Body Shop Brand: Repositioning to Target the 'Masstige' Segment and Impact of its Acquisition by L'Oréal

TBS immediately came under fire as L'Oréal allegedly used animal testing for cosmetics, something Roddick had opposed throughout her 30 years of business life. Critcs also alleged that L'Oréal exploited the sexuality of women. They recalled Roddick's earlier criticism against L'Oréal for engaging only sexy women in their stores. In a statement on its website, Naturewatch said: "We feel that the Body Shop has 'sold out' and is not standing by its principles." Ruth Rosselson (Rosselson) of Ethical Consumer magazine said, "It's ironic that a company well known for its anti-animal testing stance should sell out to one that tests on animals and which has yet to show its commitment to any ethical issues at all."...

Both the companies had high hopes from the merger. L'Oréal was hoping that TBS would help enhance its business. It felt that TBS with a presence in 54 countries was a "sizeable and complementary brand", and it would help L'Oréal to increase its presence in the "masstige" segment. According to Euromonitor International's (Euromonitor) Briony Davies, L'Oréal, which had lost its leadership in the global cosmetics and toiletries market to P&G in 2005, had a lot to gain from the acquisition of TBS...