[ Avon cosmetics and home goods catalogue.]

New York: California Perfume Company, Inc., n.d., ca. 1936 Date from page commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the California Perfume Company (1886 – 1936). The California Perfume Company changed its name to Avon in 1939. These catalogues, which were issued under varying titles to Avon representatives, are all scarce, especially those predating the name change. OCLC records one copy of a similar catalogue from 1938 (Hagley Museum) and a few copies of catalogues from 1935-1937 (UC Irvine, Hagley, the Strong). Original stiff blue binder with "Avon" in silver on front cover. . 10 x 7 in. . With full-color illustrations of Avon products on nearly every (truncated) page. Most of the catalogue advertises beauty products, but the last dozen or so pages are dedicated to Perfection Products, the home goods and food products label of the California Perfume Company. Slight smudging to front cover. Otherwise a fine, bright copy. In 1886, David H. McConnell (1858 – 1937) founded the company that would become Avon Products Inc. The company has used the "direct sales" model (in which customers, mostly women, purchase products to resell to other customers) since its inception and counted around 25,000 resellers among its ranks by the 1920s. In the post-World War II economic boom, companies like Avon, Amway, and Tupperware rushed to harness the marketing potential of middle-class women who had both the disposable income to invest in home and beauty products and the social connections to market them. Those saleswomen were able to use their role to build social capital and, in some cases, make money in an era when women's employment opportunities were restricted. These midcentury companies laid the groundwork for today's multilevel marketing industry and codified a type of word-of-mouth marketing style that mobilizes consumers as advertisers and underlies many modern online advertising strategies. (Inventory #: 17700)