Q 01/05

What was Avon founder David H. McConnell selling door-to-door before he switched to perfume in 1886?

A) Soap

B) Clocks

C) Books

D) Brushes

Answer · why

C) Books

Books were his trade, and the free perfume samples he handed out to get a hearing proved more popular than the volumes. He mixed the first scents hims...

Q 02/05

Avon Products takes its name from the river that runs through which playwright's home town?

A) Christopher Marlowe

B) William Shakespeare

C) Richard Brinsley Sheridan

D) George Bernard Shaw

Answer · why

B) William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, and the founder thought the countryside around his New York laboratory looked like it. The name w...

Q 03/05

Which famous doll, sold in special Avon editions in the 1990s, became the company's best-selling gift product?

A) Barbie

B) Holly Hobbie

C) Raggedy Ann

D) Betsy Wetsy

Answer · why

A) Barbie

Barbie reached Avon customers through a joint venture with Mattel, and the dolls did so well that a range of play cosmetics for girls followed.

Q 04/05

Which Tim Burton film begins when a door-to-door Avon saleswoman calls at a Gothic hilltop mansion?

A) Sleepy Hollow

B) Corpse Bride

C) Pee-wee's Big Adventure

D) Edward Scissorhands

Answer · why

D) Edward Scissorhands

Edward Scissorhands sends saleswoman Peg Boggs up to the mansion, where she finds Johnny Depp's title character and offers to take him home to her pas...

Q 05/05

Which luxury jeweller did Avon buy in 1979 for about $104 million, only to sell it five years later?

A) Harry Winston

B) Tiffany & Co.

C) Van Cleef & Arpels

D) Boucheron

Answer · why

B) Tiffany & Co.

Tiffany & Co. was meant to lift the image of the door-to-door brand, but its profits slid after cheaper lines put off its regulars, and Avon sold it t...