Most companies and businesspeople say they want to make the world a better, cleaner, and safer place. Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop, actually built her business around these values. Using all-natural products, while supporting many social and environmental causes, she grew the cosmetics company into a worldwide success ... with a heart.
cause：主義、理想
Before Roddick opened the first Body Shop in 1976, the British native traveled widely. Spending time in rural areas, she saw with her own eyes how people lived and how they dealt with the problems they faced. She was also introduced to many interesting locally grown products.
deal with X：Xに対処する
be introduced to X：Xを知る
Her first store in England sold only a handful of personal-care items, which used ingredients such as aloe vera and cocoa butter. Such ingredients, which are now fairly well known, were uncommon at the time. The store did well, and Roddick opened her second store just six months later. The Body Shop continued to grow by selling franchises, first in Europe and then elsewhere, eventually totaling more than 2,000 stores worldwide.
a handful of：少数の、少量の
ingredient：材料
franchise：営業権
Roddick built a number of core ethical principles into The Body Shop. For instance, the company opposed testing products on animals, supported human rights, and encouraged community trade. This last point was a key part of Roddick’s way of doing business. She went out of her way to support poor communities by buying products and ingredients from them. These include self-massagers from India and sesame-seed oil from Nicaragua.
ethical：倫理上の
oppose：反対する
community trade：コミュニティトレード(コミュニティと持続的な関係を築き、良質な原料や製品を公正な価格で取引する貿易の仕組み)
go out of one’s way to X：わざわざXする
(ref.) take the trouble to X：苦労してXする
sesame-seed：ゴマの実
Led by Roddick, The Body Shop also supported a number of causes. Back in 1986, it contributed to Greenpeace’s Save the Whales campaign. Also, using the power of its customer base, the company has carried out large petition drives. In 1996, its collected four million signatures for the Against Animal Testing campaign. The effort was successful, leading to a total ban on animal testing in the U.K.
contribute to X：Xに貢献する
customer base：顧客基盤
petition drive：署名運動
In March 2006, The Body Shop was bought by L’Oreal. Some people were worried that the new owners would change the way The Body Shop was run. But Roddick, who died the next year, remained confident that the “green” company she created would stay true to its values.
remain confident that X：引き続きXへの自信を示す