1. How does The Body Shop address the four components of corporate social responsibility? In The Body Shop, what tensions among these components are at work?
2. Analyze the Body Shop’s power using both levels and spheres of power discussed in Chapter 1. How do you assess the company’s stated mission?
3. Does the Body Shop employ any questionable practices with respect to hiring? The Body Shop asks potential employees questions about “personal heroes” and individual beliefs. Is it ethical to ask such questions of applicants? Are these questions legitimate ones to ask in the first place? Are such questions fair to the applicants?
4. What is your assessment of Anita Roddick’s philosophy regarding the “purpose of a business”?
5. What are Anita Roddick’s strengths and weaknesses as a leader? Should she stay on in a managing role or step aside and allow a more experienced person to run the marketing operations?
6. Anita Roddick claims that her firm does not advertise, yet it receives freemedia exposure and publicity through the social causes it champions and her personal appearances. Is this an appropriate approach for a business to follow?
7. What is your opinion of The Body Shop/ American Express advertising campaign? Was it a sound business decision on Roddick’s part? What does the American Express campaign imply about The Body Shop and its customers? Is this different from the image of the nonprofit organizations that The Body Shop endorses? Did Roddick commit an ethics transgression by advertising through the American Express ad that contravened her earlier statements and policy, or was this different? How should she explain herself?
8. Can a company such as The Body Shop succeed, trying to balance profitability with an obsession with social causes?

When North American consumers have been asked to describe the cosmetics industry, they often respond with words such as “glamour” and “beauty.” Beginning in 1976, The Body Shop International PLC provided a contrast to this image by selling a range of 400 products designed to “cleanse and polish the skin and hair.” The product line included such items as “Honeyed Beeswax, Almond, and Jojoba Oil Cleanser” and “Carrot Facial Oil.” Women’s cosmetics and men’s toiletries were also available. They were all produced without the use of animal testing and were packaged in plain-looking, recyclable packages.