ABSTRACT
In 1929, more than 80 percent of the Avon sales force lived in towns with populations fewer than 2,500, more than two thirds of which lay west of the Mississippi River. Early in the Great Depression, in 1930, more than 25,000 women throughout the nation looked to Avon products to supplement their income. Avon made its most serious efforts to work through these issues during World War II. However, the company's first attempt to create brand-name awareness came with a newly designed, continuous, national advertising campaign in the mid-1930s. The economic crisis certainly increased the degree and intensity of Avon's message to representatives, providing fodder for the "conquer and overcome" theme in the motivational literature. This chapter explains the National Association of Direct Selling Companies (NADSC) fought hard against the changes imposed by the federal government to regulate business during the Depression and successfully appealed to the Federal Trade Commission in 1936 to classify direct-sales representatives as "independent contractors".
