The Body Shop to fund human rights campaign in Pakistan

The Body Shop spread some of its scented love in Pakistan by giving half a million rupees to flood survivors.

KARACHI: How can the makers of overpriced Satsuma body butter possibly contribute to human trafficking? Well-flavoured scepticism aside, big businesses, especially international brands, can do a lot if they choose. And for its part, The Body Shop has decided to spread some of its scented love in Pakistan by giving half a million rupees to flood survivors.

On Wednesday evening, at the launch of its ‘Dreams Unlimited’ perfume, The Body Shop’s executive director Fredric Simon announced in a live call from Dubai, their decision to help. “We have full confidence in the Pakistani market, with nine stores in four major cities across the country,” he said. “The brand is successful because it highlights the needs of the people. [Hence] to communicate the vision, strengthen our hands of working for human rights issues, Pakistan needs to play a big role.”

Indeed, The Body Shop’s claim to fame is that it is against animal testing. The company’s foundation has thrown its weight behind some major campaigns such as human rights in 1990. In 1998 it launched a campaign against animal testing, in 2003 it supported work against domestic abuse and in 2007 it collaborated with MTV on an HIV-Aids campaign.

With over 2,500 stores across the globe in about 60 countries, The Body Shop is an international brand that entered the city of Karachi in 2006. “The brand follows certain core principles,” explained spokesperson Aysha Ahmed. For example, it made waves in 1998 with its self-esteem campaign, featuring the generously proportioned doll dubbed “Ruby”. Her reubenesque figure graced Body Shop windows in the UK that year, along with the slogan, “There are 3 billion women who don’t look like supermodels and only 8 who do.” She went on to appear in stores in Australia, Asia, and the United States, where she captured the imaginations of consumers weary of the rail-thin heroin-chic of the beauty industry’s advertising messages.

But for this new campaign, the money will help flood survivors, as NGO Konpal’s chairperson Aisha Mehnaz warned, “The press/media only highlights the tip of the iceberg when it comes to cases of the Prevention of Child Abuse. I must tell you, trafficking of young children is going on in flood-affected areas and was even seen during the time when earthquake catastrophe took place.”

The Body Shop and Konpal have thus partnered up to reach out to people who are at risk, according to Mehnaz.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 12^th, 2010.