Avon - That Name Rings a Bell

In the seventies and as far as I recall the late sixties, there was a regular occurence in our houshold, every month or so, when the 'Avon Lady' would call. This mystery woman would appear, deliver various toiletries and leave again, allowing my sisters and mum to peruse the contents of the delivery and the included catalogue. At the time, I didn't pay much heed to the various goings on and odd scents drifting from the bathroom shortly after. It was only after I noticed the catalogue open at the bath goods page and saw some brightly coloured childs bubble bath items.

Being a fan of a good bath and plastic tat, I was curious. There were, especially at xmas, a good selection of kids toiletries, like Soap on a Rope, bubble bath and shampoo - all attractively packaged in car shaped bottles, submarine soaps, and rocket tubs. So, naturally next time the Avon Lady appeared, I made a beeline for the box, to see if either my sisters or my mum had taken my pestering on board and forked out for some goodies for me.

Those days are long gone now, along with the Tupperware Woman and the Prudential and Pools Men, lost along the wayside as first mail order and then online shopping took hold. But it is interesting to see some of these items still appearing today, testament to Avon Cosmetics marketing and product drive, almost every household in Britain had Avon toiletries knocking about, sometimes unused as some of the contents were, quite frankly, dreadful.

One of the gimmicks they used to hook the kids, was the clever combination of packaging and a play element, along with the eye watering soaps and sprays. One great example is the 'Moon Flight Game' (with non-tear shampoo). This was a nice boxed combination of a bottle, with a lid shaped like a lunar lander, some counters and heavy vinyl playmat. Unscrewing the lid and placing the lander in a docking position on the command module (empty) bottle, you could squeeze the concertina base and blast the capsule off across the playmat, scoring points dependant on where it landed.

The graphics on the box are good and rather excellent on the vinyl mat, very typical of seventies space race fare. At the head of the post we also see the AV-1 Spacecruiser shampoo bottle, given to me by my good friend Paul V. A simple, elegant, almost art deco style with a removeable nosecone lid.

Next up, my most recent addition, the Avon Spinning Top. Feeding my current passion for tops, I spotted this just this week and it is in excellent condition, complete with bright 60's box and instructions. The winders catches are suffering plastic fatigue, but strong enough to set it spinning perfectly.

The red top would unscrew allowing the bubble bath to be dispensed, until finally empty, it makes an admirable spinning top with great balance.

Back to the seventies once more for Avon Wild Wood Aftershave, in a very fine totem pole shaped decanter. Another of my obsessions, totem poles, brought this beauty to my attention some while ago. Opening the plastic thunderbird lid, the heady scent of earthy fragrance is still evident. Testament to Avons mixmasters that it still survives after all this time in the empty glass bottle!

For further info on space themed cosmetics, check out Alphadromes page on bath toys:

http://alphadrome.net/forums/topic/22150-avon-space-mission-decanter-bubble-toy-space-ships/