Let's Continue to Raise Money for Breast Cancer!

Avon Products, Inc. is a US cosmetics, perfume and toy seller with markets in over 140 countries across the world and sales of $9.9 billion worldwide as of 2007.

Avon Products is a multi-level marketing companyhttp://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a8N_74GdteOg. Traditionally a direct marketing company, Avon's fastest growing markets today are in China and Russia. The company's chairman and CEO is Andrea Jung, who was promoted to the position in 1999. Avon uses both door-to-door sales people ("Avon ladies," primarily and a growing number of men) and catalogs to advertise its products. In some markets (most notably China, which had banned all door-to-door selling before mid-December 2006) Avon products are sold primarily in retail stores.

Avon's product lines include lipsticks, foundations, bath and skin lotions, anti-aging cream, perfumes, as well as jewelry and clothing.

Although the company has always been more directed toward female customers, Avon's line of male products continues to expand, and its children's products (such as shampoos and toys) have also proved successful. Two brand diversifications, "mark." (targeted to younger, college-aged women) and "M" (an Avon catalogue for men), have helped the company reach out into markets it has not serviced. Mark proved to be successful in reaching a new generation of recruits, primarily young women ages 18-25, with a monthly "magalog" featuring award-winning products.

In 2007, Reese Witherspoon signed a multiyear agreement to serve as Avon's global ambassador. The actress will be involved in product development, appear in advertisements, and will serve as the honorary chairman of the Avon Foundation.

Breast cancer is a cancer that starts in the breast, usually in the inner lining of the milk ducts or lobules. There are different types of breast cancer, with different stages (spread), aggressiveness, and genetic makeup. With best treatment, 10-year disease-free survival varies from 98% to 10%. Treatment is selected from surgery, drugs (chemotherapy), and radiation.

Merck Manual Online, Breast Cancer.

In the United States, there were 216,000 cases of invasive breast cancer and 40,000 deaths in 2004.Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, 16th ed., Ch. 76, "Breast Cancer," by Marc E. Lippman Worldwide, breast cancer is the second most common type of cancer after lung cancer (10.4% of all cancer incidence, both sexes counted) and the fifth most common cause of cancer death. In 2004, breast cancer caused 519,000 deaths worldwide (7% of cancer deaths; almost 1% of all deaths).

Breast cancer is about 100 times as frequent among women as among men, but survival rates are equal in both sexes.