Thursday, September 13, 2007

"Moisturizers moisturize, fresheners freshen and cleansers cleanse. End of story."

Body Shop founder Anita Roddick is dead at 64. That's pretty shockingly young, isn't it? Other obits concentrate on her eco-friendliness, which is now seen as pioneering. But I like the NYTimes piece because it's filled with fun personal details ("When her husband later announced that he wanted to fulfill his dream of traveling on horseback from Buenos Aires to New York...Ms. Roddick took out a modest loan and in 1976 opened the Body Shop, her first, in Brighton"), apt observations ("Ms. Roddick, who rejected conventional marketing, was so recognizable with her wild hair, wild public pronouncements and unbusinesslike demeanor that she was probably her own best advertisement") and this marvelous quote: "'I have never felt that beauty products are the body and blood of Jesus Christ.'"

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

You know, I was wondering why the flags at Taco Bell were at half-staff today.

James-H said...

uh, Bill...

Anonymous said...

Normally, snark ensues. But I swear, I actually saw a Taco Bell with its flags lowered.

Irene Done said...

Could be related. Maybe the rats that live at that Taco Bell's -- c'mon! they're there, you know it! -- are grateful they were spared a life of animal testing and so lowered the flag in recognition of Ms Roddick's efforts on their behalf.

By the way, do you ever watch Made In America? On one show, John Ratzenberg visited a flag factory in New Jersey. You know who always orders the largest US flags? Texans. Isn't that a fun fact? Yeah, it is!

Anonymous said...

I’ve seen that show before, just not that episode. Speaking of fun facts that only I know, and which you will now also know, a former writing partner of mine grew up with Ratzenberg in Bridgeport.

And somehow I suspected that the Texas flag thing would always be true. Generally, when you have ranches bigger than some states, you expect big things from Texas!™

(I think that will be my suggestion for your new state motto.)