Tupperware Parties Attempt A Comeback

It’s certainly not my idea of a party. Actually, it’s up there on my “Worst Nightmare” list.  Instead of consuming drinks and leaving feeling buzzed and lightheaded, you’re stuck at a females-only party carrying home a bag full of Tupperware.

Word on the BBC street is that Tupperware parties are going to make a comeback. Say what? I would rather see the re-opening of Studio 54. Now that’s what I’m talking about.

Seriously, though, a public relations company has been hired to re-launch the brand that it seems we’ve all taken for granted. It’s like Kleenex. That may be the brand name, but I don’t really care what you give me as long as it’s semi-soft. I just want the boogers to stop pouring out of my nose onto my face.

I have to hand it to Richard Brett of Shine. He may just be a genius salesman (obviously in public relations for a reason) or he really believes in the product. He goes so far as to say, “Part of Tupperware’s whole story is the way they have empowered women historically, and still do so today all over the world.” What high praise for plastic containers.

I hope other ladies are laughing too when they read this line. It seems to me that everyone takes Tupperware for granted. They’re certainly useful, environmentally-friendly and I suppose the containers of various shapes and sizes were famous for Act I of “How Women Used Parties to Socialize/Start Businesses.”

I do remember my mom going to a few of them when I was young. To be quite frank, it was lame then as it is now. If you’re throwing a jewelry party, I might show up. At least jewelry expresses a sense of craftsmanship. I would classify it as art.

Tupperware is a whole other animal. It’s convenient and I’m glad Earl Tupper had a mind to put it on the market in 1946, but it’s not up there with some of the greatest creative undertakings. Andy Warhol may disagree, but it seems to me that it was invented by a man with men in mind. Men could rest assured that their dinners would be saved and neatly packed in the fridge for their lunches the next day.

I’ve considered myself an optimist before, but I refuse to be when it comes to Tupperware. It just seems silly. I would rather have a few tall boys, throw on some tunes and have a few laughs. I just can’t see this happening at a Tupperware party. Commercial ventures may sometimes masquerade as “parties,” but they usually sound more exciting than Tupperware. It reminds me of other dull words like “housewares” or “warehouses.”

Alison Clarke, a professor of design history and theory at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, may say that it’s an “extension of socializing,” but I find this a bit insulting. I mean, women can’t find any other way to socialize? They must base it on the ultimate domestic item – the Tupperware container.

It may have helped women start their own businesses, but it seems that Brownie Wise, the heralded pioneer of Tupperware sales, was just desperate to make money. She did what she could to make ends meet when life went to shit. I’m skeptical that this was the career path she chose of her own volition. It was the 1950s and she was struggling and Lady Tupperware was her heroine.

Wise was dismissed from the Tupperware biz in 1958 for living a “flamboyant lifestyle” that the “puritanical” Tupper frowned upon. So my suspicions are confirmed. Wise was desperate. She did what she had to do and she ultimately went a little crazy. I would too if I had to attend all of those Tupperware parties and pretend I believed in an empty product that I had to go home and fill. At least when you buy a bottle of booze it comes with some fun inside.

Isn’t there anything else we can put back on the market that isn’t plain boring? I could just go the Dollar Store and get any old no name brand container I want. Tupperware just isn’t cool enough to have a party thrown in its favour.

As much as Mad Men represents a corporate male culture, I’d take it over Tupperware any day. Smoke please!

Contact the author here: tinybart@morningquickie.com