ABSTRACT
In 1946 Earl Silas Tupper developed a line of airtight-sealed storage containers. Tupperware, sold extensively through household “Tupperware parties,” was quickly a success and became a standard item in American kitchens. It was made in America by American workers and purchased by the growing number of postwar American families enjoying newfound prosperity and an ever-expanding mass production, mass consumption culture. Although Tupperware retains its American identity today, there is little that is genuinely American about it. Tupperware Brand began to sell its products in Europe in 1960. Today, with revenues of some $2.6 billion (2011), 90 percent of its sales occur outside the United States. Of its 13,600 manufacturing workforce, only 1,000 are located within U.S. borders. As Tupperware’s CEO Rick Goings notes, the company’s management is also global, “Our number two is English, our head of manufacturing and sourcing is Belgian, our head of human resources is German, our head of tax is Czech, one of our group presidents is a Swede, the other a Colombian. We may be based in America but not a single piece of our DNA today is that of a purely American company.” 1
