Editing 2366: Amelia's Farm Fresh Cookies

{{comic
| number    = 2366
| date      = September 30, 2020
| title     = Amelia's Farm Fresh Cookies
| image     = amelias_farm_fresh_cookies.png
| titletext = I told her I'd take her address off the packaging if she'd stop submitting anonymous food safety complaints about my bakery to the health department, but she sent me a note that said NO DEAL along with an extra large batch of cookies.
}}

==Explanation==
The comic portrays the back side of a box of cookies (evidenced by the {{w|nutrition facts}}-style table on the left side). Many brands have a romanticized {{w|origin story}} on their packaging explaining the name or how they have a secret ingredient. Instead, this brand's origin story is a tale of petty one-upwomanship as the brand's founder sets out to prove that her cookies are better than her grandmother's.

The first paragraph lovingly describes the founder's memories of sitting in her grandmother's kitchen, watching her bake cookies. One would expect this to transition to a description of how delicious those cookies were, and a claim that her recipe became the basis for the cookies being offered for sale. Instead, 'Amelia' insists that her grandmother's cookies were ''awful'', and insists that the goal of her company is to show how cookies are supposed to taste. This subversion of expectations breaks down the sense of nostalgia that's often used to market products, and publicly embarrasses her grandmother, turning a minor family squabble into a very public fight. Such is a very unusual strategy for convincing people to buy cookies. 

To complete her revenge, the "story" contains the grandmother's address. Creating false addresses for their mascots is often used as a publicity stunt for children to write testimonials to the brand's PR or marketing department. However, here it appears to be Amelia's actual Grandma's actual address, the goal being for her to receive thousands of letters on a regular basis about how her granddaughter's cookies are so great, while jabbing "unlike yours!"

The title text suggests that the grandmother's address was not originally on the packaging, but was instead added as their feud escalated. The implied chain of events is that after Amelia put out her brand, her Grandma called the health inspectors on her. Whether genuinely concerned the "gooey centers and slightly crisp exteriors" are being achieved through unsanitary means (such as not fully cooking that part) or simply a ploy to overburden Amelia's bakery with unnecessarily frequent inspections, it annoyed Amelia enough to put her Grandma's address on the packaging.

She additionally, now that it was clear how much Amelia hated her cookies, sent her an "extra-large batch," which would mean Amelia would be forced to eat them as punishment so they wouldn't go to waste.

While the name of the city past the first letter and at least one of the zip code digits is too illegible to read, by process of elimination it is plausible that the city is Orlando and the zip code is 32841. No other location in Florida consists of one word starting with O and a zip code legibly close to the one in the comic.

==Transcript==
:[What looks like the back of a package of cookies is shown.]

:[Top left: Product logo.]
:'''Amelia's''' Farm-Fresh ''Cookies''
:[Parts of an oval surround the logo]

:[Middle left: What appears to be a standard Nutrition Facts panel, though the details are illegible squiggles]

:[Bottom left: What appears to be an ingredients list, though the details are illegible squiggles, and a few other squiggles]

:[Right side:]
:''Our Story''
:Growing up on my grandma's farm, I spent so many cozy mornings in the kitchen, watching her take trays of fresh-baked cookies from the oven.
:Her cookies were just ''awful''.
:She used the finest ingredients. Eggs straight from the coop, stone-ground flour, hand-churned butter. But she squandered them. It's so sad. She told me I was too picky, but I know what cookies are supposed to taste like.
:When I started a bakery, I vowed not to repeat her mistakes. These cookies won't fall apart in your hands. They have gooey centers, and slightly crisp exteriors, not the other way around, ''Grandma''. There's no mysterious gritty texture. Why would there be?
:If you enjoy these cookies, please write to my grandma to let her know.
:Thanks!
:''Amelia''

:[A partially legible squiggled address appears at the bottom left of the Our Story part of the box. The bracketed dashes represent portions that are illegible.]
:Ms W[——] M[——]
:1[—] A[——] Ln
:O[——], FL 328[–]1

==Trivia==
* The mysterious gritty texture may come from unmixed sugar.
{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Food]]