TBT#Avon

Aligning the Stars: The History of Avon's Celebrity Partnerships

                                                                           

                                                                                                            A 1952 Christmas advertisement
                                                                                                                                  with Loretta Young

                                      
Baseball legend Joe DiMaggio                                   
appeared in Avon advertisements                                  
in the 1950s                                                                                      

Fergie, Joe DiMaggio and Helen Hayes seem an unlikely trio – a current rock star, a legendary baseball player from the ‘50s and the “First Lady of the American Theatre.” The common thread? They’ve all partnered with Avon at some point in the company’s 128-year history. They’re three celebrities in a long list of film stars, singers and designers who have loaned their names, their cache, and sometimes their faces to the iconic company for women.
During the late 1940s and 1950s, the latter part of Hollywood’s so-called “Golden Age,” some of the biggest names in American stage and screen were featured in Avon advertisements, including:

• Rosalind Russell of His Girl Friday and Auntie Mame fame
• Loretta Young, a film icon
• Claudette Colbert, the star of It Happened One Night, lauded for both her dramatic and comedic talents
• Jimmy Stewart (along with his wife), the MGM star of It’s a Wonderful Life

A 1952 Christmas advertisement
with Loretta Young
 
Scents & SensibilityPerfume was the first product Avon (then known as the California Perfume Company) ever sold, and has always been an integral part of the business. When it comes to scents, Avon has hit the high notes by combining the right notes and carefully choosing celebrity partners. Avon celebrity fragrances of decades past include:

• Undeniable by Billy Dee Williams,  1990
• Uninhibited by Cher, 1988
• Deneuve by Catherine Deneuve, 1985

Current Celebrity PartnersToday, Fergie, Megan Fox and supermodel Irina Shayk grace the pages of the Avon brochure, the company's websites and social media pages. Fergie has a series of signature scents, including Outspoken by Fergie, which was Avon’s most successful fragrance launch in the company’s history. The award-winning singer debuted her highly anticipated follow-up fragrance, Outspoken Intense, in 2011, followed by VIVA by Fergie.
Designers within ReachAvon has had fragrance partnerships with international design houses Christian Lacroix, Herve Leger and Ungaro.  By teaming up with such well-known and revered designers – whose names grace the pages of high-end fashion magazines the world over – Avon is able to offer luxury-brand fragrances at affordable prices. So customers – whose disposable income can't normally cover couture – can have a little Lacroix or Leger.
Back in the 1980s, Avon owned Giorgio Beverly Hills – one of the decade’s “it” fragrances, as well as the Parfums Stern business, with a portfolio that included Oscar de la Renta, Valentino and Perry Ellis.
On the apparel front, designer Diane von Furstenberg, best known for her iconic wrap dress, created a line for Avon called The Color Authority.
It's all about shooting for the stars and making the aspirational attainable.

This advertisement with actress
Rosalind Russell appeared in
numerous women's magazines

An advertisement for Fergie's second
Avon fragrance, Outspoken Intense