Historical Lunch Boxes by Thermos LLC

Beginning in the 1950s, TV transformed the lunch box from an ordinary food conveyor into a storyteller. The screen-like sides of the lunch box offered children a new form of self-expression.

Box makers paid for the right to use TV shows to promote box sales. The studios used boxes to gain market exposure. And children acquired a new statement of their power and influence in the emerging world of mass-marketed consumer goods.