M&S shoppers 'fighting in aisles' after cookie trend gets 'out of hand'

A cookie craze has left Marks & Spencer stores facing a stampede of hungry customers desperate to get their hands on a viral sweet treat.

Released earlier this month, the milk chocolate and cornflake cookie may not sound like anything particularly special - considering all the weird and wonderful cookie combinations you can buy these days - but a clever marketing campaign later, M&S stores have been cleared out by customers desperate to get their seasonal sugar fix.

Demand for the sugary snack has gotten so out of hand that numerous videos doing the rounds on social media have shown customers swarming shelves and queueing for over an hour just to be in with a chance of tasting the 'rich, chewy' cookies, which have been described as having a 'deep caramel flavour'.

Who knew that a bag of cookies would cause so much fuss (Marks & Spencer)

In one video shared on TikTok, a user filmed a queue spanning as far as the eye could see, while stressed bakers desperately attempted to fulfil demand for the treat.

Meanwhile, another clip depicted what can only be described as a borderline stampede to grab a bag of the treats from the bottom shelf, and a third video shared online shows employees handing bags of cookies to customers as they struggle to keep up with demand.

Now, given the quality of M&S cookies, I'm sure they taste pretty good, but are they that good?

"Reminds me of Covid time and toilet rolls," read one reaction to the videos.

"all this for cookies seriously the fomo levels are through the roof," wrote a second, while a third added: "600,000 thousand bags sold in 18 hours, other retailers can only dream!!"

The newfound craze for cookies has largely been attributed to Kathryn Turner savvy use of social media.

For anyone who isn't aware of who Turner is, she's the director of product development at M&S Food. Despite working in the role since the 1990s, Turner was a relatively unknown figure until recently, when she created a social media account to promote the company's latest releases.

Kathryn Turner's social media presence is widely considered to be driving sales (TikTok/kathrynlturner)

Turner has since earned hundreds of thousands of followers across her social media platforms, with users 'blaming' the 56-year-old for their newfound dependence on the sugary snacks.

"Kathryn, have my life savings at this point," read one reaction to a video from Turner showcasing recent M&S product launches. "Hello, I’m Kathryn Turner” = “Hello, say goodbye to £60," a second viewer wrote.

"We love you Kathryn but PLS some of us are trying to lock in," added a third.