Next Wednesday, March 6th is National Oreo Cookie Day. With all the regular and limited edition flavors available now, it can feel like every day is Oreo Cookie Day. The Oreo cookie is cheap and easily recognizable as a staple in the American household.
According to the nytimes.com, “Dave Stivers, the company’s archivist, says the first Oreos were sold to a grocer in Hoboken, N.J., named S. C. Thuesen on March 6, 1912. Nine and a quarter pounds of Oreos cost the store $1.85 and the tin they came in cost another 50 cents.” The cookie is so iconic that, according to sugar.org, “The street in New York City where Oreo originally debuted was renamed ‘Oreo Way’ to honor where the very first cookie in the very first Nabisco factory was located.”
Oreos have beome legendary since their start over 100 years ago. People don’t walk into the store and ask for chocolate sandwich cookies, people walk into the store and ask for Oreos. The brand name is more widely recognized than the actual product description. That doesn’t happen very often. it is most likely because of the consistent marketing, limited edition flavors, and childhood nostalgia that makes Oreo the best cookie in the world. According to sugar.org, in 2011 “the Oreo cookie received the Guinness World record for the world’s biggest selling cookie with total sales in excess of 500 billion since its introduction in 1912.” That is half of a trillion dollars, Warriors.
How do they make those tasty cookies? According to that same New York Times article, “An Oreo takes less than an hour to make – a half hour of mixing in bins the size of Volkswagen beetles and another 20 minutes on conveyor belts being pressed into shape and then bobbing along from the third floor to the first through ovens and cooling tunnels, under the icing drum and into machines that stack and deal Oreos like cards into cellophane packages.” It must be magic in those factories to see the cookies being made…Oreos stretching as far as the eye can see. Can you imagine how sweet the air must be as well?
There is some controversy around the cookie, which way is the best way to eat it. Many people dunk in milk before eating. Some even swear they can’t eat an Oreo without milk. Most Americans remember opening the cookie, licking the frosting off one side and then eating the crunch chocolate cookie when they were children. The Oreo company suggests a combination of all these methods to truly enjoy them. That same sugar article shared Oreo’s main promotion involved in consuming the cookie; “while there’s no wrong way to enjoy your tasty treat, Oreo has been promoting the ‘twist, link and dunk’ method since 1923, when the first advertisement showing ‘the twist’ appeared on trolley cars.” Oreos have collaborated with many companies over the years, to the point that there are Oreo crumble pie crusts, ice cream flavors, cakes, and even cancdy bars with the iconic Oreo flavor.
Probably the best marketing strategy is their special edition and limited edition flavors. Most recently, Oreo produced the limited edition flavor, Space Dunk Oreos. Pop rocks, pink and blue cosmic cream, and 5 space themes stamped designs make this limited edition cookie out of this world visually. But how does it taste? Junior Dany Dorsey said, “the much-hyped Space Dunk Oreos did not disapoint. The intergalatic packagaing gave a promise, and the oreos themselves fufilled it. The cookies themselves all have space motifs imprinted on them, like aliens and spaceships. But the real question is, would the cosmic cream deliver? And the answer is yes. The creme tasted more like birthday cake icing then the regular creme.” She makes me want to try these limited edition cookies. I need to know what that cosmic cream tastes like. Freshman Afomya Bedassa said, “its pink and blue [frosting] tastes like cotton candy.”
Sophomore Zach Schroeder uncovered what some say about all the limited edition Oreo flavors, and might be the only negative thing that can be said about this well-loved cookie; “It was good but there was not a big difference from this and a regular oreo. I would not buy it because it is more expensive for pretty much the same thing.” Limited edition cookies are smaller (22 in a pack compared to the regular 33 in a pack) and is about $1 more for 11 less cookies. Some students had mixed reviews and in the end, would still purchase the limited edition flavor because any Oreo is better than no Preo. Sophomore Lucas Berdan said, “the Space Dunk Oreo’s are not as good as they were advertised to be. While the packaging was enticing, I don’t think that the Space Dunk Oreo’s are better than the normal flavor of Oreos…not necessarily bad, I enjoyed the cookies bright color and the sweet flavor of it. To sum it up, I do recommend trying the new Space Dunk Oreo’s if you are up for a new flavor.”
Watch the class try the Space Dunk Oreos here:
It is tough to find the limited edition Space Dunk cookies now as they are sold out online and in most stores. Don’t worry cookie eaters! Oreo has a new limited edition flavor, the Black and White cookie flavor in stores now.