NEW YORK (CNN) Tupperware, an iconic brand woven into post-World War II America, signaled this week that it could be on its last legs.
Florida-based Tupperware, known worldwide for its plastic food containers and sale parties, warned the company is running out of cash and will – soon – need extra money to get it up and running.
In a way, the 77-year-old brand is still a titan: it’s literally a household name, and its vibrant juice- and fruit-colored products are sold in nearly 70 countries. In 2021, it had annual sales of $1.3 billion. But that’s 18.7% down from a year ago.
Last October, in a massive shift in its business model, Tupperware brought its containers in lighter reds, purples and greens to Target shelves nationwide.
But it may be too little, too late.
Experts say that’s what happens when a once groundbreaking brand loved by families across generations fails to adapt to an evolving market, fierce competition and the attitudes and needs of younger consumers.
“Tupperware was a disruptor in the market place and in homes across the country when its plastic storage containers hit the market in 1946,” said Ventakesh Shankar, professor of marketing and e-commerce at Texas A&M University’s Mays Business School.
“The company also had a tremendous cultural impact. The famous neighborhood house parties, where Tupperware products were sold by the hostess to her family and friends, were a new kind of marketing that combined socializing with direct selling.”
Manufactured in the 1980s, these Tupperware containers represent designs from the 1960s.
But while the company benefited from its innovative approach for years, it ultimately failed to keep up with the times.
History has shown, Shankar said, that nostalgia is usually not enough to preserve old brands.
Whether or not Tupperware survives as a company, its rich history will likely endure, said William Keep, a professor of marketing at the College of New Jersey School of Business.
“I have been married for 50 years and we have and still use our Tupperware from when we got married. Tupperware was something that people gave away at weddings and baby showers,” Keep said. “It’s clearly a brand that has focused on two things, quality and on women for much of its history.”
Fight against food waste
Tupperware is named after Earl Tupper, a chemist in the 1940s who made lightweight, unbreakable plastic containers inspired by the dense design of paint cans. The purpose was to help families save money on costly post-war food waste.
The most significant aspect of the invention was a unique “burp seal”. The older models of Tupperware containers made a burping sound when air was released from under the lid before pressing firmly and closing for an airtight seal.
But Tupperware products didn’t sell well in stores when they first launched, according to the company, because consumers weren’t sure how to use the (then) white and off-white containers.
Tupperware house parties were the only way to buy the brand’s plastic food containers. Hosted by women in their homes, the parties were both popular social and marketing events. (circa 1950)
This conundrum led to an idea to demonstrate the product, which then evolved into the famous Tupperware house parties.
The practice fitted well with the post-war suburban rise: women had bigger houses, bigger kitchens, more money to spend, more children to feed, and more household responsibilities.
Tupperware came into this climate. His first milky-white plastic product, the “Wonder Bowl,” cost 39 cents, according to Smithsonian Magazine; The museum has a huge Tupperware collection. Over the years, tangerine orange, baby blue and pink and kiwi green products have followed.
Tupperware stereotyped women as much as it empowered them
Tupperware parties became popular social and marketing events in the 1950s and 60s.
The parties are much more than just show-and-tell, said Bob Kealing, a Tupperware scholar and author of two books on the brand.
These were glamorous affairs, akin to oneN Afternoon tea party where women dressed up because the parties were a feminized soft-selling approach to selling plastic products.
“Women wore beautiful dresses, heels, gloves. They wanted to present an elevated version of themselves because these were also events where women were being recruited for Tupperware’s sales force,” he said. The parties also gained in importance because they were one of the few socially acceptable ways for women to earn money at the time.
Tupperware products were the centerpiece of the event, carefully stacked and presented to be demonstrated. “The parties were designed as fun social gatherings,” including games and prizes, he said, and the most successful Tupperware saleswomen were sometimes rewarded with diamond rings.
The rise of the suburbs
While Tupperware wasn’t the first company to pioneer the direct selling model, it has expanded it in scale and opportunity for women, said Tracey Deutsch, associate professor in the history of history department at the University of Minnesota’s College of Liberal Arts.
Tupperware’s success also coincided with suburban expansion across the country, according to Deutsch.
Earl Tupper, pictured here, hired Brownie Wise, a Tupperware house party hostess, as his vice president of marketing in 1951.
“Women not only needed the space to hold the Tupperware parties, they also needed space in the kitchen to keep these containers,” she said. “And it was also dependent on a certain level of well-being in the household. You had to have enough food to need those storage containers.”
Brownie Wise was perhaps the most famous Tupperware hostess of them all. Wise, a divorced single mother living in Florida, hosted her own Tupperware parties in the 1940s and ’50s and became an aspiring entrepreneur. Tupper himself noticed it.
Eventually, he hired Wise as his vice president of marketing, an unprecedented role for women at the time.
A famous Tupperware lady
Kealing, author of “Life of the Party: The Remarkable Story of How Brownie Wise Built, and Lost, a Tupperware Part Empire,” said Wise has become the face of the brand and is very good at it.
“It was great marketing and the media ate it up,” he said. But she was eventually fired by Tupper in 1957. “Tupper … saw the brand becoming more and more about her,” Kealing said.
Traditionally, parties were the only way to buy Tupperware. Over time, the parties became ubiquitous in both suburban and city apartments. As the company grew, its fleet of hostesses grew to a global direct sales force of nearly 3 million in 2019.
More recently, the brand has strived to grab the attention of Millennials and Gen Zers and become as relevant in their everyday lives as it is to their grannies and mothers.
Putting the Mad Men era on hold
That meant shaking off the “Mad Men” era throwback image and positioning Tupperware products as hip, higher quality and more durable than the competition, highly useful and with an environmentally friendly purpose.
Tupperware had to go beyond parties or sales on its own website and the short and limited pilot programs it had attempted with retailers HomeGoods, Bed Bath and Beyond, as well as an earlier pilot at Target itself.
Tupperware brought its products to Target stores nationwide in 2022, marking a significant shift in the company’s decades-long direct-to-consumer strategy.
The change of strategy came too late. “We’ve seen that with Toys ‘R’ Us, Twinkie and most recently Bed Bath & Beyond,” Shankar said.
Tupperware, he said, faces a perfect storm of stiff competition from other brands — Rubbermaid, Glad, Pyrex, Oxo and Ziploc — selling similar products or even single-use versions for less, a lack of interest from younger shoppers, and a lack of exciting new products and sales strategies .
“Millennials and Gen Zers in particular are probably unaware of its iconic status and really have no reason to give it another chance,” Shankar said.
What went wrong?
“In my opinion, the company made two key mistakes,” said Keep, a professor of marketing at the College of New Jersey School of Business.
“With the product, it lost ground to the competition,” Keep said. “Tupperware also deliberately did not say goodbye to direct sales, even if these multi-level marketing strategies stagnated in the 80s and 90s. When it became clear that this model was no longer working, the company should have given up direct sales and sold through retail. “
Bankruptcy could be a way forward for Tupperware, said John Talbott, director of the Center for Retail Education and Research at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business.
“The most valuable thing Tupperware owns is its brand. Like Blockbuster, the Tupperware brand will never go away,” he said. “I suspect it could file for bankruptcy and if there is a buyer for it, Target would be a great option to revitalize the brand with new designs and a new marketing plan.”