World of Oreo

This article was originally penned in 1995.
Additions and amendments were made in 1998 and 2001.

    Back in Culture Freak # 2 (Spring, 1995) I ranted briefly about what seemed then to be a rather psychotic artifact of co-branding: the KFC® Oreo® Brownie sold by KFC restaurants as part of a meal solution for a family of four. I also shared my opinion that Oreo pie is far more American than Apple pie, and expressed a mild concern that the increasing number of Oreo product extensions might dilute its strength as a cultural icon. Nuff said, yes? Hardly.
    For almost 100 years Oreo was an American food institution with an iconic status almost aking to that of Coca-Cola or McDonald's. Recently however, my concern grew from mild to near panic. The that world of Oreo, like everything else in this country, has exploded into so many directions that its brand power may become dangerously diffused.   First a little Nabisco history from Advertising in America - The First 200 Years [footnote]:
   In the early 1890's there were hundreds of hometown bakers putting out generic crackers in barrels and plain cookies in square shipping boxes...There were soon far too many bakers for anyone to make a decent living, so they began to combine. For eight years, savage merger fights reduced the market to three very large companies: New York Biscuit, American Biscuit, and United States Baking. In 1898, a Chicago lawyer named Adolphus Green convinced the big three that they would all do better as a single unit; they worked out a deal and the National Biscuit Company was born with 114 bakeries firing 400 ovens. In its first year, NBC owned 70 percent of all the bakeries in Americawas convinced that to make it all work, he had to kill the idea of 'a cracker is a cracker.' A National Biscuit Company cracker — or cookie — was going to be one of a kind.
     One of a kind, dig? The company began with Uneeda Biscuits, later adding Oreo, Fig Newton, Animal Crackers and Premium Saltines. National Biscuit Company now had a distinct line of products, branded with a funky corporate emblem (incunabulist Nicolas Jenson's printer's mark — a white Byzantine cross atop a circle, on a red background), and the Uneeda Biscuit Boy. They proceeded to rule the cookie world. (Incidentally, Hydrox was actually introduced first, in 1908 — four years before Oreo.)
    Then in the mid seventies, the world changed forever. Nabisco introduced Double Stuf® Oreos. I remember the excitement, the glamour, the...big pink bag with twice the heavily sweetened lard we were used to. Like many another impressionable American child, I was very psyched. [However, I soon concluded that Double Stuf was a bit over the top for me, and abandoned them in favor of the original]
    The point is that now there were two Oreos. In the world of Oreo, this transitional period is roughly equivalent to what an old friend of mine called 'The Scrappy Doo Era' of the Saturday morning cartoons world — the sign of an institution going downhill.
     Now that the post-Muppet Babies period (i.e. the 90's) has arrived, the institution that was Oreo isn't even a cookie anymore — it is simply a flavor: Banana, cherry...Oreo. A child in America today cannot have the relationship with Oreos that so many of us had growing up because that child is as accustomed to Oreo ice cream and Oreo granola bars as s/he is to Oreo cookies. To wit, below is a partial list of Oreo flavored or branded products:

   Double Stuf, Mint chocolate covered Oreos, Fudge Covered Oreos, Springtime Oreos, Reduced Fat Oreos, White Fudge Covered Oreos, Halloween Oreos (Orange Colored 'Stuf') Holiday Red Creme Oreos ("same great taste"), Oreo Magic Dunkers (these turned your mouth blue — I've only read about these) Oreo Big Stuff, Oreo Pie Crust, Oreo ice cream and ice cream bars, Oreo Chocolate Cones (for ice cream), Frozen Oreo Cookies n' Cream Cones Oreo Granola Bars, Cookies 'N' Creme Flavor Hershey's Nuggets chocolate candy), Pillsbury Oreo bars Deluxe, bar mix ('made with real Oreo pieces'), KFC/Oreo Brownie, Oreo Snack Packs, Oreo Crunchies. Oreo chocolate hazelnut bar (Japan), Oreo Megacookie. Oreo snack cake mix, Ready-to-Spread Oreo Frosting, Oreo Twist, Oreo Cake, Oreo Madness (a dessert offered at TGI Friday's), Mini Oreos (first introduced in 1991, reintroduced in October 2000). Chocolate Creme Oreos (introduced June 2001)

I await the introduction of Oreo cereal. It will come. It has to.

Update, 1998 — My 1995 prediction was correct. Oreo-O's cereal is now a reality. [In 2000 I finally tried these when my friend Tricia hosted a wonderful junk cereal, cartoons, and board game party one winter Saturday. I have to admit they were pretty awesome. In fact, they are the only Oreo line extension I can say I truly like. And yet, I doubt if I will actually ever purchase them.] Personally I think "Ore-O's" would make a better name. Unfortunately, such an alteration of the Oreo name would be considered a misuse of the Oreo trademark not to mention a weakened brand identity. Speaking of trademarks, I recently began to wonder if Nabisco generates more revenue from Oreo cookie sales, or from licensing the brand to other marketers. So, I decided to ask Nabisco's PR department:

To Whom It May Concern:
The Oreo brand has increasingly been licensed to other companies (e.g. Post) such that I have begun to wonder about the following: Which generates more revenue for Nabisco — Oreo cookie sales (all SKUs) or licenses to use the Oreo trademark?
About what percentage of Oreo related revenues come from licensing fees?
— Culture Freak

Culture Freak:
    In terms of SKU sales, Oreo cookies still represent by a vast degree the majority of total Oreo sales. Licensing has the appearance of ubiquity by bringing the brand into different areas of the retail store, but these tend to be niche category segments and are a small part of our business.
— Nabisco WWW Public Relations

Above: Oreo® Fun Barbie® and a pewter
(or silver?) OreoCookie jewelry case

Update, 2001 — Okay, first let's just get this out of the way. On May 10, 2001 the Wall Street Journal reported Nabisco's introduction of a new Oreo product. "Purists may wince. Chocoholics may rejoice. In a move that is apt to stir Oreo fans either way, Nabisco is tinkering with its top-selling cookie icon." Chocolate Creme Oreos feature a cocoa-flavored creme filling (and one and half times as much creme filling as regular Oreos).
But this, in my humble opinion, isn't the most interesting piece of recent Oreo news. The big news is that Kraft purchased Oreo-baker Nabisco Holdings back in December of 2000. Why is this such a big deal, you ask? Kraft Foods is a unit of tobacco giant Philip Morris (Marlboro, Benson & Hedges...). In fact, when it comes down to packaged food products, Philip Morris owns about half of what appears on supermarket shelves, but that's another story (see list below). It is particularly ironic because from about 1985 to 1998 Nabisco Holdings part of Philip Morris's top tobacco rival: Camel and Winston cigarette makers R.J. Reynolds (AKA RJR Nabisco during this period). RJR Nabisco split into separate companies three years ago. But wait, it get's weirder. When Philip Morris purchased Nabisco Holdings, R.J. Reynolds purchased Nabisco Holdings parent company, Nabisco Group Holdings.
Wait who's the parent? Let me tell you, I've been working in corporate and intellectual property for over four years and these crazy corporate stock-swap suck-each-other-off deals still boggle my mind. Here's the deal: Nabisco Holdings is the food company that makes Oreo. Nabisco Group Holdings is the holding company that spun out its ownership in RJ Reynolds in 1998, and which holds 80% of the Nabisco Holdings food company.
Still confused? Me too. It's safe to say that in our brave new deregulated world, just about every major corporation is connected to every other major corporation through whole mergers, stock swaps, joint ventures, or shared board members. So please, feel free to use the blanket term "the corporations" when laying blame for just about antything you can think of.

Notes:
[Early Nabisco history] p. 103, Advertising in America - The First 200 Years; Charles Goodrum & Helen Dalrymple; Henry N. Abrams, Inc.; 1990

And from the Philip Morris Companies Inc. 2000 Annual Report:
Kraft Foods North America's principal products are snacks, beverages, cheese, grocery and convenient meals which include:
SNACKS: Oreo, Chips Ahoy!, Newtons, Nilla, Nutter Butter, Stella D'oro and SnackWell's cookies; Ritz, Premium, Triscuit, Wheat Thins, Cheese Nips, Better Cheddars, Nabisco Honey Maid Grahams and Teddy Grahams crackers; Planters nuts and salty snacks; Life Savers, Creme Savers, Altoids and Gummi Savers sugar confectionery products; Terry's and Toblerone chocolate confectionery products; Handi-Snacks two-compartment snacks; Balance Bar nutrition and energy snacks; and Jell-O ready-to-eat refrigerated desserts.
BEVERAGES: Maxwell House, General Foods International Coffees, Starbucks, Yuban and Gevalia coffees; Capri Sun, Tang and Crystal Light aseptic juice drinks; and Kool-Aid, Tang, Capri Sun, Crystal Light and Country Time powdered soft drinks.
CHEESE: Kraft and Cracker Barrel natural cheeses; Philadelphia cream cheese; Kraft and Velveeta process cheeses; Kraft grated cheeses; Cheez Whiz process cheese sauce; Easy Cheese aerosol cheese spread; and Knudsen and Breakstone's cottage cheese and sour cream.
GROCERY: Jell-O dry packaged desserts; Cool Whip frozen whipped topping; Post ready-to-eat cereals; Cream of Wheat and Cream of Rice hot cereals; Kraft and Miracle Whip spoonable dressings; Kraft salad dressings; A-1 steak sauce; Kraft and Bull's-Eye barbecue sauces; Grey Poupon premium mustards; and Shake 'N Bake coatings.
CONVENIENT MEALS: DiGiorno, Tombstone, Jack's, California Pizza Kitchen and Delissio frozen pizzas; Kraft macaroni & cheese dinners; Taco Bell and Stove Top Oven Classics meal kits; Lunchables lunch combinations; Oscar Mayer and Louis Rich cold cuts, hot dogs and bacon; Boca Burger soy-based meat alternatives; Stove Top stuffing mix; and Minute rice.
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