Direct sales and social relationships in Ponta de Pedras, Pará

Resumo

Throughout the Amazon, direct sales companies selling beauty and domestic products  - such as Avon and Natura - are extremely popular. Local women make up the direct sales workforce, selling perfume, lipstick, and kitchen items to their neighbors and family. This article explores the ways in which global direct sales companies operate in a remote Amazonian community, describing the disjuncture that occurs between corporate expectations and reality in rural Amazonia. The main focus of this article is the way in which direct sales works through social relationships, and I argue that direct sales has teh potential to both build up social ties as well as break them down.