These Ancient Tupperware Commercials Are Actually Wonderful

Here’s something I never expected to write: Old Tupperware commercials are mesmerizing, brilliant, and strangely convincing. Dips keep dippier! Hams keep hammier! My God!

It was home parties that were responsible for Tupperware’s iconic status. As Alison J. Clark relates in Tupperware: The Promise of Plastic in 1950s America, the product wasn’t taking off until the company turned to one of its most successful saleswomen, Brownie Wise, who said she made her numbers by hosting neighbors in gatherings at her own home, then plying them with plastics. The direct-selling approach worked magnificently, becoming the company’s sole distribution channel, and offered a socially acceptable way for women to make money. The Tupperware party quickly became a cultural touchstone.

Naturally, it got a starring role in this commercial, the most objectively appealing a small evening get-together in suburban New Jersey has ever looked. Yes, things are “really popping!” at this Tupperware party.

But of course it takes some motivation to get to the party in the first place—beyond not wanting to piss off Betty from the PTA, of course. Here, they are literally locking in freshness. To get the point across extra thoroughly, they’ll sing about it, too.

The pleasures of “Tupperware: Now you’re cooking!” are subtler, but no less real.

On this Good Morning America throwback segment, you can catch the most amazing jingle of all. It’s a nightmare ear worm and you’ll never escape it. “We’re here for a party, a Tupperware party….” “We’re here for a party, a Tupperware party….” “We’re here for a party, a Tupperware party….” “We’re here for a party, a Tupperware party….”