“The #ThrowbackThursday Was Eating…Cookies!”

*Gasp*

The horror!

When presenting evidence in a trial, it is important to stick to the most important details – hair color, hair style, clothing, distinguishing marks, and of course, what the killer was eating at the exact moment they committed the crime.

In today’s case, it is what the killer was eating.

What was the killer eating, you ask?

Click play and find out!

Fruit and cake? Surely she is not the killer!

Newtons – made of fruit and cake – were first introduced in 1891, and were trademarked as a pastry, rather than a cookie. There are several varieties – apple cinnamon, strawberry, raspberry, mixed berry, and the ever-present fig. The cookies – er, pastries – were originally created as fig rolls to help remedy digestive issues, which physicians believed were the cause of all illnesses. The branding – Newton – was named after the city of Newton, Massachusetts.

Fig Newtons are Nabisco’s third best selling product. A 100% whole grain and fat free varieties are also available, and in 2011, a crisp version, called Newtons Fruit Thins, as well as a “mini” type, have been part of the family of Not Cookies.

These commercials were pretty well known, always featuring very British reminders that a Newton is not a cookie, but “fruit and cake!” as a justification for behavior (eating in bed, eating two at one time, hiding under a porch to eat them). The commercials aired frequently up through the end of the 1990s. In fact, the slogan “A cookie is just a cookie, but a Newton is fruit and cake” was used starting in the 1980s.

Definitely a marketing ploy that had a long shelf life, wouldn’t you say?

I have eaten Fig Newtons (who hasn’t), and did so around the time these commercials aired. I actually did like them, but I was a weird kid. I hadn’t had them in years (probably because I was the only one in the family that liked them – weird kid and all), but they were given to me in post-op after having sinus surgery, along with a can of ginger ale. I was actually pretty excited about Fig Newtons (even in an anesthesia daze), but gagged on them on the first bite. I don’t think it had anything to do with taste, but post-anesthesia nausea. Given the opportunity, I’d try at least one version of the fruit Newtons – they actually look appealing. I’m convinced the fig kind would remind me of surgery.

Which is a shame, I do like the way figs taste. And I never turn down cookies or anything that resembles a pastry.

But at the end of the day…

A cookie is just a cookie…and the difference between that and Fig Newton will clearly get you exonerated.

Case dismissed!

Have a great Throwback Thursday!

2 comments

  1. I remember when I was a kid my mom liked Fig Newtons but no one else in the house did, so she would buy them. She never had to worry about opening the bag to find only crumbs like she would for any other kind of cookie (not a cookie). She did get the apple cinnamon variety once and those were great and gone pretty quickly, she didn’t make that mistake again.

    Liked by 1 person

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