Tupperware Says the Party Is Over in Britain
LONDON (Reuters) – The party’s over for a generation of housewives after Tupperware said on Thursday its army of sales agents will be scrapped.
For around half a century, British women used to hold get-togethers in their front rooms, so-called Tupperware parties, to sell the plastic food containers.
But 21st century life has sounded the death knell for one of the country’s most enduring — and mocked — traditions.
“We needed to update our business model,” said Jane Garrard, vice president for investor relations at Orlando-based Tupperware.
About 1,500 sales demonstrators in Britain will have their contracts ended on March 30.
Terence Cosgrave, editor of Retail Intelligence said he believed the waning popularity of Tupperware parties was due to changes in eating habits.
“Tupperware was primarily used for storing food. Nowadays more people buy convenience foods and have less use for containers,” he told Reuters.
He added that Tupperware, which was seen as a revolution in food hygiene and kitchen style when it was introduced, had faced increasing competition from other manufacturers.
In recent years Tupperware parties have also had to compete with the glamour of lingerie and wrinkle-smoothing Botox parties.
Tupperware said it may focus on selling through retailers.
MOURNED BY SOME
Although the Tupperware party, a sign of sophistication in the 1960s and 1970s, had become a butt of satirists in later years, the end is still likely to be missed by some.
Helen Fairweather, 64, said she attended Tupperware parties in the 1960s.
“You would get a group of friends together — bit like an Ann Summers lingerie party — and a person from Tupperware would come along to show their wares.”
“You’d provide some nibbles and then, to lighten up the mood a bit, you used to have a little general knowledge quiz and the winner would get a piece of Tupperware,” the London pensioner said.
But Fairweather said Tupperware was expensive and in time it discolored.
“You might as well buy the cheap ones and throw them away.”
Geoff Jones, 72, a retired railway worker, from London, remembered his wife regularly hosted Tupperware parties.
“It used to be a social thing, something for the ladies to get together,” he said, quickly adding he had never attended one himself.
Perhaps summing up the problem Tupperware faces was a comment from a member of the younger generation:
“Tupper-what party? Never heard of it. Sounds kinky,” said 25-year-old office administrator Sally Wilkes from Croydon.
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