Hydrox Cookies Are Back, Nonconformists!
Think of all the tasty treats of your childhood that you can't find any more—what mighty act of will would it take to bring them back into existence? "1,300 phone inquiries, an online petition with more than 1,000 signatures and Internet chat sites lamenting the demise of the snack." That's all it took for Kellogg to resurrect the odd Oreo ripoff cookies called Hydrox, which were discontinued in 2003 after nearly 100 years. Turns out some people really like their Hydrox! The product always seemed like an inferior, superfluous, knockoff cookie with a terrible name. Which it is! But that has proven to work in its favor from a marketing perspective, because, it seems, "Its fans came to see their sandwich-cookie choice as a call to arms for nonconformists." Sad—but effective. Unfortunately, its kitsch value is the only thing Hydrox really has going for it:
The cookie had lost out to rival Oreo due to Nabisco's far larger advertising budget for Oreo, as well as its odd name, Hydrox devotees believe. "A good product name for a toilet cleaner, maybe, but a cookie?" says Dan Lerner, a 75-year-old retired radio-station owner and Hydrox fan in Merion, Pa...
An informal Oreo-Hydrox blind taste test by 20 Journal reporters resulted in 14 favoring Oreo, citing its sweeter taste. The sample Hydrox cookies were supplied by Kellogg.
A Web site that recently listed the top 25 things people miss ranked Hydrox at No. 4, just behind in-store lunch counters and ahead of Howard Johnson restaurants and the popcorn snack "Screaming Yellow Zonkers."
