Tupperware

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Tupperware logo

A Tupperware storage container.

Tupperware is the brand name of a home products line that includes preparation, storage, and serving products for the kitchen and home. The brand debuted in 1946. Products are developed, manufactured, and internationally distributed by its parent company Tupperware Brands Corporation and marketed by means of direct sales through an independent sales force of approximately 1.9 million consultants. Tupperware is a wholly owned subsidiary of Tupperware Brands Corporation.

1 Company history
2 Structure
3 Tupperware product lines
4 Tupperware in popular culture
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Company history

Tupperware was developed in 1945 by Earl Silas Tupper (1907-1983) in the USA. He developed plastic containers used in households to contain food and keep it airtight. The formerly patented "burping seal" is a famous aspect of Tupperware, which distinguished it from competitors.

Tupperware pioneered the direct marketing strategy made famous by the Tupperware party. Brownie Wise (1913-1992), a former sales representative of Stanley Home Products, developed the strategy. During the early 1950s, Tupperware's sales and popularity exploded, thanks in large part to Wise's influence among women who sold Tupperware, and some of the famous "jubilees" celebrating the success of Tupperware ladies at lavish and outlandishly themed parties. Tupperware was known, at a time when women came back from working during World War II only to be told to "go back to the kitchen", as a method of empowering women, and giving them a toehold in the post-war business world. The tradition of Tupperware's "Jubilee" style events continues to this day, with rallies being held in major cities to recognize and reward top-selling demonstrators, managers and distributorships.

In 1958, Earl Tupper fired Brownie Wise over general difference of opinion in the Tupperware business operation. It is believed that Tupper objected to the expenses incurred by the jubilee and other similar celebrations of Tupperware.

Tupperware spread to Europe in 1960 when Mila Pond hosted a Tupperware party in Weybridge, England, and subsequently round the world. In 2003, Tupperware closed down operations in the UK, but relaunched in 2005.

Tupperware is now sold in almost 100 countries in the world, the top five consumers of Tupperware are: 1. Germany 2. USA 3. Mexico 4. France 5. Australia

[edit] Structure

A Tupperware party is run by a Tupperware consultant in the home (or sometimes the workplace) of a host who invites friends and neighbors into their home to see the product line. Tupperware hosts are rewarded with free products based on the level of sales made at their party.

In most countries, Tupperware's sales force is organized in a multi-level marketing structure with salespeople at the bottom, managers over them, and distributors at the top level. However, Tupperware differs significantly from most multi-level marketing companies in that high-level managers must be invited by the company before becoming a distributor, as distributorship opportunities are limited and controlled by the company. Most distributorships originally were run by married couples.

In recent years, Tupperware in North America has been moving to a new business model which includes more emphasis on direct marketing channels and reduced its dependency on authorized distributorships. This transition included such strategies as selling through Target stores in the US, and Superstores in Canada, with disappointing results. Although this marketing channel was discontinued in 2003, it had a significant negative affect on the core sales channel's ability to recruit and host parties.

In many countries, Tupperware products come with a lifetime guarantee. The company is best known for its plastic bowls and storage containers, however in recent years has branched out into stainless steel cookware, fine cutlery, chef's knives and other kitchen gadgets. After experiencing a slump in sales and public image in the mid-1990s, the company created several new product lines to attract a younger market.

Tupperware is still sold mostly through a party plan. In South East Asia, there are Tupperware kiosks in shopping malls and in the United States and Canada consultants offer online parties.

[edit] Tupperware product lines

Tupperware's product ranges are often marketed under different names in countries, and the product ranges and colors themselves differ between markets. Some of Tupperware's most popular ranges include:

Modular Mates (US, AU), Space Savers (UK), Kompakt-System (DE): These are oval and rectangular shaped containers that stack in a modular fashion to save pantry space and preserve food. Modular Mates have air-tight seals that will keep food at optimum freshness for long periods of time.
Rock 'N Serve (US, AU), CrystalPlus (UK): These are containers for re-heating food in microwaves, and are freezer safe, stackable and dishwasher safe.
FridgeSmart (US, UK, AU), PrimaKlima (DE): With unique air control vents, FridgeSmart containers are modular modular containers for refrigerated fruits and vegetables. Tupperware spent seven years in the research and development of FridgeSmarts, which have unique air control vents to allow different levels of airflow around different types of fruits and vegetables.
OvenWorks (US, AU), UltraPlus (UK, DE): plastic casseroles that can be used in a microwave or a conventional oven, with extraordinary heat resistant properties.
Sheerly Elegant (US), Eleganzia (UK, DE), Illusions (AU): An elegant, glass-like range for serving
FlatOut! (US), MiniMax (UK, DE), Go Flex! (AU): Revolutionary bowls that concertina flat for storage, expanding when needed.
Stuffables (US, UK), Bungee (DE): refrigerator storage with flexible lids for overfilling

[edit] Tupperware in popular culture

Tupperware : the Promise of Plastic in 1950s America (Smithsonian Institution Press 1999) authored by Professor Alison J. Clarke, provides a detailed cultural history of Tupperware and the story of its instigators Earl Tupper and Brownie Wise.

In 2004, academic Laurie Kahn-Leavitt produced, wrote and directed the documentary feature Tupperware! for the American Experience strand on PBS in the US, about the early history of the company. It has also been screened around the world at film festivals and special screenings. The documentary has been optioned as a feature film, and although Sideways writer Jim Taylor was initially announced as scriptwriter, the rights have now passed back to Laurie Kahn-Leavitt.

The 2001 documentary Lifetime Guarantee: Phranc's Adventures in Plastic has screened at Lesbian and Gay Film Festivals around the world. It features folk singer Phranc in her day job as a Tupperware consultant, and explores how her quirky persona and appearance have been both a help and a hindrance in her work with Tupperware.

The Los Angeles-based drag perfomer Dixie Longate is a highly successful Tupperware consultant who stages Tupperware parties as paid theatrical events, as well as running parties in peoples' homes. "Aunt Barbara", who works in Brooklyn and Queens, is another drag performer who runs parties and posts an advice column to YouTube.

Tupperware products and the Tupperware party are sometimes alluded to in popular culture for comic effect, often making fun of middle-class aspirations or suburban life. In the film Napoleon Dynamite, Uncle Rico sells a Tupperware-like product door to door in order to seduce housewives. In the CBS spoof documentary show Papdits, about an immigrant Indian family in the US, Gopi's wife throws a Tupperware party, at which she tells guests that a bowl is an ideal "plastic toilet".

A new stage comedy Sealed For Freshness by Doug Stone opened Off Broadway in February 2007 at New World Stages. The comedy is set in the 1960's and explores the lives of five mid-western women during a Tupperware party "gone awry."

Tupperware is also a slang expression in certain areas for removing the toilet lid on top of the tank and defacating in the water reservoir. This is a common prank amongst fraternity members or vulgar roommates.^{[Who says this?]}