Business Notes MARKETING

What is that strange noise in the office next door? Answer: the sound of a Tupperware party in progress. The plastic food containers, which make a slight burrrp noise when resealed, are suddenly being shown and sold in all sorts of nontraditional places: on the job, in day-care centers, even at tailgate parties. In the past Tupperware was pushed exclusively at living-room gatherings of housewives, a successful marketing strategy devised by Inventor Earl Tupper not long after he dreamed up the product in the 1940s. But as more and more women joined the work force, the party calmed down and eventually had to move. From 1982 through 1985, Tupperware's sales dropped 13.3%, to $762 million. Then last year the company, based in Kissimmee, Fla., began staging its parties wherever working women might be found. Presto: sales in the first quarter of 1988 rose 18%, compared with the same period in 1987. Moreover, Tupperware's sales team, once composed entirely of housewives, is now 3% male and growing.