Letters
The Body Shop Controversy an Rocha's report on the suing of The Body Shop by Chief PykatiRe of the Brazilian Kayapo indigenous group contained substantial inaccuracies, not least its...
...The Indian cannot read well and does not understand the things of white men...
...To suggest that they were "misled" by Petean is insulting to them and to their carefully researched report...
...The source for this quote is correspondence between PykatiRe and his lawyer...
...This is tautological: it was Petean himself who provided the information that misled the external evaluators in the first place...
...The police investigation which was opened against Petean at The Body Shop's request has been shelved...
...He has always done this to us...
...Rocha reports that Pykati-Re announced his intention of suing The Body Shop for the "unauthorized use of [his] image for publicity ends...
...The Body Shop began its trading relaReaders are invited to address letters to The Editors, NACLA Report on the Americas, 475 Riverside Drive, Suite 454, New York, NY 10115...
...I want to tell you not to speak to Saulo in Redenqso...
...Petean's contract was not renewed because of financial and management irregularities, which are currently under investigation...
...Adrian Hodges The Body Shop London, England Jan Rocha replies: T he title of the story was not written by me, but by the NACLA editors...
...I stated that Saulo Petean was fired after being accused of stirring up trouble...
...In sum, Rocha's report is based on information of suspect validity...
...Rocha reports that Petean's accusations are borne out by an evaluation undertaken in 1995...
...The Body Shop Controversy an Rocha's report on the suing of The Body Shop by Chief PykatiRe of the Brazilian Kayapo indigenous group contained substantial inaccuracies, not least its incorrect and misleading headline, "Amazon Chief Sues The Body Shop" [July/August, 1996...
...Letters can be sent by e-mail to: NACLA @igc.apc.org...
...Yet the evaluators' unanswered question remains: Are The Body Shop's trading links with the Kayapo "aid," or are they a deliberate profitable investment to market the company's name...
...They spent 30 days in the area...
...Petean, who has been consistently libeled by The Body Shop in its replies to criticisms, is suing The Body Shop for the nonpayment of benefits due him under Brazilian labor laws...
...In a letter to his lawyer dated March 2, 1996, Pykati-Re writes, "Saulo made me sign a paper for you without me understanding what the paper was about...
...tionship with Kayapo villages at their invitation...
...We are committed to a process of continuous improvement of that relationship as long as it is appropriate for the communities, welcomed by them, and for as long as it takes to build an example of sustainable trade...
...Pykati-Re was duped into writing this note by a former employee of The Body Shop, Saulo Petean, who, Rocha says, was fired for "stirring up trouble"-making this correspondence neither a reliable nor an accurate expression of Pykati-Re's wishes...
...Saulo does not represent me...
...The 1995 evaluation--commissioned by The Body Shop itself-was carried out by two respected Brazilian anthropologists, lara Ferraz and Rubem Almeida, together with Pat Stocker, an experienced British development worker...
...Nevertheless, my article clearly states that Pykati-Re announced his intention of suing The Body Shop and then backed down because the company offered a new contract for the use of the Kayapo image...
...Pykati-Re did not sue The Body Shop, nor did he have any intention of doing so...
...The Body Shop's response to criticism is to imply that Indians and evaluators are fools who are "duped" and "misled," and the man it employed for five years is a criminal...
Vol. 30 • January 1997 • No. 4
