What's particularly depressing is that, once upon a time, TBS actually had a genuine positive influence on individuals' lives and on the entire legislative jungle surrounding animal testing on cosmetics. Now money spent at TBS will go to the pockets of the biggest cosmetics giant in the world — not inherently bad per se, business is business — but sadly, since L'Oreal does not share the principles that really made a difference, this acquisition has effectively removed the biggest single "pro-ethical cosmetics" voice from the marketplace. I suppose it could be said that TBS has been washing its ideals off bit by bit for quite some time in the lead-up to this, so the unholy marriage with L'Oreal is not really as unholy as it seems on the surface.
That voice had long since left the building.
It will be very interesting to watch what happens next. I would like to put forward my thoughts on this: The Body Shop is not dead; it's a zombie. It's been dead for quite some time but still seems to be able to potter around. L'Oreal has the funds to turbo-charge this walking dead of a company, so we could soon witness the Thriller of the century. It's also worth noting that not all anti-animal cruelty organisations have whipped TBS off their ethical shopping lists. This might, of course, have something to do with the fact that some ethical shopping guide producers charge the companies for inclusion on the lists, thereby effectively selling endorsement (and making a business of it).
The whole world of various animal testing policies is somewhat bewildering. Fixed cut-off dates and a whole host of confusing mission statements often leave consumers so confused that when making choices about products, they just naturally gravitate towards convenience and pleasure rather than to the company whose morals and ethics most closely match with their own. I'm certainly guilty of this; choosing a product because it was there, or because I liked the way it felt, rather than because I knew what the company's stance was on, say, recycling. I wouldn't say such basic behaviour was to be categorically condemned, but I would say that the biggest mistake TBS made wasn't the sale to L'Oreal, it was their drop in product quality, which inevitably led to consumers not being quite so drawn in by these very basic shopping behaviours. Enter a period of declining profits, ripen for takeover; we know the rest.
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