Once a household name and reputedly the key to fortune for modern salesmen hoping to live out a Horatio Alger myth, the Amway brand faded from the American market years ago, tarnished by legal and regulatory problems.The direct seller of everything from health and beauty items to household cleaners repeatedly fought allegations that it was a pyramid scheme. The company also paid $20 million in fines in a Canadian criminal fraud case in 1983.
In 2000, after Amway become part of an umbrella company called Alticor Inc., the Amway name was dropped in the U.S. and Canada. The hope was that the company could emerge remade in the world of online sales under a new moniker: Quixtar.
Now, as Amway's 50th anniversary approaches in May, Alticor is retiring the inert Quixtar label and pouring millions of dollars into reviving the Amway brand in North America with market research, national TV commercials and ads in newspapers, magazines and online. The company will use a transitional name, Amway Global, before reverting in about a year to Amway.
