Why Girl Scout Cookies Taste Better Next Year

“…Raspberry Rally Cookies are being put on pause…”

Sadly, months before the 2024 Girl Scout cookie season launched, we learned about the Raspberry Rally’s demise. If, as a sold-out flavor, it reputedly went for as much as $79.99 on eBay, why would they eliminate it?

A behavioral economist could tell us why.

The Raspberry Rally

We can start with a brief look at the Raspberry Rally. Baked by Little Brownie or ABC, each with its own recipe, two companies produce all Girl Scout cookies. Then, with green and gold on the following map, we can differentiate their territory, and, through Little Brownie’s box and ABC’s plastic tray, their packaging.

This 2017 map (the most recent I could find) shows how the bakers divided the country:

The Takeout preferred Little Brownie’s Raspberry Rallys. They liked their thicker chocolate, buttery crunch texture, and the filling’s vibrant pink color. However, they also said that both versions had a mass-produced flavor,

Our Bottom Line: Diminishing Marginal Utility

This year, Raspberry Rally is gone and Adventurefuls are back.

So, at the risk of committing heresy, I would like to suggest that Girl Scout Cookies are really not great (or even very good) cookies. Instead, like the McRib and Pumpkin Spice Latte, Girl Scout Cookie popularity relates to their limited availability.

Called diminishing marginal utility, each extra bite of a cookie or plate at a buffet table gives us a little less extra pleasure. (At Thanksgiving, the first bite of stuffing is always better than the tenth one.) Because of Girl Scout Cookies’ limited availability, they are soon gone. Since their diminishing marginal utility never really sets in, we look forward to their return.

We could even say that the Girl Scouts use a McRib strategy. Like the McRib, we love Girl Scout Cookies next year because they left so soon this year.

My sources and more: For their cookie analysis, The Takeout and Business Insider could help you decide what to buy. Also we thank Axios for its slew of articles that included this one. Meanwhile, econlife looked at Adventurefuls two years ago.

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