While I was searching for a topic this week, my sister-in-law brought one to me that I had never thought of before, and one I feel that we all look over. We can all agree we love some kind of Girl Scout cookie, and we probably have our opinions we would fight over about them. "Samoas are the best!" "No, it's thin mints, duh!" You might even have a strange hankering for the lemon cookies (Depending on what they are called in your region). The main question is: Are Girl Scout cookies actually better than other cookies, or is it the idea of them that tastes so good to us?
With a decent amount of research I have tried everything I could to find reasons why Girl Scout cookies taste better than others. I first analyzed the ingredients of the cookies, and to my chagrin found nothing out of the ordinary. No, there isn't an ingredient called "Your daughter's love", "Special crack cocaine cookie blend" or anything else that would set them apart from and other sugar biscuit that sits on the shelves at the grocery store. Jokes aside, the ingredients are not out of the ordinary, and are also similar to what you would use to bake them at home. Second I delved into "bang for your buck" only to instantly find that it is ludicrous to associate value with these cookies. At a rough $4 average for one box around the country, it doubles the $1.50 to $3 for a similarly sized box of similar cookies. Also, the retail price doesn't go directly to the scouts. In reality they are lucky to get 20% of what they bring in. Not exactly the highest payoff.
So if there's no magical ingredient to make the cookies taste so much better (even though I maintain that there has to be) and we are paying so much for them as a society, how does any of this make sense at all? How can we rationalize spending so much on such a small box of cookies that don't help all that much? Let's explore the mental effect that the Girl Scouts of America place on us as the consumer when we buy their cookies.
Exclusivity
Exclusivity is one of the best marketing strategies in the US. There is two ways this works. One, a smaller amount of a product is made to ensure a higher price and desire for said product. Two, a limited time window to get the product is enforced to push people to stock up while they can. The latter is what I feel truly drives the addiction to them. The mindset of only being able to get your fix for a couple weeks out of the year, is similar to the playoffs in a sport or anything else that culminates at a certain point of the year. Also, being a part of this short campaign gives us a high of feeling exclusive, as though we have a special bond with the cookies and the organization that those who miss out do not.
Emotion
Can we all agree that impulse buying a $4 box of cookies is and emotional decision rather than a rational one? This is simple, because hardly anyone is going to turn down a very young girl and kill her spirits, let alone in a public place like Walmart or wherever they may be.
Nostalgia
To those who love Girl Scout cookies, it is an annual treat. It brings back feelings of when we got them from our mom as a child, or it may even bring back women's feelings about when they were once saleswomen of the colorful cookie boxes. Especially when it is only a few weeks out of the year, it proviodes and excellent opportunity to relive days past.
Self-Gratification
What better way to satisfy yourself than buy those cookies that you shouldn't and also be helping little girls while youre at it? This proves to be a deadly 1-2 punch for the Girl Scouts. Think about how many other proucts that we would call guilty pleasures also add a level of helping others or charitable value tyo their product. No case of Budweiser has ever helped feed the hungry directly. 15% of the proceeds from that pack of Marlboros you picked up at the gas station does not go to young men. Granted these two have no dorect correlation to young men, but the feeling it indices in us is the same. We can treat oursleves and be putting the money toward a good cause (however slight the profit really is).
It is clear that whatever the Girl Scouts are doing to us is darn effective, and I don't think any of us really care. With a lot of changes to the upcoming cookie season, it will be interesting to see whetehr or not the trend continues. THey have been doing an excellent job of getting us to buy cookies, no matter how it is done.
