Why Isn't The Laughing Cow Laughing?

• The titular Laughing Cow on Bel Brands’ The Laughing Cow cheese is suddenly not laughing on newly released packaging. But why not?
• In a cryptic campaign meant to intrigue customers by withholding details, all we can do is speculate and wait to see why the once smiley cow is now sorrowful

You know things are bad when even The Laughing Cow has gone somber.

That’s right, folks, everyone’s favorite (and the only) Laughing Cow, who has radiantly beamed in open-mouthed glee on the beloved packaging of Bel Brands’ The Laughing Cow cheese for 100 years, has stopped laughing. Hold your loved ones close.

The brand has just sneakily rolled out a campaign with promotional packaging featuring The Laughing Cow doing just the opposite: looking woefully distraught, staring vacantly out into the middle distance, and decidedly not laughing. A hand-scrawled “NOT” has been crudely wedged into the wordmark so that it now says “The Not Laughing Cow,” with additional text below reading, “We need to talk” in front of a QR code. What does it all mean, (Not) Laughing Cow?! What are you trying to tell us?!

“The Laughing Cow has spent more than 100 years reminding us not to take life too seriously, so when she suddenly gets serious, you pay attention,” Bel Brands chief marketing officer Jamee Pearlstein said in a press release. “Whatever finally got to her must be worth talking about. We’ll let her explain when she’s ready.”

The investigative journalist in me took me down an admittedly very shallow rabbit hole to The Laughing Cow website. I was greeted by a cryptic dialog box featuring The Not Laughing Cow, that prompted me to “Learn More.” Alas, learn more I did not, as the only new information provided on the ensuing landing page were two odd campaign videos—one featuring a Not Laughing Cow mascot sitting alone at a diner, and the other showing the same mascot pushing herself sadly on a swing. “We need to talk,” appears as the tag at the end of each segment.

Bel Brands is clearly aiming to stoke confusion amongst customers with this campaign, and, well, mission accomplished, you guys! Because, I’m sorry, but what the hell is going on? Why am I even writing about a Not Laughing Cow on promotional cheese packaging right now?

Though I must admit, I’m at the edge of my seat waiting to find out! That is, only when the Not Laughing Cow is ready, of course. Until then, we simply must give her and her ridiculous earrings all the space and time they need.