Tupperware Brands Corporation, the company that started making and selling the iconic colorful plastic food storage containers back in 1946 filed for bankruptcy last week.
And so goes another icon of my youth, relegated to the “Remember when?” file. Tupperware was part of my world in the 1950s and 60s in the same way that kitchens with linoleum floors and tables and chairs with silver tube legs and plastic backs were a part of it. Tupperware is a part of the wallpaper in the rooms of my memories.
Tupperware home parties became a thing just after WWII and coincided with the rapid rise of suburbs. Bigger houses and ever-growing families needed more things like containers to store food. Tupperware became the go-to device for busy moms. Soon Tupperware parties caught on, and this became an important aspect of Tupperware’s direct-sales approach marketing strategy.
The objective was to get stay-at-home women involved in the sales and recruit friends and neighbors to do the same. Hosting a Tupperware party was an avenue for women to earn some money of their own at a time when women’s opportunities for income were limited. Although these sales techniques had their critics, they were widely successful.
My mom and the women in our family and friends’ orbit considered such “parties” special events. Women would dress up and enter the host’s home all excited to play games and perhaps win door prizes and maybe come home with some Tupperware samples. I am sure no small part of the excitement of the evening was the chance to get out of the house to laugh and visit with other adults.
It wasn’t long before the word “Tupperware” became a part of the language, synonymous with food storage containers. But eventually changes in the business world and outside forces came into play. Tupperware’s patents began to expire which meant more competition from companies ready to enter the food storage market. The home sales approach which had worked well for decades was losing strength to other forms of marketing. Items made of plastic, especially those used around food, began losing their appeal. The company didn’t respond to these challenges.
Only in recent years did Tupperware appear in retail stores. The company bigwigs apparently were unaware of something called e-commerce. Tupperware didn’t start selling on Target.com or Amazon until 2022. So, now, with bankruptcy proceedings started, things don’t look promising for Tupperware as a company.
But some still see hope. In an article on CNN Business, John Talbott, director of the Center for Education and Research in Retail at IU’s Kelley School of Business says, “The most valuable thing Tupperware owns is its brand … the brand will never go away.” So, If a buyer for the brand can be found, it would be possible to revive Tupperware in some form.
I hadn’t thought about Tupperware as a thing for a good while. From my mom teaching me how to “burp” the lids, to little Tupperware bowls with lids made for keychains that were prizes at Tupperware parties, I see now how the brand has been part of my life. Becky and I still have a few pieces of Tupperware around. It mostly still does what it was made to do: store stuff.
I used to get frustrated that, while the tubs or bowls or containers seem to last forever, over time the plastic lids would break apart. Of course, some of these pieces have been around since the 1980s. We still use a big yellow bowl from that time that is useful as long as we don’t need a tight lid. My theory is after years of “burping” the lids, the plastic gets stressed and starts to split.
That thought reminds me of how my mom first taught me to burp the container. It is such a satisfying and reassuring sound.
Norman Knight, a retired Clark-Pleasant Middle School teacher, writes this weekly column for the Daily Journal. Send comments to [email protected].
