Nabisco Oreo Cakesters: The Snack that Motivated Me to Act

A few months ago, while rushing through the grocery store in an effort to make it back home in time for a favorite show, I came across a brand new snack that I'd never seen before.

I was fighting a craving for chocolate cake and had been tempted to browse the bakery department. I didn't feel like baking a cake or brownies, though I had the materials at home, and I certainly didn't want to purchase an entire cake from the bakery to go to waste when all I wanted was a slice. I happened down one aisle and spotted the boxes of the new Oreo Cakesters. They came in traditional flavor as well as a new chocolate flavor. There were six-2 cake packages in each box.
Unfortunately they were a bit pricey for me, weighing in at more than $3 bucks a pop!

I started to pass on them, but then decided I'd get just one box to quickly satisfy my sweet tooth. It was a difficult decision. The original flavor of chocolate cake with the white crème filling was a no-brainer so I was sure I would like that. Still, I was craving chocolate, and though the picture on the box of the chocolate cakes looked tempting, I was a bit concerned about how I'd like the chocolate filling. Could it be trusted? Would it have that sweet creamy chocolate-ty flavor I was looking for? Or, would it have that cheap imitation taste that really does not taste like chocolate, but is 'painted' chocolate in attempts to fool you?
Hmm, what a conundrum. I took the path I normally take when trying to decide between two food products, and since I'd already weighed in with the price, I moved on to the calorie and food specs.

The Oreo Cakesters Chocolate Creme contained 250 calories, 110 of them from fat for a total of 12 fat grams and 3 grams of saturated fat, but 0 trans fat. Cholesterol was 5mg or 1%, Sodium was 260g or 11%, for a total of 12 carbs. 1 gram of fiber (From where? I wondered), 23grams of sugar, 2 grams of protein 2% calcium and 10% iron. While the traditional oreo combination Oreo Cakesters contained 250 calories, 110 of them from fat for a total of 12 fat grams and 3 grams of saturated fat, but 0 trans fat. Cholesterol was 5mg or 1%, Sodium was 260g or 11%, for a total of 12 carbs. 1 gram of fiber (From where? I wondered), 23grams of sugar, 2 grams of protein 2% calcium but only 8% iron. Hardly any difference! That was no help, so finally I grabbed both boxes and chastised myself about spending over $7 on cookies!

Okay, so I got home, finished up dinner and had settled in to enjoy my show. I first opened the box of Oreo snack cake Oreo Cakesters and noticed how fresh they were. The cake was super moist to my surprise. The crème filling was fresh and soft, about what I had expected, maybe a little sweeter than I wanted at the time, but they were good. I closed up the individual package to save the other half for later. Then I cleansed my palette with a couple of sips of milk and then opened the Chocolate Crème flavored Oreo Cakesters.

Again, I noticed how incredibly moist the cake part of it was. How wonderfully fresh the entire snack was. The chocolate filling was just right. At first I thought it was a little bland but the more I chewed and savored, the more it tasted like perfection to me. Any sweeter and it would lose be disappointing. I thought about how wonderful this treat was as I continued chewing and savoring the decadent delights. I was highly impressed! This was perfect! If you've ever had one of Costco's cakes with the chocolate mousse filling then you know where I'm coming from!

Just think of the potential of these cakes I thought! Where were they when I was doing Weight Watchers and counting points! If I ate just one of the cakes in the 2 cake individual package I could satisfy my sweet tooth and only use 2 or 3 points while feeling like I'm really treating myself! I had never been able to do that before! This was a breakthrough for me! I would buy more of these delicacies and keep them on hand and start back on my diet plan! I had hope new-found now! Perhaps I could make it to my goal weight this time!

Yet, I wondered, why hadn't I seen these advertised? Why doesn't everyone know about these? Well, the box said they were new, maybe I had just missed seeing the commercial when it came on. I began anticipating what the commercial would be like. Something along the lines of the Betty Crocker Warm Delights, with women staying in and pampering themselves on a Friday night, the warm dessert as their companion to a juicy novel they'd waited all week to delve into. There was no doubt in my mind that they intended these moist delicacies for the mature adult female, the sophisticated working woman.

About two weeks later, as I was cleaning, I saw it! The little boy, sitting at the lunch table, taking out his food and producing, of all things, an Oreo Cakester. The gossip chain starting as the kid beside him whispers into the next kids ear that 'Billy has an Oreo Cakester!'. The secret makes its way around the room from one child's ear to another until the last kid something like, 'So-and-so has his first chest hair! ?Then, a little girl says, 'Who cares? Billy has an Oreo Cakester!'

Was THAT it! The commercial I'd anticipated! Where was the woman? Where was the sophistication? Okay, okay, not what I'd expected, but surely they'd have a string of commercials, or even a redo of that one that somehow included an adult female. Maybe something sneaky like the snack somehow falling into the hands of an alluring female teacher!

Well, another week or so passed, and that was the only commercial I ever saw on the precious new Nabisco Oreo Cakesters. I was becoming a little outraged that this snack was not being given its 'just desserts' so to speak. This snack had the potential of possibly helping chocoholic Weight Watcher participants everywhere, yet they were not giving it its due!

This bothered me so much that I was driven to do something I'd never done before! I'd write the company.

I sat down one day and pondered the approach I'd take in addressing this issue. I decided to tell it like it was, tell them my experience of having to decide on which flavor treat to purchase despite its being overpriced. Then how I realized the possibilities this treat provided by satisfying a sweet tooth and keeping one on track with their diets. How by allowing one to eat just one of the cakes in a package they could be indulgent and not have to resort to some tasteless, low calorie, semblance of a wanna-be 'good dessert!' I told them how I was disappointed that their commercial wasn't targeting the adult female as the market for these. These were just too good to be geared toward kids who don't always know the difference between and Oreo and a Duplex!
Finally, I thanked them for their time and told them I'd be looking forward to seeing their next advertisement for this product.

About 48 hours later, I got my first reply. It was an auto-responder telling me the hours that their representatives could assist me, and, 'that my feedback was very important to them and they'd do their best to respond to my inquiry as quickly as possible.'

Well, I was a little disheartened and worried about whether or not they would really get back to me. I was very anxious to see what they had to say and if they'd consider my idea to advertise to the adult female market.

Time passed, and about a week later I got another response from Nabiscoworld.com.

This time it was from the Associate Director of Consumer Relations, herself! She wrote: 'I'm glad to hear your nice comments about our products and company and will share them with our staff. We're proud of our reputation for excellence and work hard to maintain it. We're continually exploring new food developments and are very optimistic about the future of food production. Our pledge is to continue to successfully build on our past achievements far into the future...'
I thought I was being brushed off. I myself had used similar lines when serving on various committees. It kind of meant, yeah we'll mention it but probably won't really consider it unless we get enough 'squeaky wheels'.

Come to think of it, where was all the free product and stuff I'd always heard of people getting back when they write to companies? This was my first time ever writing to a company yet,I didn't even get coupon?

I stewed over the injustice of it all for a while before deciding, I'd better 'pick my battles.'

Cleaning out my mailbox a few days later, I read the letter again. This time what stood out to me was, 'I'm glad to hear your nice comments about our products and company and will share them with our staff'.

She's going to share them with her staff! Does that mean she likes my idea? Does that mean they really do value me as a consumer? Someone's actually listening?

Okay, okay, I'll admit that I had not purchased nor eaten any more Oreo Cakesters for a while, though I have noticed they've come down in price. Its not because of that episode that I haven't had any, but because I haven't been craving chocolate cake. Still, I'll be back on the lookout for the next new Oreo Cakester commercial.