At some point, someone who had enough free time to reflect on the design of the drawings in the Oreo cookies, came to the conclusion that the Knights Templar and the Freemasons had a lot to say. Many more were added to that person. This was the real story.
In fact, so many added to the theory that there are web pages and whole threads in reddit about the conspiracy behind the seemingly harmless chocolate cookies.
The truth is that the decorative pattern in relief is considered much more than the integral part of the Oreo experience, one could say that it is the visual signature of the brand. It consists of a series of four-leaf clovers around the word "OREO", in turn, the word is in the central area surrounded by a circle and a kind of antenna (or double cross) that is the symbol of the manufacturer, Nabisco
Around the shamrocks there are a series of lines that are broken by circles or points. Beyond that, the outer edge of the cookie is slightly ridged, which serves as a visual frame for the ornamental center and as a means to grasp the cookie with relative ease.
While the cookie itself does not seem hard to understand, some find that the meaning of its elaborate embossed design remains "much more". There is no official note explaining the clubs, the segmented line with intermittent points that surround it, the structure similar to a television antenna on the name "OREO" or the 90 evenly spaced pillars that adorn its outer edge.
However, and although there is no good reason to suppose that the pattern is other than decorative, there are those who see in the design of the cookie the representation of a deep and dark mystery to be probed. Do the symbols communicate a hidden message?
One of the most repeated theories links the "symbolism" of Oreo with the medieval Knights Templar and the fraternal order of Freemasonry, two organizations often implicated in large-scale conspiracy theories. According to this theory:
The symbol around the word Oreo in the center of the cookie was designed by the Cross of the Knights Templar of Lorraine, a symbol of quality. The "flowers" were represented using the Cross Pattée of the Knights Templar. The points, the flowers and the lines represent the 3 degrees of the masonry of the ancient crafts. The arrangement of the points around the cookie was strategically placed to form the 5-Point Star; the symbol of the Order of the Eastern Star. All these symbols are still used in Masonic bodies, including the Eastern Star, the Knights Templar and the Scottish Rite.
Do you think it's just a coincidence? The inventor is the design executive and responsible for the current appearance of the Oreo, he was a Mason.
Coincidentally, the rumor has spread that the designer of Oreo was a Mason but, does that mean that the symbols mean something else? Maybe a super secret conspiracy? Some have come to mix the brand with the Illuminati, with the CIA and their mental control tests, or even as a means to deceive millions of people to participate in a sect against their will every time they ingest an Oreo.
Perhaps you should also consider that Oreo is the best-selling packaged cookie in the world, where more than 40 billion are baked and consumed each year. So if the purpose is to control the minds or some kind of global satanic conversion, its scope is incomparable. If world domination is the goal, it is difficult to escape the conclusion that Oreos is, in fact, indispensable for that purpose.
Unless, of course, the symbolism is simply decorative.
The first decorations and the origin of Oreo
In fact, the molding or printing of decorative images on cookies is quite old. In its simplest form, the dough was perforated with small holes to prevent it from swelling during cooking. In its most complex form, the technique involved "engraving" the surfaces of baked goods with intricate designs for aesthetic or ceremonial purposes.
Then, with the arrival of the industrial revolution (and the mass production of billions of units), the industrial biscuit arrived. Here the two techniques mentioned above were combined with an automated production.
A few decades later, in 1920, the true golden age of the engineering of cookies was produced: the rotary moulder. This technology, although updated with variable speed controls and quality sensors, is still used to make the Oreos and most of the thick biscuits in relief.
The mass of cookies is forced into negative molds, which print patterns, brand names and holes. Then, a blade scrapes off any excess dough to give a flat bottom, and finally the formed cookies are peeled off on a conveyor belt that is going to bake.
Interestingly, around that time Sunshine Biscuits appeared, one of the first companies of baked goods on an industrial scale. The company introduced a product called Hydrox, a cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookie with a raised design on the top and bottom.
That was a sensation, and four years later it inspired Sunshine's biggest competitor, the National Biscuit Company (Nabisco), to launch an imitation. Guess? Yes, Oreo.
The design of Oreo
So, first, the Oreo design was modeled on that of another product, Hydrox, which also had a raised pattern on both sides. Second, the design logically evolved over time. The pattern with which one is familiar today was implemented in 1952, and is a more complex version of the two previous designs.
Interestingly, when Oreo was first introduced by Nabisco in 1912, it used a much more organic crown for its relief, later augmented with two pairs of turtle doves in a 1924 redesign.
To put an end to the urban legends about design, it is best to go to the guy who carried out the "complicated" drawing, engineer William A. Turnier. The man was never asked in life the reason of these alleged symbols and patterns, however, his son Bill Turnier has explained to several media the thoughts of the engineer:
I read something on the Internet about some speculations about Masonic designs, Knights Templar ... But my father was not a Mason. His father was, but he did not have much enthusiasm for that. Some of these theories and masonic conspiracies ... I can not understand the people who enter these stories and give it numerological importance.
I also remember that some came to ask my father about the importance of having 90 notches on the edge. My father always answered the same: "90? I do not know, I never stopped to tell them. " They also called him by the clubs, and my father simply included them for an "organic" reason in the set.
Finally, and as they say in Bernhardt Fudyma Design Group, there is no similarity between the form of "antenna" on the name "OREO" and the traditional Cross of Lorraine (which has also been identified with the Knights Templar).
In fact, its history is very simple and has been in use since 1900, when a symbol for the National Biscuit Company was needed in one of its products. The oval crowned with a double cross seemed simple and effective, and with time it was changing as the company did it until it became Nabisco.
Therefore, although the best-selling cookie in the world lends itself to such exciting stories as the possibility of it being a vehicle for world domination, the only motive behind it was to make a good product, or at least one that would last. and was recognized in time. And the truth is that they got it. These conspiracy theories are the best proof of that. [The Atlantic, Wikipedia, Reddit, The PringuerleBaker, IndyWeek]