Oreo built a vault to protect itself from global destruction

In seemingly perfect concert with the upcoming U.S. election, there’s been a lot of chatter about an asteroid hurtling toward the Earth by November 3rd—as if we need another catastrophe to plague us in the middle of a pandemic, racial strife and political conflict.

Though NASA insists that the space rock, also known as 2018VP1, poses no real threat to us (there’s only a .41% chance the celestial object will enter the Earth’s atmosphere on Nov. 2), OREO has jumped on the moment to remind us that if a cataclysmic event ever were to occur, the cookie brand will survive it.

That’s because OREO has created an asteroid-proof compound in Svalbard, Norway, where it has safely tucked away the cookie’s recipe, a few samples and some powdered milk (the perfect accompaniment, if you add some snow).

The sample sandwiches are also wrapped in mylar, so they’d be able to withstand a deep freeze or heat of an asteroid collision (from -80 degrees to 300 degrees Fahrenheit) as well as other environmental interference like chemicals, moisture, or air.

To promote the vault, OREO released a film "documenting" that it does, in fact, really exist. It captures a Norwegian architect named Markus Thorland and his quest to build the structure. As he takes in his final creation, he shares a little bit about what drives him: "People see me, think I'm always confident, always on top of things, but really, behind all this, I'm just a scared little boy ... It would be a shame for the world to end, but it's a pretty good vault."

The idea was conceived by agency The Community, with social led by 360i and PR via Weber Shandwick. Inspiration for the idea came from “seed vaults” around the globe that are designed to protect seeds of different crops in the face of global disasters.