Soliciting customer opinions for new ideas can sometimes be the smartest thing a company does. Other times, it’s a rapid descent into madness.
You’ll have to be the judge of which trail Oreo followed, as the cookie company rolls out three new limited-edition flavors, based on user suggestions. Cherry cola, kettle corn, and piña colada flavored Oreos are all on the shelves now.
Fans have until June 30 to vote for their favorite of the three. The winning variety will net its creator $500,000. It’s unclear if Oreo will continue to market the winning cookie beyond that, however.
“We were blown away by not only the volume of flavor ideas we received as part of our #MyOreoCreation Contest, but also by the creativity and imagination of our fans,” said Pam Clarkson, associate director of North American Oreo Equity, in a statement.
As unusual as the flavors are, they’re downright sedate compared to rejected ideas that made it as far as the prototype phase. Oreo made a variety of test batches of other cookies, including avocado, carrot cake, coffee, and pineapple upside-down cake. It even flirted with salted caramel, but for some reason, decided to skip making that a contender.
It’s the latest in a series of untraditional flavors for Oreo. Recent alternate versions have included Peeps and Swedish Fish. (So a breakfast cereal really isn’t that far askew.)
An Oreo beer was served last year at the Texas State Fair. And in December, the company rolled out a Fruity Pebbles-inspired version, making customers guess the flavor for two months before confirming the answer.
