By Melissa Stough
Contributing Writer

Chromatica Oreos are the must have cookies for the past few weeks. The pink, green and vegan cookie, inspired by Lady Gaga’s “Chromatica,” was a hit long before it hit the shelves.

Monsters (Gaga’s affectionate name for her fans) swarmed to the grocery stores, which meant that many chains including Giant, Wal-Mart and Target were quickly out of stock. Luckily, I found an entire end cap of Oreos at my local Giant.

When examining the new collaboration with Lady Gaga, the color contrast caught my eye first. The company replaced the traditional blue foil with a lustrous pink and changed the cookie pictured on the top of the product. 

A bright pink cookie with green filling replaced the brown and white cookie popularized by Nabisco. When I opened the foil, the cookies greeted me with an aroma akin to that of a vanilla car freshener’s–not unpleasant but definitely unnatural for an edible product. 

Oreo cookies often feature stamped designs on one side,–the side opposite to the original Oreo label. Typically, these designs vary by season; however, Chromatica Oreos feature album-inspired art such as hearts and dancing characters. 

Though the label read “pink colored golden cookie with green creme,” I tasted a slightly different, more artificial flavor.

Artificial dyes, while visually appealing, are not always the most palatable. Much like a sugar cookie coated in frosting, the cookie taste was lost in the sea of reds and greens.

Next, I used the “milk test,” where I dunked the Oreos in milk, resulting in a slightly wet treat rather than the iconic saturated dessert that blends the flavors of milk and chocolate. 

Overall, the novelty of the Lady Gaga inspired product masks the actual flavor value of the cookie. So what was the purpose of this collaboration?

Gaga is a known human rights activist, consistently illustrating her support of marginalized communities through financial contributions to LGBT rights, mental health and, most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Her role as a celebrity spans beyond music, demonstrating her activism through donations and the founding of key support organizations like the “Born This Way Foundation.”

Gaga and her mother founded the “Born This Way Foundation” in 2011, supporting youth mental health and identity (BornThisWay.foundation). Gaga’s foundation encourages youth of all identities to push for equity and follow their dreams, aiming to eradicate bullying and empower young people of all identities.

The slogan of the Chromatica Oreos provides the connection between Gaga’s advocacy and her collaboration. The slogan states, “In Chromatica no one thing is greater than another.”