Pumpkin Spice to Oreos

Well it is that time of the year again—fall; probably the most beautiful time of the year if you ask me. Along with some of my favorite fall activities are hiking, apple picking, corn mazes, and of course pumpkin picking. One of my least favorite things about fall though is the enormous amount of publicity around candy corn, pumpkin spice, and of course the tacky holiday decorations. This ‘New To Me’ is the most crazy, wild train of thought—but it is where my thoughts took me and I hope that you learn something new.

           

Again, I was listening to Q102 Shenandoah’s country radio and I heard them talking about pumpkin spice. Again, I am so over this fad it is not even funny. I continued to listen because I am kind of lazy and they started talking about how in Japan they are making a pumpkin spice drizzle  for McDonald’s French fries. Starting on September 28^th through October 31^st fries will come with a pumpkin and choco sauce that will have a rich pumpkin flavor for the holiday craze. What is mind blowing to me about this is that the U.S. pumpkin spice hype has made it all the way overseas! And I didn’t even know that Japan had an autumn! So I did more research.

            Did you know that starting in mid-September the “koyo front” moves south and it grows colder and the trees change colors like it does in fall here? What is more mind boggling to me is that Japan does not even celebrate Halloween in the Fall seasons though—they celebrate Matsuri or Urabon which is like Halloween but it is in July or August. So why has pumpkin spice made it overseas and to all places why McDonalds? I started to wonder if Japan even has pumpkins because how would they know about pumpkin spice if they do not even know about pumpkins. There is a Japanese pumpkin called Kabocha—which is like a western style squash so I guess that counts for something “pumpkin-like.”

            What really got me interested in this is how an American trend and style of food makes it overseas. Also, how companies like McDonald’s sell products overseas that would sell in America for promotional holidays or seasons. I started doing some more research and the first thing that popped into my head was Oreos. Oreos have promotional flavors for each season, month, holiday, etc. I am a sucker into buying a huge pack of Oreos every time a new flavor comes out. So I wondered if Oreos have special flavors for countries other than the United States and how much money does Oreo make a year selling these products.

           

            In 2014, the world spent 2.5 billion dollars in Oreo purchase. This is an insane jump from the 1.5 million dollars people spent in 2007. To top these figures off, 1 billion of these revenues were generated in developing markets like China. Who knew Oreos were big in China? Oreos can be found in 100 different countries around the world. So the seasonal flavors we get in America—have they made it overseas like pumpkin spice has in Japan?

           

The list of Oreo cookie flavors is endless in the Untied States, but Oreo caters flavors to specific countries and regions. In China, there is a green tea ice cream Oreo cookie. They also have fruity flavors like Orange & Mango and Raspberry & Blueberry.  In Indonesia they have a specialties like Oreo Vanilla, Oreo Strawberry, Oreo Blueberry Ice Cream, and Oreo Orange Ice Cream. In Argentina they have the Oreo X3 or Por Tres, which is three layers of cookie and two layers of crème! Lastly, in Mexico they have Oreo Trio Chocolate, which is three different flavors of chocolate in one, they have Oreo Dark Fudge, and Oreo White Fudge. It is crazy to me how a business can go abroad and make products for specific people. Everyone loves the classic Oreo—but what is impressive is that the different flavored Oreos have become a craze internationally as well and Oreo as a company is catering flavors for specific areas.

            Is this a phase of flavored wonders, an economic plan of excellence, or just dumbfounded luck? I am not sure. But from McDonalds with pumpkin spice fries to different flavored Oreos in China—it seems that U.S. trends are spreading faster than we think they are!