DSA

tion,representing the interests of those same types of companies.The industry,of course,has changed over thosemanygenerations,and yet,at its core,it remains very similar towhat it was back in 1910,when the Associationwas formed.” The coremembers of the DSAare direct selling com- panies that are based here in the United States or have activities in the United States,inwhich theymarket their products.There are 165 full,activemembers,as well as another 15 to 25“pending”companies who are currentlyapplying for membership.“We are selective in terms of the companies that we solicit and bring into themembership,”saysMariano.“In order to go forward in the process,a companyhas to ascribe to the DSA Code of Ethics,which has some very specific,precise, and rigorous requirements.Once theyare in apparent compliancewith those requirements,it can take at least another year for the company to be reviewed and presented to the Board of Directors for acceptance and membership.Inadditiontothosecategories,wehave in- ternationalmembersandsubscribermemberswhomay nothavebegunfull operations intheUnitedStatesyet, but are lookingat theU.S.market,”Marianoadds. “We have other categories of membership,too, services,including tangible products such as jewelry,cookware,nutritionals,cosmetics,and housewares,as well as non-tangible prod- ucts and services such as energy,real estate, insurance,telephone service,legal services, andmuchmore. Founded in 1910,the Direct SellingAsso- ciation (DSA),which represents today’s direct selling companies and practitioners,began as a trade group for door-to-door salesmen. It was originallycalled theAgents Credit Association,was renamed theNational Asso- ciation of AgencyCompanies (NAAC) in 1914, then briefly renamed theNational Associa- tion of AgencyandMail Order Companies in 1917,before returning to theNAACmoniker in 1920. “From the beginning,it was intended to represent companies that marketed their products through personal explanation and demonstration in the home,”explains Joseph Mariano,DSA’s current President.“It was a relatively small association based inWinona, Minnesota in the earlydays.It stayed in that location until 1968,when the decisionwas made tomove toWashington,D.C.With the growth of the direct selling industry,and the need for responsiveness to government regulation and government activities,it was felt that theAssociation and its companies should be headquartered inWashington.It changed its name to the Direct SellingAsso- ciation and became themodern entitywhich we see today,which is an advocacyorganiza- THE DIRECT SELLING ASSOCIATION