Avon Products, Inc.

, known as Avon, is a leading beauty, household, and personal care

company. Its products include beauty, fashion and home products with brands such as
Avon
Color
,
ANEW
,
Advance Techniques
and
Avon Naturals.
Avon has an annual revenue of almost
$10 billion worldwide and is one of the worlds largest sellers. Established in 1886, Avon has
been empowering women for over 100 years. Alongside being a successful beauty company,
Avon has worked with several community relations programs that benefit women such as Avon
Foundation for Women, Avon Breast Cancer Awareness Crusade, and Speaking Out Against
Domestic Violence. This company encourages women to be their best self while fighting and
working to eliminate Breast Cancer.
Avon is an inexpensive beauty company with great products. Most of its products are
under $10 which is unheard of in many other makeup companies. This company cares deeply
about the needs of women, including aspects in beauty, health, fitness, empowerment and
financial independence. I chose Avon because not only is it a great makeup company, I also
support the community relations it is involved in. As my grandmother is a breast cancer
survivor, it is very touching to see a company put this much effort into raising money towards
the foundation's research.
Avon was able to build a foundation for breast cancer that had never been seen before.
Avons Breast Cancer Crusade was launched in the United Kingdom in 1992 when people did
not openly talk about breast cancer, thus creating something needed that did not exist before.
The company is trying to work to completely eliminate breast cancer and domestic violence,
which is a global problem. According to Public Relations the Profession and the Practice,
Corporations want to be seen as good neighbors, working alongside government agencies and

other organizations to address social problems. Philanthropic support is usually provided in

three ways: cash donations, in-kind donations, and employee volunteering (Lattimore 228).
Avon used community relations to be seen as good neighbors by creating an Avon Foundation
for Women, the Avon Breast Cancer Crusade and a Speak Out Against Domestic Violence
initiative. These programs proved that they care for the health of their customers and
community and hope to put an end to anything that could harm women. Through its
foundations and walks, Avon has been able to continuously donate money to research
programs, as well as to the causes. It also created an army of Representatives to raise
awareness and funds to the breast cancer campaign which involved employee volunteering.
Avon has been involved with the Avon Breast Cancer Crusade for twenty years as of
2012. The campaign's mission statement says Thousands of shades of pink have comprised
Avons palettes for blush, lipstick, and eyeshadow over the years. But the most important hue is
the one representing the companys fight against breast cancer (Avon). The company has a
strong value in empowering women and helping in any way that they can. The Crusade began
with the sale of a breast cancer awareness pin where proceeds were donated to a British
organization that needed funding to build a center for research. Since then, Avon has donated
more than $815 million to breast cancer programs worldwide.
Along with the Crusade, Avon also has the Avon Walk Around the World for Breast
Cancer and the Avon 39. In 1998, the Avon Foundation became the beneficiary of the first long
distance walk for breast cancer. In 2003, Avon launched its own successful walk, the Avon Walk
for Breast Cancer which is a 39.3 mile walk over two days. According to the Avon website,
through 2013, Avon Walkers had collectively circumnavigated the globe more than 259 times,

or 6.25 million miles. More than 14,000 survivors have participated in the walks and over
192,000 people had walked or volunteered. In 2005, the company started the Avon Walk
Around the World for Breast Cancer which gets a quarter of a million people involved each
year. The cause includes walks, runs, concerts, workshops and seminars. World Walkers have
gone past the Great Wall of China, Kuala Lumpur and Prague. These events are able to help
break the medical and financial barriers to access to care in several different parts of the world.
The AVON 39 is a series of seven weekend-long walks held in major US cities every year. Since
2003, more than 207,000 39ers and volunteers have helped to accelerate breast cancer
research and ensure that all women and men get the screening, support, and treatment they
need (Avon). Walk participants alone have raised more than $550 million for the cause.
Today, Avon is the leading corporate supporter of the breast cancer cause worldwide.
The Crusade has donated more than $815 million to accelerate the research progress and
improve access to medical care. The community relations effort has helped link over 18 million
women to early detection programs and screenings, educated more than 145 million women on
breast health, enabled access to care for poor populations, and provided more than $200
million to research projects.

AvonandtheAvonFoundationforWomenintendtofightuntil
thereisanendtobreastcancerwherethereCrusadewillfinallybecomplete.

Works Cited
"20-Plus Years of Fighting Breast Cancer."
Fighting Breast Cancer
. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Nov. 2015.
"Breast Cancer Events."
Avon Foundation: Breast Cancer Fundraising Events
. N.p., n.d. Web. 23
Nov. 2015.
Lattimore, Dan, Otis Baskin, Suzette T. Heiman, and Elizabeth L. Toth.
Public Relations
. 3rd ed.
New York: Frank Mortimer, 2009. Print.
"The Avon Breast Cancer Crusade."
Avon Foundation: Breast Cancer Crusade
. N.p., n.d. Web. 23
Nov. 2015.