
How do you define a delicious cookie experience — whether it’s those on a website or baked in an oven?
There’s one simple thing you can do to make your website cookies delicious to all those who visit (I’ll share that in a moment).
But first, let’s address those we eat.
Soft vs. Crunchy Cookies
Would you agree the majority of people like soft cookies?
Not me. The crunchier the better. They should be able to be used to pound in a small nail (only a slight exaggeration).
Or act as a shield.
Or call a room to order when tapped on a counter.
That’s because I’m a milk dunker — but they have to stay immersed in milk for precisely the right time so they don’t become soggy.
I even like my brownies crunchy (yes, I’ll dunk them too). If the knife tip doesn’t break off when trying to cut brownies, put ‘em back in the oven! (Believe it or not, this has happened in our kitchen.)
Nothing is actually burnt until it’s black. Yes, there’s a fine line between very dark brown and black.
OK, I admit, I’m a bit extreme when it comes to baking cookies and brownies.
Sabotaging Our Daughters’ Cookies
Like their older brother, our daughters began their love for baking cookies when they were fairly young.
However, there was one major problem — our daughters liked soft cookies.
One time while we were living in Arizona (I think it was only once), when they weren’t looking I added some time to their timer.
It was only about 10 minutes.
When the timer went off, they opened the oven and immediately our oldest daughter yelled, “Papà! Did you change the timer?!”
From there on, one would always stand guard of the timer.
They tried to retaliate a few times while I was baking cookies by decreasing my timer. But in my case, it was a much easier fix than theirs.
The Sicilian Biscotti – Exquisite Crunch
Growing up in Wisconsin, my parents often baked biscotti di regina (queen’s biscuits). It’s a long, narrow cookie either rolled in sesame seeds or covered with powdered sugar frosting. This recipe was handed down from my Sicilian grandparents, Celestino and Grazia Pizzino. During one of my last visits to my boyhood home in 2011 to visit my parents, I made biscotti di regina for my 91-year-old papà. I thought I had cooked them plenty long, but he directed me to put them back in the oven — twice!

These cookies were truly on the brink of being granted burnthood.
Suffice it to say I was raised in a crunchy cookie home.
What Is a Website Cookie?
OK, let’s now turn to the business side of cookies.
If you’ve browsed the internet anytime in the last decade, you’ve probably been hit with a banner asking you to “Accept Cookies.” But what exactly are cookies — and should you be concerned about accepting them?
A website cookie is a small text file that a website stores on your browser. These files contain data that helps the site remember things like:
- Your login status
- Items in your shopping cart
- Your language or location preferences
- Pages you’ve visited on the site
Cookies are not programs or viruses. They can’t harm your computer. But they can track what you do online — which is where privacy concerns come in.
Why Are Cookies Used?
Cookies are mostly used to improve your browsing experience. They help websites load faster and personalize your visit. But they also play a big role in digital marketing and analytics, tracking your activity for:
- Targeted advertising
- User behavior analysis
- Remarketing (ads that follow you around the web)
There are two main types of cookies:
- First-party cookies – set by the website you’re visiting directly
- Third-party cookies – set by someone else (usually advertisers or social media platforms) whose code is embedded on the site
Privacy Concerns
Cookies by themselves aren’t inherently bad — but when advertisers use third-party cookies to build detailed profiles about your habits, interests, and location, things get murky.
For example, if you:
Search for hiking boots or visit a gear website…
…and you suddenly start seeing hiking boot ads all over Instagram and Facebook…
…that’s cookies (and pixels, which work similarly) at work. The concern is that users often don’t know how much is being tracked — or by whom.
What Laws Govern Cookies?
The major regulations surrounding cookie use include:
- GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) – EU. Requires explicit consent to store cookies. Users must be able to opt out easily. There are heavy fines for noncompliance.
- ePrivacy Directive (EU Cookie Law) – EU. Requires transparency and consent for cookie use.
- CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act) – U.S. Grants California residents the right to know what personal data is collected and to opt out of its sale.
Some U.S. states (like Colorado, Connecticut, and Virginia) have adopted similar laws, but there isn’t any nationwide U.S. cookie law yet.
Do Your Cookies Have Bad PR?
Are your website cookies deliciously friendly or nasty and annoying to deal with?
There’s one simple step you can take to make your website cookies a delicious experience for visitors: make it an easy one-click to opt-out (reject) of all cookies (except for those that are deemed essential for functionality).
That’s it.
Website cookies that require more than one click are annoying, unfriendly, and give you bad PR. Your website cookies make an immediate first impression and affect how you’re perceived.
If your website cookies make it difficult to opt-out, then potential customers may think interactions with you and your company will be difficult.
Examples of Bad PR Website Cookies
Ever run into an unfriendly cookie? As I’ve already made clear, I love cookies (especially crunchy ones), but I despise unfriendly cookies.
Let’s take a look at cookies I’ve encountered recently.
Below are examples of bad PR cookies. They require more than one click to opt out.

In particular, look at the one on the top left that requires you first click on the “Manage Preferences” and then on the next screen you have to select multiple buttons to opt-out of everything.
But even worse is the Podtail.com one on the bottom left. What a nightmare.
Equally evil are the ones where there isn’t any clear opt-out choice or they want you to comb through their privacy policy (bottom right) to figure it out. Ugh.
Examples of Good & Bad Website Cookies
Here are examples of good PR cookies. Want to opt-out of all non-essential cookies? These are one and done!

THIS is what every website should have! (I better check mine…)
Why Do Some Sites Make It So Hard to Opt Out?
Let’s be real — some websites intentionally make opting out of cookies difficult and confusing. Why?
Because advertising revenue is a major source of income. If users opt out of tracking, the site earns less from ad networks.
Some dark patterns include:
- Confusing or hidden opt-out buttons
- Making the “Accept All” option bright and easy to click
- Breaking the site experience if you decline cookies
These are questionable tactics — and under GDPR, many of them are illegal.
Cookie Lawsuits & Penalties
Several companies have faced fines or lawsuits over their cookie practices:
- Google and Amazon were fined €135 million combined by France’s CNIL in 2020 for placing cookies without user consent.
- Meta (Facebook) has faced repeated scrutiny over data tracking via cookies and other means, particularly in the EU.
- In 2022, IAB Europe, a digital ad trade body, was found to have violated GDPR with its cookie consent framework.
- California regulators have begun enforcing CCPA violations — including poor cookie consent practices.
What Can You Do?
Here are four steps you can take in dealing with website cookies:
- Check cookie settings on websites before clicking “Accept All.”
- Use browsers with privacy features (like DuckDuckGo, Brave, or Firefox with Enhanced Tracking Protection).
- Clear your cookies regularly or use incognito mode.
- Install privacy plugins like uBlock Origin or Privacy Badger.
Bottom Line
Cookies help power the modern web — but they come with tradeoffs. Understanding how they work, what they track, and your rights as a user is key to protecting your privacy. And as laws tighten, companies need to get smarter about how they use cookies — and more respectful in how they ask for consent.
So the next time you get that cookie pop-up, take a second before you click. The internet remembers more than you think.
The 3 Big Takeaways
- How user-friendly your website cookies are can affect your PR.
- Use one-click opt-out cookies.
- Crunchy cookies rule supreme (IMHO).
What’s been your experience with website cookies? Do share!
Stay authentic — and make sure your cookies are delicious to whoever partakes of them!

Jeffery E. Pizzino, APR (seen here in a vintage photo circa 1983 serendipitously doing a Clash impersonation in a since-forgotten location) is a spin-free public relations pro who is passionate about telling the why of your story with clarity, impact and authenticity. He began his PR career in 1987 at Ketchum Public Relations in New York City but has spent the majority of his career as a solopreneur. He’s the Chief Authentic Officer of the Johnson City, TN-based public relations firm, AuthenticityPR. He also functions as the fractional CCO for technology startup Converus.
Jeff has an MBA in Management from Western International University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications — with an emphasis in PR — from Brigham Young University (rise and shout!). He’s a native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but also holds an Italian citizenship. Jeff and his storyteller wife Leticia have four children and four grandchildren. In his extremely limited nonwork hours, he studies italiano, practices guitar, write songs, gardens, disc golfs, reads, listens to New Wave music, serves in his church, watches BYU football, and plays Dominion and Seven Wonders. Email Jeff.