Good Press for Bad Little Cookies

[Gwen Schantz]

The New York Times published an article recently about a fortune cookie company located in Queens. I admit that I did not run a thorough check of the NY Times archives, but I can bet the paper has given little press to cookie companies in the past. So how does a seemingly insignificant firm, like a fortune cookie company, turn enough heads to get noticed by the Times? It makes some laugh, while offending others.

The company, called Wonton Food, has been printing less-than-conventional messages on the little paper tags that go into its cookies. One example: "It’s over your head now. Time to get some professional help". This message makes me laugh, but I'm confident that there are quite a few chinese-food-eaters out there that would take offense to it. Wonton Food was obviously aware of its cookies' potential to offend, but it was willing to take that risk, and as a result, the company is getting the best free press that money can buy. Along with the NY Times, bloggers are buzzing about these sassy cookies.

Getting mentioned in papers and online for being offensive isn't exaclty ideal, and I wouldn't go as far as to say "there's no such thing as bad press". For a food manufacturer like Wonton, getting a write-up for causing an E Coli outbreak, for example, would probably do little to boost sales. But taking a risk and making a (potentially offensive) statement has served the firm well. What to do with all this buzz? Now it's time that Wonton started its own blog to get in on the cookie conversation.