Earl S. Tupper made plastic into a party and pop culture phenomenon.
An era in American consumer culture has ended.
Tupperware Brands Corp. announced Tuesday it had filed for bankruptcy, months after it closed its last remaining U.S. factory due to financial difficulties.
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“Whether you are a dedicated member of the Tupperware team, sell Tupperware products, cook with Tupperware or simply love Tupperware products, you are part of the Tupperware family,” President and CEO Laurie Ann Goldman said in a statement as the company voluntarily commenced Chapter 11 proceedings in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.
The Tupperware family brought Americans together across the country to celebrate food preservation after World War II.
The Tupperware party of 1955 was a common trend. Left. Tupperware has been a common item on store shelves for a long time. (Graphic House/Archive Photos/Getty Images; Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Airtight plastic food containers were popularized at house parties as an early form of viral marketing, back when marketing was still done in person.
The parties and the glamour and stalwart bravery they promoted made a brand out of the quirky New Hampshire farm boy.
‘Native Creativity’
Born in 1907, Tupper achieved success in business by combining military expertise with a new, friendly, yet comprehensive form of marketing.
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He was born with the talent of an engineer and the passion of a circus performer.
“Even as a child, he displayed his natural ingenuity, creating devices to make work easier around the family farm and greenhouse,” Lemelson-MIT, an innovation think tank in Cambridge, Massachusetts, wrote in a tribute to Tupper.
Tupperware products on display at a Target store. Tupperware Brand Corporation has filed for bankruptcy. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
“He patented a frame used to dress chickens for sale,” Lemelson-MIT also noted. “Young Tupper also had a talent for salesmanship. He increased his family’s income by selling poultry and produce from house to house, rather than from a stand or market.”
The Earl S. Tupper Company produced gas masks for the U.S. military during World War II.
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After the war, he figured out how to turn the stinky petroleum-based polyethylene slag used in military plastics into air- and water-tight, translucent, odorless food storage containers.
Tupper found a champion in Brownie Wise, a columnist for The Detroit News, who loved selling Tupperware at what she called “patio parties.”
Tupperware products (left), including a set of “retro” storage containers, on a table during a Tupperware party. (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
“She recruited dealers and managers, and soon she was selling more Tupperware than any other store,” the National Museum of Women’s History writes.
“Her success caught Tupper’s attention and convinced him that home parties were a great sales strategy.”
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Tupper made a “wise” decision to hire her as head of marketing for Tupperware.
Patio parties soon became known as Tupperware parties and quickly became a fixture of American social life.
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“At the iconic Tupperware party, a sharply dressed dealer with a skilled demonstration technique showed the host and her friends how to use the high-tech, colorful new kitchenware,” Smithsonian Magazine reported in 2018.
In 1955, an unnamed group of women attended a Tupperware party, some wearing hats made from Tupperware products. Tupperware representatives held Tupperware parties, inviting potential customers to their homes to see the new Tupperware line. (Graphic House/Archive Photo/Getty Images)
“She led the group in dramatic party games, such as filling sealed Wonder Balls with wine and throwing them around the room, which was meant to demonstrate the strength of the seal.”
In the eyes of many consumers, the seal on the American era now appears firmly closed.
Tupperware, a decades-old kitchenware company, files for bankruptcy
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American Women’s History says, “Few products have become more emblematic of post-World War II American family life than Tupperware.”
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“Tupperware symbolizes ‘future design and future materials.'”
Tomorrow’s designs are now yesterday’s news.
