29 March 2006 by Michelle Lovi
I recently heard in the news (ABC and SMH) that Anita Roddick, founder of the Body Shop, has sold her company to L’Oreal for over $3 million.
‘A couple of years ago she attacked L’Oreal for employing only “sexy” women on its sales counters. Any differences appeared to have been ironed out on Friday. Ms Roddick praised the French business for wanting to be an “advocate and supporter of our values” and said it would be business as usual.’ - SMH
Ethical Consumer is quoted as saying,
‘It’s ironic that a company well known for its anti-animal testing stance should sell to one that tests on animals and which has yet to show its commitment to any ethical issues at all.’
Read more at www.smh.com.au/articles/2006/03/19/1142703218944.html
I can’t remember the last time I shopped at the Body Shop, but I always believed in what they stood for (perhaps naively, as I have also learned that in recent years they had relaxed their stance on using ingredients that have been tested on animals in their products).
Like many others, I will continue to seek out alternative businesses with strong ethics, who use natural ingredients, and who do NOT test or use ingredients tested on animals.
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27 March 2006 by Rachel Funari
14 March 2006 by Rachel Funari
This evening I jotted down psychological things I have been thinking about for a while. Questions such as: “Is it okay to allow someone to make your life easier and do what you want or is that irresponsible, infantilising, unfair and wrong?”
It seems to me that novels and short stories answer questions such as this. But I don’t have any answers so how can I write novels or short stories?
Where do other people get these answers from?
Rachel
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1 March 2006 by Rachel Funari
Dear Tropfest,
First of all, I’d like to say that I enjoyed my first Tropfest thoroughly and was very impressed by the quality of films - much better than most of the feature films I’ve seen this year.
However, I was annoyed and disappointed at the Tropfest advertisement with Vince Colisimo. The sexualisation of women in order to sell stuff to people has gotten out of hand. It seems everywhere one turns there’s a near-naked, usually blonde, woman with her tits or ass in focus - in Tropfest’s case, there was a roomful of them. It’s not funny having a dirty old man film a bunch of young psuedo-cabaret stars on his deathbed. It’s ordinary, uncreative, demeaning and a bit offensive, not to mention icky and inappropriate. I would have liked to think that your publicity crew could have come up with an advertisement as innovative and interesting as the films that you showed. These days not objectifying women for advertising purposes is the height of innovation and creativity.
I look forward to a unique and inspiring advertisement for next year’s Tropfest.
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