Sometimes, when you’re watching something, an innocuous or throwaway line really grabs your attention and demands further examination. In an episode of Parks & Recreation, this was said:
I know. My client is a very determined business man. When he rips someone off he goes all the way. You see, you are Hydrox, Mr Haverford. We are Oreo.
While I couldn’t be one hundred percent sure what this meant, I got the idea. Oreos have a rival, called Hydrox, and from this it seems that Oreos probably nicked the idea. I should have just moved on. But I didn’t.
Hydrox were first produced in 1908 by Sunshine Biscuits. Their name is a portmanteau of the atoms that make up water, because Sunshine wanted them to convey purity and goodness. Not sure why you would want to remind people of soggy biscuits, but okay.
Four years later, Oreo’s hit the shelves, and they soon out-sold their rivals, before Hydrox came to be viewed as the crappy knock-offs. Hydrox stopped being sold in 1999, but recently came back via Kelloggs.
https://youtu.be/BZA0kJWkAhE
