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Pennsylvania bakery turns Romney’s cookie joke into sales campaign

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A Pennsylvania bakery teased by presidential candidate Mitt Romney for cookies that looked like “they came from the local 7-Eleven bakery” has turned a joke that fell flat into a marketing opportunity.

During a campaign event in Bethel Park, Pa., this week, Romney sat down with locals, took a look at the cookies they’d baked for him and offered a joking response.

“I’m not sure about these cookies. Did you make those cookies?” he asked the women around him. “You didn’t, did you? No. No. They came from the local 7-Eleven bakery or wherever.”

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Romney was not serious. But some of the folks at Bethel Bakery, which baked the cookies, didn’t find Romney’s remarks humorous.

“We wanted him to be welcomed with the best in the burg, and he had no idea, this guy has no idea how beloved this institution is that provided these cookies,” Bethel Bakery owner John Walsh said in an interview with ABC affiliate WTAE-TV out of Pittsburgh.

“It seemed like maybe he should have tasted them first before making the assumption,” Julie Lytle, who handles marketing for Bethel Bakery, said.

But the bakery took Romney’s joke and ran with it, launching a “CookieGate” promotion that gives customers a free half-dozen cookies for each dozen they purchase.

“We’re just having fun with it,” Lytle told CNN.

Walsh got the last word on the matter, telling the Wall Street Journal, “Let him eat cake next time.”

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The Democratic National Committee also is trying to exploit Romney’s comment, with mixed results. The DNC is trying to build Twitter momentum on the #cookiegate hashtag and is sending out its own memes on the topic. But so far the hashtag has prompted as many remarks detailing Obama’s dog eating in Indonesia as a child as it has jokes about Romney’s awkwardness on the campaign trail.

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Original source: Pennsylvania bakery turns Romney’s cookie joke into sales campaign

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