Week of July 26 – August 1, 2010

• Avon Board Sued by Shareholders

Earlier this year, four executives from Avon in China were suspended as a result of a bribery scandal involving the president, chief financial officer, a government affairs executive at its China unit, and a senior executive in New York who was Avon’s head of internal audit until the middle of last year.  Now, as the investigation costs mount upwards of $65 million, the County of York Retirement Plan, a shareholder of Avon, is suing the Board of Directors “claiming they failed to prevent improper payments in China,” reports Bloomberg Business Week and other sources.  The lawsuit alleges that Avon’s investigation is now looking at additional countries, not just China.  Ding, dong – Avon calling.

• Poll: How Much Is Beauty Worth at Work?

Unfortunately, a lot.  Newsweek polled corporate managers and the public about attitudes toward looks in the workplace and found that “in the current job market, paying attention to your looks isn’t just about vanity, it’s about economic survival, “ they report in last week’s edition.  “63 percent [of those polled] said being physically attractive is beneficial to men who are looking for work, and 72 percent said it was an advantage for women.”  It gets worse.  Managers also reported that they would hesitate hiring someone significantly overweight, even though about 75% of Americans are considered to be carrying too much poundage.  And the worst news:  “Eighty-four percent of managers said they believe some bosses would hesitate before hiring a qualified job candidate who looked much older than his or her co-workers.”  So on those days you feel tired and bloated, just don’t go to work.  It could affect your career.

• The First Mobile Perfume Recommendation Tool

Will the app’s never cease?  Fragrance experts at Givaudan have designed an iPhone application to help consumers navigate the perfume market, and it is free from the Apple App Store.  Once a personal profile is created in the iPerfumer, it can be used to pick out a person’s “best-suited perfumes.”  Multiple profiles can be created for friends and family, to aid gift giving.  The application also tells you how popular brands are.  “Unlike other perfume selection tools, iPerfumer does not rely purely on olfactive categorization to make recommendations; its’ suggestions are based on an algorithmic calculation derived from the individual user and the fragrance preferences of the iPerfumer user community.”  Wow.  Now our phones are going to tell us how to drive AND smell.

Have a great weekend, and don’t let your cell boss you around.