Why do they call it tupperware
Even the Stanley salespeople knew it, and that was why growing numbers of them were adding Tupperware to their Stanley offerings. Tupperware was no mop or bottle of dish soap. It was something new, a big improvement over the products that had come before it. They bought a lot of it, too: Tupperware sold so well at home parties that many Stanley salespeople were abandoning the company entirely and selling nothing but Tupperware. One of the most successful of the ex-Stanley salespeople was a woman named Brownie Wise.
In April , he hired Wise and made her a vice president of a brand-new division called Tupperware Home Parties, headquartered in Kissimmee, Florida. Tupper also pulled Tupperware from department stores. Clearly, it needed to be demonstrated, and once it was, people bought it.
It was great for the company, too, because the sales force Brownie Wise was building cost it almost nothing. Like the Stanley team before them, they were independent salespeople who earned a percentage of their sales.
The party plan was also good for the housewives who sold Tupperware. Selling Tupperware offered housewives a chance to develop business skills, make their own money, and earn recognition they seldom got from cooking, cleaning, and taking care of their kids. It was even possible to make a lot of money selling Tupper-ware. Top-performing Tupperware ladies were promoted to manage other Tupperware ladies, and if the husband of a top-performing manager was willing to quit his job and join his wife at Tupper-ware, the couple could be awarded a lucrative distributorship and transferred across the country to open up new territories.
In a public relations firm told Earl Tupper that he should make Brownie Wise the public face of the company. Tupper, who was so reclusive that few company employees even knew what he looked like, happily obliged. In the years that followed, the Tupper-ware publicity department built Wise into an idealized Tupperware lady, giving her an Oprah Winfrey-like status with her sales force.
One of the biggest draws of Jubilee was a chance to meet Brownie Wise. And each year she awarded refrigerators, furs, diamond jewelry, cars, and other fabulous prizes to her top performers. But some of the most coveted prizes of all were the dresses and other outfits that Wise selected from her personal wardrobe and awarded to a very lucky few. And in the process she and her ever-expanding sales force helped to turn Tupperware from a product that nobody wanted into one of the most iconic brands in American business history, as well known as Kleenex, Jell-O, Xerox, Frisbee, and Band-Aid.
In the process, Tupperware ladies became a s cultural force in their own right. Though Wise had made him a millionaire many times over, and had served as the public face of Tupperware at his own request, Tupper grew increasingly resentful that she seemed to receive all the credit for making Tupperware the huge success that it was.
In January , he abruptly fired Wise, without notice and without a penny in severance pay, after accusing her of among other things using a Tupperware bowl as a dog dish. Tupper thought up no-drip ice cream cones , more comfortable corsets, fishing poles that weighed your catch as it was reeled in, and even a fish-propelled boat. Created in , the kits included tiny, plastic embellishments that could be glued on for dazzling manicures. While friends and family enjoyed the kits, they never went to market.
Initially, the Wonderbowl snagged accolades and won several design contests. For some time, Tupper even had a Fifth Avenue retail spot for his innovative food storage bowls. A good 'Sure-Stay' hairpin is needed. Despite being a successful saleswoman for Stanley Home Products, Wise knew she had no future with the company after being told "management is no place for a woman.
After several years of sales, Wise called up Tupper to express her dismay about the downsides of the company, namely incorrect orders and shipping delays. In the same way, many people use "Kleenex" instead of "tissue" even though Kleenex is a brand name. Tupperware is usually used to refer to plastic containers with formed sides and snap close lids for carrying leftover food.
Similar foodstock containers are made by Rubbermaid, Hefty, and Ziploc, and they are often generically referred to as " Tupperware ". Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group. Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. Ask Question. Asked 4 years, 6 months ago. Active 2 years, 2 months ago. Viewed 5k times.