The Avon Lady acquired iconic status in twentieth century American
culture. This first history of Avon tells the story of a direct
sales company that was both a giant in its industry and a
kitchen-table entrepreneurial venture. With their distinctive
greeting at the homes across the country-Ding Dong! Avon
Calling!-sales ladies brought door-to-door sales of makeup,
perfume, and other products to American women beginning in 1886.
Working for the company enabled women to earn money on the side and
even become financially independent in a respectable profession
while selling Avon's wares to friends, family, and neighborhood
networks. Ding Dong! Avon Calling! is the story of women and
entrepreneurship, and of an innovative corporation largely managed
by men that empowered women to exploit networks of other women and
their community for profit. Founded in the late nineteenth century,
Avon grew into a massive international direct sales company in
which millions of "ambassadors of beauty" sat in their customers'
living rooms with a sample case, catalogue, and a conversational
sales pitch. Avon was unique in American business history for its
reliance on women as representatives, promising them not just sales
positions, but a chance to have a business of their own. Being an
Avon Lady avoided the stigma that was often attached to
middle-class women's work outside the home and enabled women to
maintain the delicate balance of work and family. Drawing for the
first time on company records she helped acquire for archives,
Katina Manko illuminates Avon's inner workings, uncovers the lives
of its representatives, and shows how women slowly rose into the
company's middle and upper management. Avon called itself "The
Company for Women" and championed its high flyers, but its higher
echelons remained dominated by men well into the 1990s. Avon is
more than perfumes and toiletries, but a brand built on women
knocking on doors and chatting up neighbors. It thrived for more
than a century through the deceptively simple technique of women
directly selling beauty to women at home.
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