The Guide to Major Trusts 2025-26. DSC (Directory of Social Change)

Business as Unusual: The Journey of Anita Roddick and the Body Shop

Anita Roddick is one of the world’s most outspoken, controversial and successful businesswomen. Business as Unusual turns the tables on the way society looks at business and forges a move toward greater corporate responsibility and accountability.

“In terms of power and influence, you can forget the church, forget politics. There is no more powerful institution in society than business, which is why I believe it is now more important than ever before for business to assume a moral leadership. The business of business should not be about money, it should be about responsibility. It should be about public good, not private greed.” Anita Roddick

Business as Unusual charts the progress of Anita Roddick and her company The Body Shop through the last decade. She talks openly about the ‘greed culture’ of the 90s, The Body Shop vs. Shell, Trade Not Aid (the pleasures and pitfalls of trading with indigenous communities), taking on the US, creating community both within and outside the workplace, how to campaign for human rights in the business environment and women in business.

Ranging from personal issues – such as self-esteem – to wider political issues like the human rights abuses associated with globalisation, Roddick offers her own vision for dealing with the demands of ethical business. Roddick believes we should never underestimate the power of the individual to create change.

Reviews

“… at the bottom of Estee Lauder’s jar is the world of eternal youth. At the bottom of Anita’s Jar is the world itself.”
Vogue

Body Shop fundraising

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