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I did my highschool internship in The Body Shop in 2000. While it was two weeks of working in the height of Summer, which was miserable, the store manager let me sit in the office to cool down and offered me a free sample of those sprays to cool your feet. And she gave me a back to school basket of samples of my choice. A great memory!

I can’t even go into a Lush shop. The fumes of synthetic fragrances radiating out the door is so intense.

The ironic thing is this is the perfect time for the body shop. The youth today are so into all these things, plus activisame, standing up for whats right. How very sad, they had such great products when i was a kid 20 years ago. shame

This brought back memories of the 90s when it felt magical to immerse my teenage self in all the pretty-looking bar soaps and their wonderful smell inside a store.

I did an internship at The Body Shop France/Benelux HQ in Paris in 2022 and had such a nice experience. I'm so sad seeing how everything is unfolding currently after being bought by Aurelius. My first ever skincare when I was 12 was the tea tree line

white musk from body shop was literally the smell of my teenage years in the early 2000s😄

the script is very well written. the video is very well assembled. it’s very interesting to see the historical roots of corporate cause marketing and that it is often as insincere as it feels. i also have a new respect for Anita R. and as usual i love your voice.

So well done. The Body Shop was one of my go-to spots for bodycare. Their coconut body cream in the brown container gave me the most dewy buttery soft skin. But as time went on, I noticed something was off with the feel of the company, but I kind of brushed it off. I ended up applying for a job there, and that's when I realized they were purchased by L'oreal. So I changed my mind. I literally worked for them for like one day and left 😅. The vibe was off. To this day, I have not found a body cream that does what The Body Shop coconut cream did for my skin. I even went as far as trying to recreate it at home, lol. I did ok, but it just didn't have that 🤌🏾 that The Body Shop cream had 😅. This video was very informative. I appreciate the time, effort, and research done to present this. 🩷

Please do a video on LUSH !

Dang. Body Shop was superior to Bath & Body Works.

I’m in the southern US. In the late 90’s (hmmm? 94-98) I probably paid our local Body Shop’s light bill some months!!😉 It was our first real introduction to skin care that wasn’t Clean and Clear or Noxema… drugstore brands. And “natural products” too. I LOVED that store and still miss the smell…😊

I really appreciate the research and time taken to make these videos. Also....yes please to future 1hr videos. Living for that. Thank you, and I can't wait for the next one.

It's crazy how you as a customer see and feel the change from a genuine, unique business to just another corporation. I used to love The Body Shop. It was different, felt genuine and unique. Suddenly it turned and I wasn't able to put my finger on what exactly changed, but something did and I just never bought from them again

this is the most comprehensive review of a business I have seen on YT in the last ten years

I loved going into TBS when I was growing up. Especially the perfume oils. They were the only place where you could learn what specific notes smelled like, so you could start to learn what you liked and disliked. It was such a great place, but by the time I had any kind of money of my own, all the shops like that were shut and you could only find it at home parties and Ulta (and nothing smelled the same).

‘Enlightened capitalism.’ An oxymoron in terms. Lol. As a millennial that grew up in the early 00s, body shop products like passion fruit lip gloss and mango body butter were a ubiquitous feature of my British childhood. My lefty mum who was generally anti cosmetics for feminist reasons was as always happy to get me stuff from there. They gave me some of my earliest memories of cosmetics so there will always be an element of nostalgia. Fantastic video!!

This was an excellent documentary! As a young person in the early 90s in NYC The Body Shop was THE PLACE! The shops in Harlems and South Street made you feel welcomed, you could see someone Black, Brown or LGBQT ( or some combo) working there, and the body butters and oil based perfumes were perfect. You could play and walk out with a little something- and talk about issues of the day. I miss TBS, I really do.

Fuzzy peach was my signature scent in Jr. High…1992. I’d pay a lot of money to get my hands on some now.

This brought back so many memories, I worked for the Body Shop from a Saturday sales assistant to assistant manager off and on through the 90’s to early 2000’s. There definitely was a shift once Anita Roddick became a brand in herself and detached from the business. Once she sold to L’Oréal, as workers on the shop floor we couldn’t quite fathom out why as they were the opposite of what the we stood for and very corporate. We just knew it was the beginning of the end. I also heard it was Anita’s biggest regret, selling to L’Oréal.

I added a thumbs up even before I got to the end😊. Your content is allways so well researched, informative and presented in an unbaised way. That I learn so much more than I thought I already knew (even if I was shopping at the body shop back in the 90s) again thank you again for all the work you do.

I was a Manager of two very busy Body Shop stores during the 80s and I can categorically say that I never once saw mouldy product! It was a fantastic time of my life and we all felt a part of something really important. Anita visited our stores several times and was a huge inspiration.

your final statement: "the biggest risk is not taking a risk" is such an evergreen statement that can be applied to anyone and every industry and company. corporate greed and capitalism has always, but even more so now ruined so many companies and innovative ideas that it's just bleak. everything has to be ran through a sanitized, corporate, pr approved lens that there's no personality or life in so many products or works. look at how hollywood has essentially become now prequels, reboots, and sequels with no investment into some new ideas esp from marginalized creators that there's barely anything compelling especially when compared to a decade or more prior. it's really disheartening and i really hope for a change throughout all industries. your videos on both channels are so insightful and well thought out, i can't wait to support you on patreon!

amazing video, I loved the inclusion of the articles and other sources. great job! you always deliver with these videos and anticipate your video releases!! also: i don’t know if you’ll ever see this, but would you ever consider doing a video on thee Kevyn Aucoin? the brand and the makeup artist.

Mark Constantine is no angel. I can't wait for the future Rise and Fall of Lush video

Nothing brings back memories of the 90’s like the Body Shop scents ❤ I loved the Green Apple and Fuzzy Peach! Great products. I hope it can make a come back

When i worked in LUSH we were told that The Body Shop maliciously stole Mark Constantine's recipes for soap and other products and started their company as direct competition. It wasn't an official part of their training but it was the manager of the shop who told us this at the end of day one group training. It never sat right with me but I never looked into it as LUSH was quite cult like and i didn't want to know that something they had taught us was wrong. That would NOT have gone down well. This video was amazing and very informative, very glad I now know the true history of The Body Shop. Love LUSH's products but the work environment was toxic as fuck and became very very high school bully esque very quickly

@underskinYT I would love for you to do a video on Crabtree & Evelyn. When I was a young teen my go-to shops for body care products were Crabtree & Evelyn and The Body Shop. Where I lived they were just a couple blocks from each other and I could spend whole afternoons sniffing my way from one end of the avenue to the other. Unfortunately, C&E also has lost what used to make it special - the twee English/natural apothecary vibe. I’ve always wondered what happened to it over the years.

I loved The Body Shop in the UK, even though I was familiar with The Body Shop in San Francisco and spotted it as a rip-off. When I lived in London I enjoyed visiting it as a place that sold cheap and cheerful products that did what they said on the tin, rather than making fanciful claims like they have in the recent past (such as anti-aging products.) I could go in and get a small amount of nice smelling shower gel/bubble bath, some useful face cleanser, an eye gel that helped alleviate my allergies, an attractive hairbrush and maybe some shaving gel for my significant other. Oh, and their great and useful eye makeup remover. When they started selling the type of over-priced products that everyone else sold, there was no longer a reason to go into a Body Shop. For me, that's what did in the brand. It became like every other cosmetic outlet.

There was a lot of international high street action in the 80s that to a young, unkempt Australian seemed like London was the centre of the world...or at least within walking distance of it. Laura Ashley, Habitat, Virgin Megastores, Tie Rack, Athena, and The Body Shop were pushing new retail ideas and had super-bold personalities. The knew what they were. Now, 30 years later, it's all gone. Some stores are still around, Habitat is still a thing, but the whole spirit is gone because of simple business issues or because new owners don't understand what they've purchased. I'm not sure how it ever comes back, which is a shame. I didn't purchase a thing from The Body Shop - it wasn't made for me - but it was important that it was there.

Thank you for doing this video, it was a really detailed look at the business. The very first skincare & perfume I ever bought as an adolescent in the early 90's was from The Body Shop. I remember the smell of the cucumber toner from that time and I still have an old bottle of their Japanese Musk perfume oil.

All These Videos are so amazing! I can’t even explain! I follow both channels for a while and there is so much work behind these videos! You get my respect! Amazing masterpieces! Thank you so much for entertaining and educating us! There is so much about businesses, brands, marketing and creation of a brand we learn here while you give us real life examples! Thank you!

Wonderful video - thank you for all your hard work in researching, narrating and producing all of your “under” series. I really miss The Body Shop as it existed in the 1990’s. The fruity scents, the hunter green stores, the in-store placards about where the ingredients supposedly were sourced from and the ethos behind the brand. They were a part of my coming of age as an environmentally aware consumer. If those shops could exist again with better vetting all around, I would go back. I find Bath and Body Works extremely unpleasant on many levels.

It was huge for us young tween/early teens in the early 90s in Australia. Now I can honestly say I have only purchased the hemp hand cream since for hubby. I noticed it wasn't so special in the mid-90s. Then those stupid party plans tried to sell us what was in every shopping centre for a markup + postage - um, no thank you! All with the intro stating there would never be new shop opened as that was her dying wishes🤷‍♀️. I guess most of us from that era had their preferred lip barm and body oil fragrance, but we all definitely grew up and realised we can no longer stomach those scents (for me anyway - I want to vomit if I smell vanilla or dewberry).

Thank you for researching and making this video. I love learning about how founders of businesses worked and became successful, including mistakes made.

This was so informative! Thank you for the research. In the early 90’s I used some of their products, my favorite being the mango cream. I moved onto other brands, like L’occitante, since I moved to Europe, but was happy that the brand grew, and I was seeing so many stores worldwide. Sometime in mid 2010-2015 I went back to buy my favorite items, but the creams were recognizably of different formula. I figured they had gone cooperate and stopped buying altogether. Now I know why!

An hour long! Kudos, you are spoiling us 🥰

I lived for those little oil bath balls back when I was a kid

Such a wonderful video, I really enjoyed this and find your work is top notch.

Loved it! Thanks for the huge work!

I have such respect for Anita. Such a clearly presented and incredibly well researched video. Thank you!

This is such great quality content, thanks for the upload! I’m subscribed now, and looking forward to watch other videos from you 💕

Brilliantly researched, presented and produced. ❤

I wish they would bring their perfume oil back. 16 yr old me needs cinnamon spice

Amazing well researched content that I would've never even thought to learn about. Incredibly storytelling as well. Thank you!

Every time you give us a masterclass. Great video!

Incredible research and analysis xx

The Body Shop had great products, that's why people kept coming back, one of the best things was the perfume bar, where you could mix your own perfume oils and then add them to unscented products like body lotion, shampoo, conditioner, etc. I still have some of the perfume oils from when I worked there in the 90s. In the US the competitor, Bath and Body Works opened right next to every body shop, for a while even using the iconic green until a lawsuit, but the confusion frustrated and annoyed customers, and the Body Shop would not advertise in the US even to introduce it to the US public, so the US expansion was pretty much defeated before it began.When Roddick sold the company to L'Oreal, it felt like a betrayal, and another reason why the brand failed.

As a foreigner coming to uk over a decade a go Body shop was lovely, so popular and quality was great,but soon I noticed drop in quality and stopped shopping there for myself. Ut is sad to hear that after so many years they are closing down. And I am amazed to hear about company's beginnings, as truly that is what people are after nowadays.

Thanks for making this video, learned so much from it!

i adored their products a few years ago, but noticed it felt off recently, although i didn't know the reason. thanks for this informative video!

It's very annoying how they discontinue products that you like and replace it with crapper versions (recently i have noticed this). Plus, the products are not sealed properly so people dip their fingers in and you don't want to buy it obviously if it's been contaminated (i have noticed this with all of their lip balms). It's disgusting.

I dont use a lot of body shop products, but those that i do (body butter and shower gel), ive used for years and keep going back to eventhough they r slightly more pricey. I hope they can make a comeback!

What a great video! I also enjoyed your accent 💎😊

Great video as usual! I might have missed this in the video, but did you look much into their multi-level-marketing program?

I would love to see a video on Carolina Hererra perfums

I loooved the body shop so much when I was younger... especially their serums and face scrubs. The body washes were also really good. I'm brazilian, so I was happy when Natura bought it. As it is a very successful brand here in Brazil, I thought they would reinvigorate the The Body Shop and bring it back to its former glory days. It's sad that it didn't happen

My best friends & I worked at the same Canadian mall in the late 80s/early 90s, one of them worked at the Body Shop. It was a big deal at the time, in our conservative town. They & Le Château & the record shop were known to hire 2SLGBTQ+, punks, political activists, Neo-hippies, & miscellaneous misfits. My friend's manager was an out woman at a time + place filled with homophobia. I remember the grossest things said to harass her. I haven't thought about those days in years. It's wild how deeply some brands touch us, how much they matter to our personal stories. There are still people I know bc a long time ago we both liked the same Body Shop line. Anita's story is eerie & sad. Hope she journeys well.

This was amazing. Thank you.

Thank u so much for the video, I am trying to learn business as a minority and you giving experience from women helps me a lot, and makes me understand more without the jargon and male centric attitude of competition and "winners and losers" Kudos from Peru

Not only has the body shop lost their edge in regards to their activism, pointed as their key differentiator, they are also not innovating in the product area. When they begun, it seems like the ingredients and the products themselves were also innovative and stood out from other options. I used to love their tea tree moisturizer when I first got into skincare, as it was one of the few affordable options for oily, acne prone skin. However, the skincare market has now changed a lot and finding other options is much much easier, which means they don't have anything to make them stand out in a saturated market.

I haven't watched this yet, but I've noticed the decline & there's now very few products i can buy there: - they change formulations without warning- so I had to return & stop using the face day and night creams I've relied on for years. It went cheap, ineffective & hurt my skin. - not the first time I've had to drop a product due to this. - in the past, and presumably after it went to L'Oréal they eliminated some of their most popular and also most faithful followers products. - also under L'Oréal management, a staff member told me to put my feedback in writing to the company because management don't listen to any feedback at all coming from the actual shop staff!!! When i heard that, i thought this business is doomed.

I first learnt about TBS and Anita in English class from a story in our textbook in the 90s. I only started to buy from them when they came into my country in the early 2010s, and it was already pretty pricey, especially here, but those body butters were amazing! Sad to see they were apparently already owned by L'Oréal, I had no idea.

Beautifully Narrated.

Along with online retailers, I always felt that there were too many stores with similar names. Bath and Bodywork, The Body Shop, Bed Bath and Beyond… not all were the same type of store and I just began to avoid them and shopped at places that were easier brands to remember.

I am Canadian. This is what I posted in February: The Body Shop has appointed insolvency administrators to help save the brand (as far as United Kingdom stores go - other countries will not be part of this directly). I know that the company has been struggling for years but it very troubling that a company that has been around for decades that offers quality products and that is a big name in its industry is in deep trouble. How can The Body Shop be in debt? Why would it let things get THIS bad? A new company took over The Body Shop in November. The company in charge has a very good track record for turning companies around but some people seem to think this won't happen and that they will kill The Body Shop. If you ask me the trouble started when The Body Shop was sold to l'Oréal. This is because l'Oréal has tested on animals and people were worried they might force The Body Shop to do the same. Even if they didn't, a brand that was beloved for its ethical values was now part of a conglomerate that puts profit before animals. People who actively sought out products that did not test animals boycotted The Body Shop. I wanted to but I didn't. It's rather impossible to be an ethical consumer and to do it affordably. I support all those people who boycotted. Good on them! The Body Shop has NEVER tested on animals (but it was not a totally vegan company as some products contain honey - but they have never harmed an animal to create their product as far as I know). Any time I went into the store and they asked me to sign the petition to stop testing cosmetics on animals I signed it. I signed it 3 times. Also, months ago it was announced that The Body Shop products would be sold at Shoppers Drugmart but they didn't say when that would start and their products have yet to be in Shoppers Drugmart. I don't know what the financial situation is for The Body Shop Canada but I am confident in assuming it is not good. A few years ago a bottle of shower gel was $10 (already an expensive price). Now it costs $13! That is a massive price increase. They also recently changed their packaging and I don't like it. They said they did this because it was more sustainable. All the packaging is silver and while it still shows images of the main scent it is before that you could stand at a distance from any product and know what scent it was. Each scent had its own colour on packages that stood out. Now you have to walk right up to it to see what it is. Packaging matters. What really grinds my gears is that whenever companies start getting into financial trouble THEY DO NOT TELL THE PUBLIC AND ASK CUSTOMERS WHAT THEY CAN DO BETTER!!!! MARKET RESEARCH EXISTS FOR A REASON! COMPANIES THAT DON'T NEED TO DO IT DO IT! ONES THAT SHOULD DO IT DON'T! CUSTOMERS are what keeps a company alive, NOT CEOs and other upper management!!! They should be asking people why they stopped shopping there and ask people what they are not offering that we would like! It's not difficult at all! I hope things will improve for The Body Shop but if not it will be a sad day in history should it be no more. Regular customers should start looking for alternatives so they know what's out there should The Body Shop reach the final chapters in its life.

keep these quality videos comingggg

I am old..like before the word "mall" I remember when The Body Shop hit the scene here in the US. I can only say this "Nothing is too big not to fail" I mean nothing. I would look at terms of success that it forced other companies to stop using (or at least minimize) animals in horrible testing. That is a win! As far as every company needs to have some political stance...well .. that is not new either. I like companies staying on natural ground, and being transparent to their sourcing and contents. Thank You for the work that went into making this video☺

I am so excited to watch!! Looking forward to when you do Jaclyn Hill! So much to say about lack of trust in the fan base due to pushing profit over her fans!

Great work! Thank you!

Nice one. Consider doing a video on Olaplex. Theres a juicy lawsuit with loreal in that story

I just found out this channel and already subscribed.

We are tired of corporate activism. There is little change that their virtue signaling creates. You said yourself at the beginning that she didn’t realize that offering refills was good for the environment. She got on that bandwagon as time went on. The corporate Egregor is losing its power and for that many of us are grateful! The real work is one on one and face-to-face. Corporations sway the public in all types of directions and are generally for the good of the corporation only!

I remember when The Body Shop came to our area in the US in the early 90s. It was THE place for high school girls to get skincare and a lot of my friends dreamed of working there. Sephora wouldn't open in the US til 1998, and Ulta wasn't a thing yet, so these stores were more popular I think. It feels so strange now to see it gone from the US completely, but the video is right, without the ethical and envionmental focus, minimal refillable packaging, it just stopped being special. If all I want is scented bodywash and lotion, I can get some Sol de Janiero (which now offers refills) or Bath & Body Works.

I shopped at the original Body Shop/Body Time in the San Francisco Bay Area when I was a student at UC Berkeley until they sadly went out of business. I never shopped at the British version even though they had locations in the San Francisco area.

After 15 years since starting. I think I can recall it being there 25 years ago in the UK.

Wonderfully in-depth videos

im not aware of their background and all these scandals but me personally - i used to buy bodyshop products back in the early 2000s. it was considered somewhat "exclusive" and expensive back then, but now there are dozens of other stores that produces things that are just as good and costs much less and with more interesting deals - that you just dont think about the bodyshop anymore 😄

5th comment The body shop is very expensive in my 3rd world country but I genuinely had no idea that it was founded by such an incredible woman. I also used to think at one time that The Body Shop is a Korean brand.

the risk they should’ve taken was to bet on themselves and keep the company private. creating & controlling you’re own (business) narrative goes out the window as soon as that first public share sells.

I really do love your work thank you so so much. Really!!!!

Great video 🙌

I loved their deodorants, and their moisturizing foundation. I've never been able to find a foundation that works for my skin like it.

She was ahead of her time in a lot of ways All that is trendy now. And I love her leadership style here

I thought most of tbs products were just average. Nothing really special. The products that I did really like they always discontinued. They were always trying to keep up w/ what was the latest ingredient and trends that they lacked dependability and loyalty to products customers really liked.

Shopping from them made us feel part of a movement to make the world a better place. I remember wven wearing the body shop tshirt... different era.

25:40 You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.

Well done!

Oh my god PLEASE do LUSH

I am standing up out my seat and clapping my hands with my chest. You (and your team) did wonderful with this. I hate to agree that she sold out. Lo’real of all companies? For such hardcore activists, they sure shrugged their shoulders when it came time to…which is understandable but shows why everyone shouldn’t claim activism when this is business baby!

I still loooove many of their products and use it every day. I hope they don’t close down

Noooo! I love the Body Shop as a straight man it was the only cosmetic store I felt comfortable shopping in .... For myself!! Damn they will be missed. Activist was my first cologne.

I still love the Body Shop. Their tea tree line is the only thing that keeps my skin clear❤

Never bought anything there as it all contains SLS drying out everyones skin. Like its completely possible to make products without. Also, Norwegian shops arent closing but they have a "tidying up sale". So it might mean new products with a different origin is coming in.

Ughs! The BS had the very best body butters and soaps! It was all so natural and smelled like heaven. It was an awesome departure from Jean Nate and Caress 🫣🧼🧴

I’m really sad that the Body Shop is going out of business in the US. It’s still here in France, but it seems like its time is limited. I like that it’s generally less expensive than Lush, but is also cruelty-free with a lot of vegan products, as well as being B-corp certified with a refill program. We need more mainstream ethical businesses (if there is really such a thing).

That's a shame I feel nostalgic about this brand and I used to like their body care but considering current trends, Korean skincare there are better products on the market. Lush has better smells and formulation, hair products are great, body as well. TBS looks like it lost its heart and direction. Which is sad, because their core is amazing and there is always place on the market for quality, amazing smell skincare. From personal experience if I like something I am a hardcore fan, regardless of the price.

After L'Oréal bought over, the ingredients are no different than off shelf cheap toiletries and I stopped buying.

Please consider making a deep-dive on Lush, Milani or Anastasia Beverly Hills!

I didn't know the founder of Lush was from Body Shop. Would love to see a video about Lush if it's interesting enough lol