By LEO JOHNSON
September 13, 2007
The “Queen of Green,” the “Mother Teresa of Capitalism,” the formally appointed “Chief Wiper Away of Tears” of the Ogoni People — Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop, died this week. What was her real legacy? Was she the pioneer that mainstreamed corporate social responsibility as a corporate necessity? Was she the activist who sold out to big business?
It all began in Brighton. Anita had two kids. No job, no cash, and a husband who had gone off to ride a horse from Buenos Aires to New York. What she did have was an idea: a local shop selling homemade beauty products. She had spotted a location, nestled between two funeral parlors in downtown Brighton. She could call it “The Body Shop.” Plus, she reckoned, she could paint the walls green to hide the mold. If the company couldn’t afford enough bottles, customers could easily bring them back to refill their own. They would call it recycling.