Alison Donnan cracked the lid on her Tupperware career as an enthusiastic 21-year-old in the early 1960s.
The marketing model meant she needed to drive long distances from her family’s farm in the Mallee region, 350 kilometres north-east of Melbourne.
She would cross the countryside in her dad’s Holden packed full of products, ready to sell the famous plastic at parties.
“I did some through church, ladies’ fellowships, which you weren’t supposed to do really,” Miss Donnan chuckled.
Alison Donnan travelled across regional Victoria to sell Tupperware at parties. (ABC News: Natasha Schapova)
The parties included product demonstrations, as well as games where guests could win novelty prizes in the form of Tupperware that wasn’t for sale.
“You would get points if you said yes when I would ask questions like, ‘did you kiss your husband before you came out?'” Miss Donnan laughed.
But the gig didn’t last.
“I enjoyed it but I had to stop because I had limited customers … I just about exhausted my patch,” the 81-year-old said.
There were only so many containers Miss Donnan could sell in a small town, especially when they carried a famous lifetime guarantee.
Tupperware was marketed as a durable product. (Wikimedia: Tupperware)
Tupperware built its brand on that durability but after decades of dominance, the company filed for bankruptcy last week.
An ‘indestructible’ product, a fallible brand
The kitchen cupboards in Miss Donnan’s home are still packed with many of Tupperware’s bright, plastic products bought back in the sixties.
“I love my Tupperware, I still use it all the time,” Miss Donnan said.
Alison Donnan still uses the Tupperware she purchased years ago. (ABC News: Natasha )
The product’s endurance had iconic status in Australia.
“The thing about Tupperware is that it’s absolutely indestructible so it’s always going to be with us,” Australian comedian Wendy Harmer declared at a party celebrating the brand’s 25th birthday in 1986.
“You know those black boxes in aeroplanes? Tupperware.”
“I can just see the end of the world, a nuclear holocaust, and what’s going to happen is that the dust’s going to settle … and out from behind a pile of rubble, will roll a green lettuce-saver with a warped lid.”
That endurance came at a cost, according to Queensland University of Technology marketing professor and retail expert Gary Mortimer.
“A product regarded as high quality is a challenge because you never have to replace it and therefore you don’t get repeat customers,” he said.
“I don’t think that alone was the downfall, it was a combination of factors.”
Marketing experts say Tupperware’s decline has happened for a number of reasons, including its promise of durability. (AP: Garrett Cheen)
The storage container company experienced a steady decline in demand, reporting a fall in sales for six consecutive quarters since the third quarter of 2021.
Dr Mortimer said a significant increase in competition and an outdated distribution model also contributed to Tupperware’s demise.
The end of Tupperware’s party
When Tupperware started in the 1950s, it was a rare way women could make their own money while still overseeing childcare and domestic duties.
Often, there weren’t huge pay cheques.
“Haven’t you always wanted a career of your very own?” reads a Tupperware ad targeted towards women. (Supplied)
Miss Donnan’s dad used to joke that without the use of his car, she wouldn’t have made a profit.
“Even then, I couldn’t go to Hawaii with it,” she laughed.
A 7:30 report that aired on the ABC in 1986 described the brand’s representatives as “the army of housewives and mothers who make money selling plastic containers at parties”.
“It’s much more than plastic to them – it’s Tupperware,” said the male reporter.
“And they don’t just sell it. They believe in it.”
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Not anymore.
After decades of dominance, the brand’s marketing methods failed to capture younger consumers.
The change has not just impacted Tupperware, but many multi-level marketing (MLM) schemes, where existing representatives recruit “consultants” who sell directly to their personal networks, through messages, door-to-door sales and parties.
“It wasn’t just plastic food containers, it was cosmetics and other types of products sold through a party plan model,” Dr Mortimer said.
“Things like Mary Kay and Avon and now Tupperware – these types of products certainly grew in 50s, 60s and 70s … but they’re becoming less and less.”
Queensland University of Technology’s Gary Mortimer said multi-level marketing schemes were not as common anymore. (Supplied)
Experts have seen a growing distrust of the model, particularly from younger generations.
The ‘TikTok-ification’ of marketing
The MLM model has recently been criticised in the media and online, with users pointing out its similarities to a pyramid scheme.
“Nowadays people are a lot more cynical about people slipping into their DMs and saying ‘hey lovely, haven’t chatted for a while, do you want to join my business?'” said Dark Horse Agency marketing director Nicole Jameson.
Nicole Jameson from Dark Horse Agency said social media had a lot to do with multi-level marketing falling out of favour with younger people. (Supplied)
Some MLMs have been replaced by a new generation of online entrepreneurs who have combined the roles of CEO and content creator.
“Now people are able to create their own personal brand and their own content creation status on TikTok and Instagram quite easily, so there is no need to recruit hundreds of people to help them,” she said.
Ms Jameson calls the pivot towards this faster, more streamlined method of marketing the “TikTok-ification” of the industry.
“If you can’t get information out there quickly, you can’t change your strategy quickly, and you’re relying on lots of red tape and processes like the MLMs, you’re just not going to succeed,” said Ms Jameson.
The rise and fall of Tupperware’s plastic empire
Tupperware has indicated it will attempt to adapt.
Chief executive officer Laurie Goldman said bankruptcy was the “best path forward” to “support our transformation into a digital-first, technology-led company”.
The strategy is somewhat similar to Australia’s system of voluntary administration, according to Dr Mortimer.
“They’ll file for bankruptcy, they’ll hopefully restructure the business, they’ll hopefully find a buyer,” he said.
“Potentially they may not, which means it may be goodbye to Tupperware.”
