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Ross: Split it?

Is splitting Oreo a thing for Americans?

Monica just went to her bedroom. Ross and Rachel for the first time in the episode and the show are left together. There is a dish of Oreo cookies on the table. Only one cookie is left. Ross and Rachel both reach to that cookie. But as each of them realizes the other wants the cookie, both retreat, conceding the sweet treat to one another.

Ross: Oh, no-

Rachel: Sorry-

Ross: No no no, go-

Rachel: No, you have it, really, I don't want it-

Ross: Split it?

Rachel: Okay.

Yes, this rapid exchange is not really a joke. But again this is the first scene in the entire series where Ross and Rachel are together. I believe that in order to make the first time viewer root for the couple writers took time to fill the moment with references that are dear to the American heart.

Plus the Oreo. It is a brand of cookie on the table that is recognizable even to me. And marketers know how much meaning and stories can be packed in one brand name. So I went searching.

First of all this cookie is going strong in US for over 100 years! It is before World War I, while Russia was ruled by Tsar and a month before Titanic was sunk. Since March, 1912. Meaning? A pretty big mark of the American culture. Therefore it is literally guaranteed that an American viewer of any age are getting more invested in the Rachel-Ross-are-along scene. The cookie is known. The splitting process is familiar to a bone. Are Ross and Rachel the two halves of one cookie?

Another point. Since the cookies invention Oreo has changed its slogans quite a few times. The ones that are still recognizable are:

- ‘Oh! Oh! Oreo.' (1950)

- For the Kid in All of Us (1980)

- The One and Only (1982)

- Oreo, The Original Twister (1995)

- Milk’s favorite Cookie (2004)

Look at the dates of the slogans again. The first FRIENDS episode has aired in September 1994. That makes the slogan 'The One and Only' be the freshest in Ross's mind when the Oreo splitting is happening. On some level Ross and the viewers are sent a message 'Rachel is Ross's true one and only love!'

Plus we all can agree sharing food makes us connect on a deeper level. Since the beginning of human history eating along the other means trusting enough to put down protecting weapons, relax and get vulnerable.

Ross: Oh. Listen, do you think- and try not to let my intense vulnerability become any kind of a factor here- but do you think it would be okay if I asked you out? Sometime? Maybe?

There you have it! The Oreo cookie code is broken. Or shell I say split?

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Location: New York, NY, USA

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