by At the height of its success, the global beauty brand Avon was selling four lipsticks per second. Now, the talcum powder that once made the heritage label a hit around the world is closer to extinction. This week, after hundreds of lawsuits alleging asbestos in the talc in its beauty products – which causes cancer – Avon declared bankruptcy.
Although the company has continually denied the claims, saying it only uses “cosmetic grade talc that has been tested to confirm that it does not contain asbestos”, it now lacks “sufficient liquidity” to fund the £1 billion-plus pay counting that it is due. In the meantime, says their CEO Andrea Jung, they “remain focused on advancing our business strategy internationally, including modernizing our direct sales model and refreshing the brand to accelerate growth”.
The company’s troubles began before the talc debacle. Founded in 1886, ten years ago it was “one of the top three beauty brands in the country” according to its website – but it has struggled to hold its place in an industry that has products for every skin tone and type. available at the website. tap on a smartphone.
“I’m not jealous right now at Avon,” says Ruby Hammer, makeup artist and founder of Ruby Hammer Beauty. While she loved her lipsticks and liners, and relied on her (now discontinued) Mega Effects Mascara, she says Avon, like many legacy outfits, is left to fight an uphill battle against “speed and the momentum of the younger newer. brands are constantly dropping products and content… there’s so much noise it’s harder than ever to break through.”
What was once Avon’s USP – appealing to all women – simply no longer works in today’s market, says Anita Bhagwandas, author Ugly: Why the World Obsessed with Beauty and How to Break Free. “There are so many different brands and so many available now that are very specific and specific to people, and I think Avon is a bit lost.”
The commercialization of TikTok tutorials and celebrity beauty lines could hardly have been imagined by the company’s founder, door-to-door bookseller David H McConnell. In the late 19th century, he recognized a market where women waited for their husbands to return from work, offering a free gift with every purchase (along with the companionship provided by that knock on the door). . The popularity of the brand increased.
Its glossy catalogs – featuring rose perfume, pink and white face powder – and its first print ad Good House in 1906 a change in the reputation of cosmetics helped. A “painted face”, considered a sign of immorality, would have been more acceptable by the 1920s; in 1931, Good House (at that time, the housewife’s Bible) gave its seal of approval to 11 Avon products, then a record for one firm.
By the time the brand launched in the UK in 1959, Bhagwandas says Avon had managed to turn the often intimidating and negative messages of make-up marketing on its head.
With the help of the ‘Ding-Dong, Avon Calling’ campaign – one of the longest running and most successful in history – the brand became “really kitschy and fun; but a different perception of beauty”, says Bhagwandas. “After the war, people were looking for a bit of joy, and I think Avon provided that.”
Not only were customers buying in. Vicky Borman remembers the brand providing “a livelihood and a network” for her grandmother, who became an “Avon woman” in the late 60s.
These were the company’s saleswomen, who were able to work on their own time and often earn a personal income. (It was a kid-friendly gig, too; Borman, who runs her own business, says that as a child she loved hitting the streets “pushing the bell and yelling ‘ding-dong, Avon’s calling !’” with her grandmother ).
According to Millie Kendall OBE, founder of the British Beauty Council, Avon started peer-to-peer selling “before the internet. It is in such a modern way. Their advisers were the first people to be influenced,” she says.
But while “these brands were once modern and cutting-edge,” Avon has faded into oblivion in today’s £28.98 billion UK beauty industry. It’s a challenge for all older firms (a trait appreciated by fashion buyers, but not so much in cosmetics), “who can struggle to match the pace of innovation set by newer brands”, which says Shiyan Zering, beauty and personal care research analyst at Mint. This could “put[s] keeping them at a disadvantage in terms of consumer welfare”.
Avon also struggled to produce the types of hero products that were so popular. While Skin So Soft remains a favorite for killing mosquitoes, no recent launch has been able to generate quite the same buzz, or drive the online conversation.
Their social media efforts have also been slow. Then, last year, they announced that they would be launching their first ever bricks and mortar store, even amid the downturn on the high street. The plans never came to fruition, but the impression that Avon was still living in another era was reinforced.
“Despite the fact that they tried to revive the brand in many different ways, it always felt old-fashioned,” says Bhagwandas. “I don’t know how you evoke a brand like that… That’s probably part of the issue.”
Hammer also says that the personal touch is still important to shoppers – but that Avon needs to do more to move with the times, such as swapping events for live streams, or offering samples with scannable QR codes to provide ways. (Kendall suggests that being more vocal about their charitable work would help their cause among ethically conscious consumers.)
It’s a tall order for Avon – and that was before the legal problems. However, some in the industry are optimistic that the brand is not done yet for a significant change in strategy. Buyers love a shiny new product – but they love a comeback story even more.
