Tupperware (plastic container with airtight lid) was invented by Earl Tupper(1907-1983). Tupper was a failing New Hampshire tree surgeon. In order to make ends meet, Tupper’s first contact with plastic grew from his part time job at the DuPont Chemical Company which had been developing plastic prior to World War II. Eager to work with the new material, yet too poor to buy refined plastic, Tupper asked if he could purchase any left-over substance. His supervisor gave him a black, inflexible piece of polyethylene slag, a waste product of the oil refining process. After hours and in his garage, Tupper purified the slag and molded it to create light-weight, non-breakable containers, cups, bowls, and plates. He later designed liquid-proof, air-tight lids by duplicating the lid of a paint can, except in reverse.
Tupper founded the Tupperware Plastics Company in 1938, and in 1946, he introduced Tupper Plastics to hardware and department stores.
Tupperware; was not welcome at first. Consumers were confused as to how to operate the lids. Store sales lagged. In desperation, Tupper hired Brownie Wise, a charismatic single mother, to demonstrate how to use the product. She had friends who knew she was working in a store, wanted to know what she was doing but didn’t want to take the time to learn about this “new fangled plastic” in the store – so she invited them to her home for a demonstration. The concept grew to be a household phenomenon, the Tupperware Party.
By 1951, Earl had pulled all merchandise off store shelves and channeled it solely through direct home sales….aka Network Marketing…aka Multilevel Marketing. (See post “Does Golf work?”)
Today, a Tupperware demonstration begins approximately every two seconds some place in the world with yearly net sales exceeding $1.2 billion.
So much for “market saturation”
