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I love the Girl Scouts, but not their cookies
As the Girl Scouts celebrate 100 years, I support them in all ways — save one.
Tue, Mar 13 2012 at 9:50 AM
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Healthy Eating
Two little girls in a mall hold boxes of Girl Scout cookies.

Photo: Danny_Eugene/Flickr

When I was young, I was a Girl Scout for a year; I dropped out of the program then for the same reason that I take issue with the group today: those infernal cookies. As a kid, I had no interest in selling anything, but really wanted to hike and camp, and thought the Girl Scouts would have been a great way to get to learn how to build a fire safely and become expert in tent construction. (In my town, I would have had better luck joining the Boy Scouts, who were frequently out in the woods, learning stuff.) But all the Girl Scout troop in my town seemed to do was sit around learning crafts and selling cookies. I left after becoming totally bored with those activities and learned about backpacking on my own. 
 
Fast-forward to today, and I realize that my hometown Girl Scout troop was just catering to what the local troop leader was interested in, and that the organization is probably one of the best advocates for young women in the country. Celebrating its 100th anniversary this week, the group has been a leader in many of the areas that Americans are proud to be known for.
 
The Girl Scouts made room for disabled girls in 1936 (recognizing way before various disabilities acts that those with physical and mental challenges would still want to be part of a group and shouldn't be turned away). There were groups for African-American, Native American and Mexican-American girls before and during the 1920s and soon afterwards, the group desegregated, earning kudos from Martin Luther King Jr. at the start of the civil rights movement.
 
Today, Girl Scout leaders reach out to all kinds of girls, according to Jezebel, "... including girls whose mothers have been incarcerated and girls who are currently adjudicated, are wards of the court, or are court-referred delinquents." Transgender girl scouts are welcomed, and no scout has to believe in god to be part of the group (very much unlike the exclusionary Boy Scouts, who are an embarrassment to America in their politicizing of children's beliefs). 
 
Former Girl Scouts include Sen. Patty Murray of Washington state, Secretary of Sate Hillary Rodham Clinton, former first lady Nancy Reagan, former Secretary of State (and the first woman to hold that position) Madeleine Albright, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, actress and comedienne Lucille Ball, retired Olympian Jackie Joyner-Kersee, author and activist Gloria Steinem, and singer and actress Dionne Warwick, according to Jezebel's article on the group. 
 
To say the Girl Scouts organization has been a powerful tool in encouraging girl's — and women's — independence and leadership, as well as being an advocate for girls who are ignored or sidelined by the rest of society is obvious. It is a great organization that will continue to support young women into the future. And I support them in every way except one: the cookies. 
 
Some of those cookies contain high fructose corn syrup, and some of them contain partially hydrogenated oils (including the perennial fave, Thin Mints). Most contain genetically modified soy, and some contain GMO corn, while others contain artificial colors (some of which have been linked to cancer in lab animals). See a good breakdown here. They are all made with highly processed, low-quality ingredients — those very same ingredients that health advocates are trying to get Americans to eat less of, and especially trying to get kids to eat less of. And yet the Girl Scouts use their good name, and wonderful history, to push what is nothing more than mere junk "food" on the American populace.
 
In true Girl Scout form, they have addressed each of these issues on the group's website. "Because Girl Scout cookies are produced just once a year and for a limited time, our bakers never achieve the volume required to support the specific production of specialty cookies. The demand has not been great enough to make it economically feasible, however our bakers continue to experiment and have a commitment to ensuring there is always a 'healthful' cookie in their line-up." I find this excuse to be particularly lame for an organization that promotes health and wellness for young girls as a primary goal. They can't offer just one whole-ingredient, low-sugar offering? Really? I'd be willing to pay more for it, and I bet I'm not the only one. 
 
So while I will continue to support the Girl Scouts as a group, I will have to agree to disagree with the Girl Scouts about their cookies, which I believe undermine their own anti-obesity and health programs. I won't be buying the cookies this year (haven't in more than a decade), and I encourage others not to either. You can always donate to the organization directly, as they depend on the money raised from cookie sales, and skip the processed junk. Maybe they'll get the message that selling unhealthy food is a dirty business to be involved in, and one that's not worthy of the Girl Scout name. 
 
MNN homepage tease photo: juverna/Flickr
 

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Comments: 3
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frankly
frankly Mar 15 2012 at 12:43 PM
What, you don't think the Girls Scouts politicize their beliefs? Surely you are not so ignorant. As for me, I stopped supporting them at all when I learned they support planned parenthood. Why are they giving money to other organizations in the first place? I bought cookies to support the Girl Scouts, not some third party with which I disagree. The Boy Scouts are an embarrassment to America because they believe in God? No madame, it is you and your ilk who are an embarrassment, claiming to support
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diversity but lambasting those who do not share your world view.
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svartan's picture
Starre Vartan Mar 15 2012 at 1:16 PM
The Boy Scouts support homophobic policies, explicitly, as well as requiring a belief in god. As an atheist I will absolutely support and protect YOUR right to practice what you believe, but excluding those who don't agree with you is not only narrow-minded, it's unAmerican.http://www.religioustolerance.org/bsa.htm Here's the story of a scout leader who was removed for being a lesbian, even after serving when no other parent was interested in the job and doing the job successfully. This is the essence
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of discrimination, and also inherently anti-American.http://ishouldbelaughing.blogspot.com/2011/08/boy-scouts-of-americateach... Planned Parenthood is a group that gives healthcare to low-income, adult women who need it (the vast majority of their work is prenatal, and preventative, like pap smears and annual health exams for women who receive no other type of healthcare). They also provide abortions for women who have made the decision to end their pregnancies, which is a legal medical procedure in this country as of this post. They are providing a service that is a choice for women to make with their families. I thought freedom of thought and belief was the foundation of American values. (I won't tell you how to live your life and you won't tell me how to live mine). How is supporting an organization that discriminates, but not supporting one that offers choices (even if you don't like those choices)? Which gets to the heart of my post - I like supporting the Girl Scouts, but I won't in the ways that is a choice - buying what I see as an unhealthy product.
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anonymous
Ruth B Mar 15 2012 at 10:40 AM
Great article! As a lifetime Girl Scout member I am sad to say I hadn't really given much thought into the cookies themselves. I did see with my troop that the cookie sale was beneficial to the Girl Scout experience - it taught the girls a good deal. However, I am shocked with this piece: "Because Girl Scout cookies are produced just once a year and for a limited time, our bakers never achieve the volume required to support the specific production of specialty cookies. The demand has not been great
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enough to make it economically feasible, however our bakers continue to experiment and have a commitment to ensuring there is always a 'healthful' cookie in their line-up." While the cookies may only be sold in one area for a limited time each year, each licensed baker produces cookies ALL YEAR long - they wouldn't be able to meet the demand from the whole country in just a few short months. They really need to find better alternative ingredients!
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