Why do we campaign? With over 2,400 stores in more than 60 countries, and thousands of women across the globe inviting us into their homes with a The Body Shop at Home™ party, we reach millions of women across diverse communities and cultures. It's a privilege, and a unique opportunity to tackle issues that are important to them, and make a real difference.

It’s more than 20 years since Anita first used the window of The Body Shop® store windows to campaign to ‘Save the Whale’, our first major campaign. Our experience in campaigning, and the support and action of our customers, means we have become effective and respected for tackling social and environmental issues. Together we have campaigned for, and won, a UK-wide ban against animal testing on cosmetic products and ingredients and presented the European Union with the largest petition in history against animal testing. We were also the first retailer to speak out on self-esteem issues, with our 1997 campaign that ran the now famous headline: "There are 3 billion women who don't look like supermodels. And only 8 who do".

A company founded by a woman, for women, and mainly run by women, it goes without saying that we choose which issues to tackle by listening to women. Our campaigns voice the concerns of NGOs, communities, franchisees, employees, and our customers. They are often issues that aren't easy to talk about and for which there are no easy solutions. But we know that they are issues that are important to you, and our commitment to pursuing real change in these areas grows stronger each year.

Today our campaigns focus on two of the greatest challenges of our time.

Stop Violence in the Home is our international campaign against domestic violence. Around the world 1 in 3 women* is affected by this issue.

HIV and AIDS Last year over 2.5 million people were newly infected with HIV. Nearly half were aged between 15 and 24. As part of our ongoing commitment to HIV and AIDS awareness, we've teamed up with MTV to launch the 'Stop HIV: Get Lippy' campaign in 2008.

* General Assembly. In-Depth Study on All Forms of Violence against Women: Report of the Secretary General, 2006. A/61/122/Add.1. 6 July 2006.