have the body shop lost its appeal? probably not, but that is mostly based on a nostalgic feeling and their products haven't changed all that much. they haven't developed new things. 

The closest company to the body shop is lush as it's a British brand focused on reducing the environmental impact. There are a fair few differences, for example so does Lush use fruit, vegetables essential oils and some synthetic ingredients in their products, and like the body shop, they do not test on animals. lush as also developed ways to deduce their packaging to almost nothing with their bar products and the plastic you do get from lush can be returned to them and they will reuse it. The body shop still have a similar solution but you just recycle it there, what lush has done is to incentivise consumers to return them with that they will get a face mask when they return several pots. They are striving to become better and create solutions whereas the body shop seems complacent.  the change from the poineering company to this company that is falling behind as the world changes and they are evolving more towards their mother company that is "a monster selling unattainable dreams". 

lush uses a word of mouth marketing strategy focused on quality products that people will talk about and inform other people about.