The History of AVON

They say "big trees from little acorns grow" and when you look at today's AVON, with over 6 MILLION representatives worldwide, a company that has been a household name since I was a child (that I can attest to), and think that it was the brainchild of one man, a travelling book salesman, whose perfume giveaways proved to be more popular than the literature!

That man was David H. McConnell Sr, and in 1886 the idea, that became The California Perfume Company, took shape.

In those days, very few "decent" women worked outside the home. They were meant to be stay at home mothers and homemakers, and taking care of their husband's every needs when he was home. He gave them a chance to earn some extra money whilst not taking them away from their main role as the mother/homemaker.

The first saleslady with the company was Mrs Persis Foster Eames Albee who is still revered by AVON representatives now.

She has been called "the mother of the California Perfume Company".

AVON is known, around the world, as the company that empowers women.  It has been doing so now for 130 years.

As they proudly state:

95 years before the first female US Supreme Court appointee

77 years before the first female astronaut went to Space

34 years before women earned the right to vote

17 years before the first female Nobel Prize winner

In 1939, David H McConnell Jr changed the name of 

The California Perfume Company 

to

AVON.

Neither the Depression, nor WWII, could stop the

powerhouse as sales rose through both,

and, in 1946,

AVON became a publicly traded company.

Their advertising over the years promoted home, and glamour.

AVON's advertising was in all the favourite women's magazines

The one above, from the 1950s, and the one below, with Jean Shrimpton who was a famous model in the 1960s

Always at the forefront of women's issues, the AVON Foundation For Women was set up to help improve and save lives, in 1955.

Since 1992, the AVON Breast Cancer Crusade, has been instrumental in raising funds for the fight against that horrible disease. As of 2013, over $815 million had been raised and donated to various programs, associated with that cause.

In 2004, AVON launched their Speak Out Against Domestic Violence initiative. By the end of 2014, over $40 million had been contributed to that cause, in the US alone.

In fact, whenever there are disasters, AVON is one of the first corporate donors and follows that up with fundraising efforts, a few major ones are mentioned here:  http://www.avonfoundation.org/causes/emergency-relief/