Avon cutting jobs; can Mark save the day?

Beware, Avon ladies (and men) who actually work on-site for the company: the cosmetics giant announced today that it will shed 1,200 jobs by 2013 in an effort to reduce operating costs.

The news comes in the midst of Avon's full-speed-ahead campaign to attract new independent sales representatives. The company's UK arm has launched an aggressive campaign to attract jobless college graduates to the business - it even asked the government to help promote the opportunity.

And here in the United States, anyone who's watched television in the past six months has probably seen this commercial, which urges women to sign up to sell the product using recession-themed testimonials. "I can't get fired," one woman chirps. "I can't get laid off. It's my business."