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Why The Body Shop wants to enable people of all ages to participate in social issues

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By Ellen Ormesher, Senior Reporter

March 23, 2023 | 10 min read

The Drum catches up with The Body Shop’s UK managing director to find out how it’s encouraging people to use their votes and their voices.

The Body Shop and British Youth Council

The Body Shop has been working with the British Youth Council to lower the voting age to 16 / The Body Shop

Last month, The Body Shop launched its #BeSeenBeHeard campaign, in partnership with the British Youth Council to lower the UK voting age to 16. “You know that 35% of the UK population is under 30, but only 3.2% of MPs are?” asks the cosmetics brand’s UK managing director, Maddie Smith.

She goes on to explain that their research in collaboration with the UN has consistently revealed that young people want to be involved in the big issues of today (“climate change is obviously a massive one, diversity and inclusion and fair representation is also a really big deal, and then, of course, the cost of living crisis and the impact that is having on young people’s ability to rent, or access education and employment”).

But young people are often blocked from the democratic process, which is why the brand wants to leverage its position as a mainstay of the British high street, as well as its social media platform and its B-corp status, “to show that businesses can be a force for good.”

Naturally, a brand trying to position itself in this way always draws some skepticism says Smith. “People often ask me whether it’s just an initiative to get young people into our stores.”

“But the fact is, we have a long history of campaigning for things we think are important, just as we have a broad demographic of customers.” Smith says she sees The Body Shop’s purpose-led initiatives, like its work with the Youth Council, “as part of our commitment to simply make it easier for customers to participate in certain issues.”

Widening participation

A feeling of overwhelm at the sheer number of issues in today’s highly connected world is something that can be a barrier to people engaging, Smith believes. “When it comes to issues like climate change and sustainability, we want to tell people that they don’t have to change the world, but they can make small changes with the products they buy from us.”

She explains that in addition to its purpose-led messaging, The Body Shop wants to lead on its ESG strategy. “We’re much more sustainable in terms of our packaging and ingredients,” having re-formulated some 70% of its product range to be more sustainably sourced and environmentally friendly. “We’ve only gotten more obsessed since the move from L’Oreal ownership to Natura,” she adds.

And when it comes to engaging customers in more long-term sustainable habits, Smith says that The Body Shop has been pushing the benefits of refills for much longer than competitors. In 1976, when The Body Shop first started, founder Anita Roddick offered to refill customers’ bottles and in 1993, the company introduced a ‘Bring Back Our Bottle’ recycling scheme, a first for the beauty industry.

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The brand launched its refill scheme in 2019, “and now, 10% of our business comes from refills,” Smith says.

“Virtually all of our stores have refill stations, and we’ve saved up to half a million plastic bottles from going into circulation.” The Body Shop’s The Return, Recycle, Repeat scheme also aims to tackle the issue of how little household recycling ends up actually being recycled and encourages customers to bring beauty packaging – from any brand – and deposit it in bins in The Body Shop store to be recycled by its partner, which can assure full traceability of every item and guarantee that nothing goes to landfill or incineration.

Crucially, however, Smith says the brand has ensured that cost is not a barrier to customers wanting to make use of the sustainable initiative. “We’ve actually made the refill bottles slightly bigger than our standard sizes and changed the pricing to make that cost-effective. So we’re trying to give people an economic reason to participate as well.”

And widening participation in the circular economy also means inclusivity in the workplace, as Smith explains, The Body Shop’s open hiring policy (where the first candidate to apply gets the next available opportunity) creates access to work for people who are from marginalized backgrounds or who may not have worked before. “Last Christmas, we brought in nearly 300 temps through open hiring, and we get a number of positions through our charity partnerships too. It’s all about finding new and different ways of getting people into work.”

Smith says now, the challenge remains to keep pioneering, “we can’t just point to our history and rest on our laurels, we have to keep innovating.”

Want to learn more about the most important issue of our time? Senior reporter Ellen Ormesher will explore the role advertising and marketing play in facilitating the climate crisis. Case studies, tips, interviews and more. Register your interest here.

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