Tupperware is an iconic brand whose airtight containers changed how people stored their leftovers. But after more than 75 years, the brand and the company that owns it have fallen on hard times. So how did Tupperware go from revolutionary to near bankruptcy?
0:00: Intro
0:33: Origins of Tupperware
2:10: Tupperware Characteristicsics
2:46: Tupperware as Art
3:37: Problems with the Tupper Seal
4:38: The Damigellas & Brownie Wise
5:43: Tupperware Home Parties Inc.
6:10: The Party
7:05: Tupperware as a Career for Women in the 1950s
8:00: Tupperware's Multilevel Marketing
9:40: Jubilees
10:50: Tupper vs. Wise
15:05: The Decline of Tupperware
18:12: Hope for Tupperware?
19:36: Final Thoughts & Sources
Sources:
“Business: Tupperware,” TIME, Sep 8, 1947
“Flexible Plastic,” The Richmond News Leader, Sep 18, 1947
“Fine Art for 39c,” Elizabeth Gordon, House Beautiful, Oct 1947
“Good Design for 1948,” Interiors, Dec 1947
“How Brownie Wise Whoops Up Tupperware Sales,” Business Week via The Orlando Sentinel, Apr 25, 1954
“What a Woman!” Marguerite Obermeyer, The Orlando Sentinel, Jan 9, 1955
“Man-Size Pay for Part-Time Effort,” Miniatare Free Press, Jan 13, 1955
“A Wealth of Wishes,” LIFE, Aug 13, 1956
“Sunshine Cinderella,” Cosmopolitan, Apr 1957
“Kitchen Worries End by Using Tupperware,” The Montgomery Advertiser, Jun 17, 1957
“Brownie Wise Reveals Her Wish-System in Inspiring Book,” Edyth Thornton McLeod, Orlando Evening Star, Jul 19, 1957
“Brownie Wise Gives Up Tupperware Post,” Orlando Evening Star, Feb 3, 1958
“Tupperware Faces Suits,” The Orlando Sentinel, Jun 7, 1958
“Rexall Buys Tupperware,” The Orlando Sentinel, Sep 30, 1958
“Wise, Tupper Suits Settled,” The Orlando Sentinel, Mar 13, 1959
“Earl Tupper, the Father of Tupperware, Dies,” Joseph B. Treaster, The New York Times, Oct 7, 1983
“Is the Party Over?” Charles Fishman, The Orlando Sentinel, Mar 15, 1987
“Earl Tupper’s Fame is Sealed Not with Burp but a Whisper,” Liz Doup, Fort Lauderdale News/Sun Sentinel via The Arizona Republic, Apr 23, 1989
“Tough Times for Tupperware,” Laura Pappano, The Boston Globe, Sep 17, 1992
“At Tupperware, Rethinking the Bowl, Perfecting the Burp,” Patricia Leigh Brown, The New York Times, Jun 10, 1993
“Tupperware’s History Gets Fresh Look,” Kathleen Purvis, Knight Ridder Newspapers via Calgary Herald, Oct 21, 1999
Tupperware: The Promise of Plastic in 1950s America, Alison J. Clarke, 1999
“Tupperware to Sell Products in SuperTarget Stores,” Sherri Day, The New York Times, Jul 18, 2001
“Company News; Tupperware to End Partnership with Target Stores,” AP via The New York Times, Jun 19, 2003
Tupperware! American Experience, 2004
Currents: Containers; Now It Can Be Told: The Secret History of Tupperware, Eve M. Kahn, The New York Times, Jan 22, 2004
“Tupperware Remains Fresh,” Charles Passy, Cox News Services via The News and Observer, Nov 16, 2007
“Tupperware Continues to Bowl Over its Customers,” Sue Mullin, McClatchy Newspapers via The Messenger, Nov 23, 2006
“Tupperware,” reprinted in American Heritage of Invention & Technology, Fall 2010
“Tupperware was on its Way Out. Now It May Have a Second Chance,” Jaclyn Peiser, The Washington Post, Aug 4, 2023
“Tupperware Has Been Struggling for Years. Three Charts Show Just How Bad It’s Been,” Alex Leeds Matthews, CNN, Apr 23, 2023
“Tupperware Once Changed Women’s Lives. Now It Struggles to Survive,” Alina Selyukh, NPR, Jun 1, 2023
“Tupperware Brands Announces Debt Restructuring,” Tupperware Brands press release, Aug 3, 2023
“Tupperware Announces Debt Restructuring,” Dani James, Retail Dive, Aug 4, 2023