Olestra: The Crappiest Flop of All with Kevin James Thornton | 38

The Big Flop

Wondery

Society & Culture, Comedy, Business

4.6 • 884 Ratings

🗓️ 3 June 2024

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

After 30 years of development, Procter & Gamble rolled out a new, calorie-free oil substitute with the luxurious name, Olestra. This “miracle food” was supposed to revolutionize junk food and allow snackers to eat all the chips and crackers they could cram down their gullets without gaining any weight. Unfortunately for Procter & Gamble, Olestra did not help them meet their bottom line. Did customers have trouble swallowing this new and innovative product? Or did they just not like having "anal leakage"?!

Kevin James Thornton (American Queer, This Ends in Paris) joins Misha to share his gut reactions on Olestra's fallout.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to the Big Flop early and ad-free.
0:05.3	Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.
0:19.5	Grand Junction Colorado is a quaint mountain city with only a few thousand residents.
0:26.9	An idyllic American locale, any picture taken of the place looks like a postcard.
0:33.2	It also happens to be one of Frito Lay's outposts, and now it's going to be a test market for Proctor and Gamble's newest product, Olestra,
0:44.9	a fake fat that might help snackers lose weight.
0:49.3	It has zero calories.
0:51.4	It's a miracle food.
0:53.8	It could transform the health of people across America.
0:58.2	And at least one person in Grand Junction is happy to be part of the craze. Barbara loves snacks.
1:06.9	She prepares her favorite comfort dinner, a sandwich and a full plate of crispy, salty potato chips.
1:14.1	She goes to bed satisfied and gleeful, having discovered a possibly healthier way to enjoy her favorite treat.
1:23.1	But the morning isn't fun at all.
1:26.5	Barbara wakes up to searing stomach pain,
1:29.7	and she spends the next few hours battling violent diarrhea.
1:36.3	Barbara can hardly believe something she can buy at the grocery store could do that to her body.
1:43.0	Almost more remarkable is that there is a warning in
1:47.8	plain sight. Right on the chip bag itself, there's a label that says Olestra can cause cramping and
1:56.4	loose stools. But despite being upfront front about their products unintended side effects,
2:04.3	Procter and Gamble is about to find out that, as far as PR nightmares go,
2:10.3	a food that makes you crap yourself is a biggie.
2:21.9	It's giving health-conscious Americans smart new choices in snacking.
	...

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