Have The People At Oreo Gone Mad?!!

When I was a kid there was one kind of Oreo, it had chocolate cookies and a white icing center. At some point in my childhood the Oreo Double Stuff was introduced with the idea that there was twice as much cream as there was before. This was to be Oreo's first foray into changing their cookies, as well as into some controversy. There was a theory that Oreo simply reduced the amount of cream in their classic cookie, and the more expensive double stuff was in fact just the old version of the regular Oreo.

Slowly Oreo started to add more versions of their cookies onto the market. Golden Oreos are an Oreo with vanilla cookies instead of chocolate. Uh-Oh Oreos were a vanilla cookie with a chocolate cream center. Most of these variations used either chocolate or vanilla cookies and chocolate or vanilla cream. At this point things weren't out of hand, chocolate and vanilla seemed like an area where Oreo could venture safely.

Somewhere between 2006 and 2010 things seem to have fallen off the rails. As usual it appears to have originated in either Japan or Canada. Both of these countries are often the source of strange flavored things becoming the norm in the western world. You can always reference potato chips in Canada and Kit Kit bars in Japan for a better idea of the phenomenon. Canada often introduces not extremely strange versions, but slightly different flavours to the American market, it's easy with their close proximity to the USA. Japan on the other hand is legendary for their extreme flavour varieties of classic treats, and on the Internet these crazy flavours slowly find their way into American homes.

By 2010 it appears that the western world had jumped on board the freaky Oreo cookie bandwagon and things have been getting weirder and weirder ever since. It seems that the folks at Oreo have been given cart blanch and can pretty much come up with any flavour choices they want. Gone are the days when chocolate and vanilla are the only two flavours allowed. Today it seems that Oreo cookies come up with some kind of crazy new cookie every month. Pumpkin spice, blueberry pie, and orange creamcicle are just a few examples of some of the limited editor flavours we've seen so far.

But much like the introduction the double stuff cookie, these varieties have stirred up a bit of controversy. In my circle of friends the Oreo fireworks cookie (an Oreo with pop rocks like candy in the icing) was the topic of a huge debate. Some calling it a travesty of nature, others calling it the greatest thing ever created. Then there was the Oreo Peeps debacle, something that affected me personally. These Oreo cookies made headlines when it was found out that the pink colouring of the icing caused a certain colour shift in a solid biological function.  Yup, it made your poop pink.

I had already eaten a few of the cookies before I learned about this, but I didn't check my bathroom colours at the time. Fortunately I had more than half a bag left when I did learn about this issue, and I can tell you that the story was true... And a little disturbing. While this was the big story that broke about these cookies, the thing I found odd about the Oreo Peeps was what they did to your mouth. I realized that every time I ate a few of these cookies, I would spit up pink every time I brushed my teeth, for a few days.  So even if it was 2 or 3 days since eating them I would find that when I brushed my teeth I would spit out pink.

Oreo is on the edge of crossing over into dangerous territory with these crazy flavour, a line that's been crossed by a few candy companies trying to ride the wave of crazy flavour varieties. After that line is crossed, few survive. This line is crossed when a company has obviously run out of logical ideas when it comes to flavours. After this point these companies start to "get creative" and often weird for the sake of being weird. Kit Kat has weathered this storm and built an industry on their strange flavours, but a few other candy companies have fallen down that hole and not done well. The true indication of this is when Oreo decides they want to try savory flavours instead of sweet.

When you cross that line, you may find that some of your die hard fans have fallen out of favour. The news release about your new wacky flavour doesn't get the rush to the stores, but instead gets ridicule or a ho-hum type reaction. While the debate among my friends rages about whether or not Oreo has jumped the shark with these wacky flavours, I've found myself on the side of enjoying them. I've enjoyed the creative ideas, I've even enjoyed the flavour of most of them. So far Oreo, I'm on your side, but be careful. One day I may not rush out the store to try your latest creation.

CC