Anita Roddick lives her life between a rock and a rubber bullet. On one hand, she is the CEO of a large international corporation. On the other hand, she is a passionate activist for issues of justice and the environment.
These two things don’t normally go hand in hand, as Anita has discovered.
These two things don’t normally go hand in hand, as Anita has discovered.
"The left don’t like me because I run a successful business and the right don’t like me because they think I’m just spouting off all this left-wing stuff."
But Anita makes no apologies. She took to the streets in Seattle to protest against the WTO in 1999 and she has just released a book, Take it Personally, which is a call to action for people to take a stand against globalisation.
A self-professed hippie, Anita never expected to be the head of an international company anyway.
"I would have slit my wrists if I’d have known. It wasn’t meant to be that big. It was just meant to be a livelihood. It was just supposed to get my by until my husband got back from riding a horse across South America and then we were going to move to Australia and start a pineapple plantation. It wasn’t meant to last.
"Then I realised I could use the shops to project and promote issues that we all cared about."
From the very start, the Body Shop has had its ideals of activism and social responsibility written into its legal documents.
"The purpose of being was to promote human rights and environmental issues."
In the business world, Anita is greatly frustrated by the principal of "profits before people".
"Up your bum to that," she says. "Nobody was put on this planet to increase profit margins. We were put here to be caring citizens, good mums and dads. The profit and loss line does not include justice."
Take it Personally, is a collection of essays from some the world’s leading globalisation authorities and activists.
Anita was motivated to write the book after she attended the protests at the Seattle WTO conference. Through the hail of batons and rubber bullets, when the fog of the teargas cleared, what Anita and others there determined the movement needed was to become more populous. It needed to get out of academia and into the hands of the ordinary people, and out to people who are part of the vigilante consumer movement.
So Anita wrote Take it Personally to get the message about globalisation into the hands of the public.
She says she’s aimed the book at students and young people – which is evident by the trendy, pictorial based design.
"So much of what is out there is just words, words, words. I knew we had to use graphics if we were going to get people’s attention."
Anita describes the anti-globalisation movement as the biggest movement since the civil rights movement. She thinks the universities are being energised to take it up.
"Up to two years ago the only energy in universities was snoring in the library. But there are many planks in this platform – child labour, sweatshops, injustice."
Thing that angers Anita most is injustice. "Trade injustice the shaving away of empathy for the human condition."
But who is she to complain? Part of the problem with globalisation is the development of a global monoculture, where the proliferation of chain stores wipes out regional individuality. So doesn’t Anita sometimes feel the contradiction between her success and her principles?
"Not really, because we do things in a different way – we’ve got a whole initiative called community trade. We go to the place where our products are sourced and buy them directly. We don’t buy through the commodities markets. A lot of our ideas come from local places and the way we purchase is really interesting. If you go to the Caribbean stores, they are full of rasta colours. I have fought very hard against having to homogenised a brand and fought to keep it idiosyncratic."
If people could take just one thing away from her latest book, Anita hopes it would be the message, "Get active!"
"Ask questions and know what conditions the products you buy are made under because the consumer does have power and shopping is a political activity."
But Anita makes no apologies. She took to the streets in Seattle to protest against the WTO in 1999 and she has just released a book, Take it Personally, which is a call to action for people to take a stand against globalisation.
A self-professed hippie, Anita never expected to be the head of an international company anyway.
"I would have slit my wrists if I’d have known. It wasn’t meant to be that big. It was just meant to be a livelihood. It was just supposed to get my by until my husband got back from riding a horse across South America and then we were going to move to Australia and start a pineapple plantation. It wasn’t meant to last.
"Then I realised I could use the shops to project and promote issues that we all cared about."
From the very start, the Body Shop has had its ideals of activism and social responsibility written into its legal documents.
"The purpose of being was to promote human rights and environmental issues."
In the business world, Anita is greatly frustrated by the principal of "profits before people".
"Up your bum to that," she says. "Nobody was put on this planet to increase profit margins. We were put here to be caring citizens, good mums and dads. The profit and loss line does not include justice."
Take it Personally, is a collection of essays from some the world’s leading globalisation authorities and activists.
Anita was motivated to write the book after she attended the protests at the Seattle WTO conference. Through the hail of batons and rubber bullets, when the fog of the teargas cleared, what Anita and others there determined the movement needed was to become more populous. It needed to get out of academia and into the hands of the ordinary people, and out to people who are part of the vigilante consumer movement.
So Anita wrote Take it Personally to get the message about globalisation into the hands of the public.
She says she’s aimed the book at students and young people – which is evident by the trendy, pictorial based design.
"So much of what is out there is just words, words, words. I knew we had to use graphics if we were going to get people’s attention."
Anita describes the anti-globalisation movement as the biggest movement since the civil rights movement. She thinks the universities are being energised to take it up.
"Up to two years ago the only energy in universities was snoring in the library. But there are many planks in this platform – child labour, sweatshops, injustice."
Thing that angers Anita most is injustice. "Trade injustice the shaving away of empathy for the human condition."
But who is she to complain? Part of the problem with globalisation is the development of a global monoculture, where the proliferation of chain stores wipes out regional individuality. So doesn’t Anita sometimes feel the contradiction between her success and her principles?
"Not really, because we do things in a different way – we’ve got a whole initiative called community trade. We go to the place where our products are sourced and buy them directly. We don’t buy through the commodities markets. A lot of our ideas come from local places and the way we purchase is really interesting. If you go to the Caribbean stores, they are full of rasta colours. I have fought very hard against having to homogenised a brand and fought to keep it idiosyncratic."
If people could take just one thing away from her latest book, Anita hopes it would be the message, "Get active!"
"Ask questions and know what conditions the products you buy are made under because the consumer does have power and shopping is a political activity."
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