Author: Business Insider

This week, we’re teaming up with the podcast Proof from America’s Test Kitchen to bring you an Oreo story with three delicious parts. First, the longstanding rivalry between two biscuit makers that gave birth to the world’s favorite cookie. Then, one little girl’s brave choice (risking divine punishment!) to taste the famous creme filling. And finally, a full-scale investigation into who really invented that creme filling — and how one “Mr. Oreo” got all the glory.

Read Marjorie Ingall’s essay about the Oreo: https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/food/articles/unholy-wafer

Listen to more episodes of Proof: https://www.americastestkitchen.com/proof

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Young Living was one of the first major essential oils companies on the market, helping to launch an industry that is worth billions of dollars today. The company is built on the myth of its founder, whose miraculous medical recovery inspired him to devote his life to alternative medicine. But that story isn’t quite what it appears to be, and the people who believe in it sometimes pay a high price. Business Insider investigative reporter Nicole Einbinder uncovers the truth behind Young Living and its founder, Gary Young.

Subscribe to Business Insider for the three-part investigation: businessinsider.com/btyb

Listen to the Insider Today roundtable: https://bit.ly/insidertodayroundtable

Samsung’s founder, his son, and his grandson turned a vegetable and dried fish shop into a global superpower and a symbol of South Korean success. But their fight to keep the company in the family has also landed it at the center of some of South Korea’s biggest corruption investigations. Now, Samsung and South Korea have to figure out what comes next: Can the company continue without its founding family at the helm? And what would that mean for the country Samsung helped build? 

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The original Game of Life was about reaching happy old age, not "Millionaire Acres." And Monopoly was invented by an anti-capitalist who wanted to make a point about landowning and economic inequality. How did these games become the versions we play today? This is the story of how two iconic board games, designed to shape American culture, were instead warped by it.

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How do you advertise a product that's taboo? When Tampax became the first commercially-produced tampon in 1933, no one wanted to talk about menstruation. So the company embraced education as advertising. It’s a strategy that grew from door-to-door sales campaigns to middle school sex ed classes across the country today. But what does it mean when corporations lead the conversation about menstruation?

And for more information about menstruators: https://www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/health-and-wellness/menstruation

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Nathan’s Famous turned the hot dog into a symbol of July 4th. But the story of how that happened says a lot more about America than just its love of a good BBQ. It’s immigrants striving for the American dream, hucksters spinning tall tales, underdogs fighting against the odds. The good, the bad, and the ugly of the US stuffed through a meat grinder, bigger and better than Nathan’s ever dreamed. 

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In 1969, Cleveland’s Black residents boycotted McDonald’s. For weeks, the company’s leadership had been locked in a stalemate with Black activists over who should own and operate the local franchises. It was all part of a bigger movement, whose goal was to build economic power in Black communities through Black-owned businesses. But 50 years later, how are the Black franchisees at McDonald’s faring? Were the golden arches a golden ticket to economic equality?

Listen to the reporter roundtable: https://www.businessinsider.com/how-american-businesses-can-do-more-fight-racial-injustice-2020-6 

Read more of Kate Taylor's reporting about McDonald's and subscribe to Business Insider: businessinsider.com/btyb

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What happens when businesses try to do more than just sell you things? On June 24, we’re kicking off a new season of stories: about Polaroid confronting racism, Tampax taking on education, and The Game of Life telling you how to live your life.

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While we finish up our new season, check out this episode from Twenty Thousand Hertz. It’s a podcast that tells the stories behind the world’s most recognizable sounds. This episode is about THX, that deep, swelling effect you hear right before a movie starts. Turns out, we might never have heard that sound if it weren’t for Star Wars.

In this bonus episode, we open up our customer service lines to answer a burning question from one of our listeners: Is there really a Hidden Valley? And does it have a ranch?