See, this is what happens when you get bitten by strategy decay - Kraft earnings fall because of declining cookies sales.

It's not like they couldn't have seen this coming for, oh, the last 15 years or so.

But the best part is that they still have no idea their strategy is completely out of alignment with their marketplace. In fact, they're gonna try and buy their way out of strategy decay (which is impossible):

"...Kraft increased its marketing budget this year to sweeten sales of cookies and other slow-growing businesses such as cheese, and executives said this week that it will maintain that effort at least through 2004.

The company gave its flagship Oreo cookie line a face-lift last year, introducing several new flavors and configurations. That and other new products boosted sales, raising the bar for this year's sales effort".

Note to Kraft: Cookie sales fell because cookies make people fat. Not because Oreos taste bad. Marketing won't help change that. Get a clue!!