Tupperware plastic containers -- and their famous "burping" lids -- revolutionized the post-World War II kitchen, keeping leftover food fresher longer and providing housewives with a new potential source of income: Tupperware parties. Take the lid off your Tupperware smarts and test your knowledge on the kitchenware company's history.
Earl Tupper filed his patent for the original Tupperware bowl in what year?
An inventor since adolescence, Tupper filed his most famous patent on June 2, 1947 for the “E.S. Tupper Open Mouth Container and Nonsnap type of Closure Therefor.”
As soon as Tupperware hit store shelves in the late 1940s, it became an instant best seller.
In 1951, Earl Tupper decided to do away with in-store Tupperware sales and redirected the business model to only direct sales, via Tupperware parties.
Brownie Wise, who popularized Tupperware parties, was the first woman on the cover of what magazine?
In 1954, having made Tupperware a leading household brand under her guidance, Brownie Wise became Businessweek magazine’s first cover woman.
The key to selling Tupperware involved teaching women how to do what to the containers?
Brownie Wise encouraged Tupperware salespeople to demonstrate how to "burp" the containers. That burping sound signaled that Tupperware's signature vacuum seal -- which kept food fresher longer -- was in effect.
What did Earl Tupper call the original line of Tupperware products?
Featuring 14 products, including tumblers, nesting bowls and their famous burping lids, Tupper's original Millionaire Line came in frosty white crystal and five pastel tones.
In the 1950s, where was Tupperware displayed as part of a kitchenware design exhibit?
Before the brand became a household name in the 1960s, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York had already included Tupperware as part of a futuristic kitchenware design exhibit.
Earl Tupper sold his company in 1958 for how much?
In 1958, after firing his vice president of Tupperware Parties, Brownie Wise, Tupper sold his plastics company for $16 million and moved to Costa Rica.
Customers could start ordering Tupperware from catalogues, instead of exclusively at Tupperware parties, starting when?
After a slump in sales, Tupperware branched out beyond its Tupperware parties-only direct sales approach and began offering catalogue sales in 1988.
Tupperware hosts an annual sales celebration, created by Brownie Wise, called what?
The annual Tupperware Jubilee sales celebrations at the company headquarters help incentivize direct sales and build brand loyalty among employees.
Before Tupperware, women commonly covered their leftovers with what?
Tupperware's signature sealing lids eliminated the need to cover leftovers with shower caps.
Before he came up with "Tupperware" for his containers, Earl Tupper originally called polyethylene plastic what?
Tupper named the plastic itself "Poly-T: Material of the Future" and coined "Tupperware" as the name of his product line of containers.
Which of the following was NOT an original Tupperware container color?
The original "Millionaire Line" of Tupperware came in crystal, as well as five pastel shades of yellow, blue, green, orange and pink.
After being fired from Tupperware, Brownie Wise went on to sell what product?
After parting ways with Tupperware in 1958, Brownie Wise joined Cinderella cosmetics to enliven its direct sales, but she wasn't able to put her magic Tupperware touch on the product line.
A complete set of vintage Tupperware can fetch how much on the antique market?
Vintage Tupperware probably won't make anyone rich. According to Country Living magazine, a set of original Tupperware in good condition is valued around $45.
Before Earl Tupper started his own plastics company, the enterprising entrepreneur owned what business?
In 1928, Earl Tupper went into the landscaping business with Tupper Tree Doctors. Ten years later, he started up the Earl S. Tupper Company that led him to Tupperware.
How frequently do Tupperware parties take place around the world?
Believe it or not, Tupperware is so popular worldwide that a handful of new parties start every 3 seconds. In the time it took you to read and answer this question, several parties got underway.
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