I had a friend that shared my love of Oreos as a child.
As I had a chance to meet with them recently, I brought them a pack of my new favorite, Toffee Crunch.
To my surprise he smacked the gift out of my hands and went into a long rant about the sad state of Oreos today.
Back when we were kids, Oreos were just Oreos, except for when they came out with Double-Stuff which was a sequel that improved upon the original. There was no need for different flavors, colors, etc.
I told him I remembered Mint Oreos which I loved.
He admitted mint Oreos were around back then, but said they were made for babies, not true fans.
"Oh," I said taking the not-to-subtle insult, then tried to move on to other subjects.
He then told me Oreos were ruined forever, that he was done with them.
I told him they still make regular and Double-Stuff.
"Did I stutter?" he said.
"Um..."
He then admonished me for supporting people who would harm children.
"Oh, because of the sugar? I mean, they're meant to be a some-times treat, not a lifestyle."
It was then I was lectured on about Nabisco being sold in 2000 and how the nefarious new owners didn't understand or respect the heritage of the original brand or its fans and was hell bent on destroying it by growing its retail presence in a way that currently dominates the entire cookie aisle of any grocer.
"Huh? Wait,"
Then I was told the true intent of all these "flavors" was for indoctrination into deviant lifestyles, and worse- so much worse that if one dug deep enough they found it led all the way to liberal billionaires consuming the pulp of not only liquified babies, but liquified babies who needed to be properly terrified upon pulping.
"Oh, hey, look at the time- gotta go, nice catching up-bye!"
My head swimming, I couldn't help but look into some of the claims. To my shock, r/oreos, oreomagic.com, twitter, youtube, the yahoo comments for the stock, etc were inundated with similar claims being hammered with a religious ferocity. An entire industry seemed to be built on this hatred of Oreos though I couldn't find much in the way of facts. Oddly, many of the most devoutly anti-Oreo were still doing product reviews and selling their own Oreo related merch.
Many were outraged that Oreos were now Vegan- a sure sign of "woke-ness", not realizing Oreos were always Vegan. Females in the company seemed to be specifically targeted.
Some had legitimate concerns regarding healthiness but were just as likely to tout even less healthy alternatives. Some legitimately hated a few of the new flavors (Hot Wing, Swedish Fish, etc) or corporate decisions but seemed completely dismissive of those who did enjoy them. Some of the most influential had had direct ties to Hydrox and other competitors or foreign interests who they repeatedly tout as good and godly though one or two have been tried in court for some of the crimes they alleged Oreo to be committing.
I did find some shady practices (actual child-labor) as is sadly the case with any mega-conglomeration, but was equally surprised that those were largely ignored by these groups.
Eventually I found that Oreo still has its fans but they seemed more content to enjoy the cookies than spend their precious free time debunking the endless conspiracies online.
