Avon, the beauty company famous for its door-to-door sales techniques, has gained criticism for continuing to have links with Russia during the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Despite stopping investment at the outbreak of conflict and suspending the export of its beauty products, the BBC found that the company is still recruiting new sales agents in Russia and continuing production in its large Naro-Fominsk plant in the Moscow region. Avon recruits in Russia, offering prizes and cash bonuses for hitting targets, and even offers training in social media management and how to improve sales with trips abroad offered as rewards for its top sellers who are in its “Star Club”. The beauty company, however, argues that it provides “critical support” to local women whose livelihoods depend on their business.
Avon’s parent company is the Brazilian firm Natura & Co, which has previously emphasised maintaining local operations to support its sales agents who rely on their business. While Avon insists that it provides critical support for local women, researchers at Yale University said the company should be ashamed of continuing to do business in Russia. Furthermore, Mark Dixon, founder of the Moral Rating Agency, accused Avon of “moral-washing” as it continues some operations in the country. Dixon called for the Ukrainian government to ban Avon from operating in the country and for people to boycott the company.
Avon began operations in Russia in the early 1990s and has enjoyed enormous success there. It is the number one perfume brand in Russia, and Avon’s Naro-Fominsk plant produces more than 220 types of cosmetics and perfumes. The plant, which opened in 2004, has manufactured more than 2.5 billion units since its opening. At the beginning of the Ukrainian conflict, the company announced it was looking into relocating production for Eastern European markets from Naro-Fominsk to Poland, and it appears to have fulfilled this pledge.
Avon moved its headquarters to the UK in 2016 and recently announced that it is about to open physical stores in Britain, moving away from its traditional door-to-door sales techniques. The company was founded in the US in 1886 by David McConnell, who initially mixed scents himself in a small office in New York. The acquisition of Avon by the Brazilian firm Natur & Co in 2020 was seen as a landmark move, creating the world’s fourth-largest group of cosmetics companies. However, in an effort to simplify and refocus operations, Natur & Co recently sold beauty brand The Body Shop for £207m
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