Protein Marketing At It's Finest (And Most Ridiculous)

Lenny & Larry's Is At It Again.

Matt Rosenman
Jun 19, 2026

I have a longstanding feud with Lenny & Larry’s. And by feud, I mean the company has absolutely no clue who I am, but I have despised their marketing from the start.

If you’re unfamiliar with Lenny & Larry’s, they’re the company behind The Complete Cookie and plenty of other “healthy” products you’ve surely seen on shelves.

The issue I have always taken with the cookie in particular is that they position it as a healthy, high-protein cookie, but it’s really just a regular cookie with some protein added to it (the calories and sugar reflect that).

Well, now that the world has gone completely protein-crazy, Lenny & Larry’s has fully leaned into that and rebranded their Complete Cookie into a Protein Cookie.

Lenny & Larry’s is no stranger to healthwashing

OK, calling it “healthwashing” might be pushing it, but I needed a headline and I’m sticking with it.

The Complete Cookie is slightly healthier than a regular cookie in the sense that it checks certain boxes that may be important to some people.

They’re vegan, which might make it healthier to you, they contain 10 grams of fiber, which is undoubtedly more than a regular cookie, and they do contain more protein than your average cookie.

My issue has always been twofold:

These cookies contain 440 calories, with more overall sugar than protein. 440 calories, 22g sugar, and 16g protein, is not a great protein source.
They love to throw around buzzwords to make their products feel healthier than they are.

The Complete Cookie was always the example of a product I would point people towards to demonstrate why it’s so important to read the nutrition facts.

This looks like an incredibly healthy, high-protein cookie. But when you flip it over and see that to get those 16 grams of protein, you need to consume 440 calories, maybe you’ll be less excited.

But their recent rebrand of turning The Complete Cookie into a Protein Cookie really takes it to the next level.

This is the perfect lesson in “protein” branding.

Did you know that there are no regulations on using the word “protein” in a product title? If you were to launch your own candy bar with 5 grams of protein, you could frame it as a protein candy bar.

Sure, depending on the product, you might face some backlash, but I know you’ve seen by now that everything seems to have a protein label on it these days.

That’s why it’s really not surprising to see Lenny & Larry’s go down this road.

And since they are no strangers to the capitalizing on “healthy” marketing, their new labels remain a masterclass in protein branding (that’s not necessarily a good thing, but it will surely bring them success in today’s market).

Here’s what they’ve done:

The 16 grams of protein on the front of the label has been made even larger, but there is still zero mention of the fact that it’s for 440 calories.
They’ve made the protein callout green and added leaves to make sure everyone knows it’s plant-based. Even if you don’t eat plant-based, seeing that just feels healthier.
Highlighted the 10 grams of fiber more prominently. This isn’t a negative, but it shows how the market has shifted towards protein + fiber thanks to GLP-1s (and still no mention that this is 10g per 440 calories).
They’ve added naturally sweetened to the label to make this sound like a natural product. It’s a cookie with cane sugar and invert sugar. Invert sugar is simply made by breaking down regular sugar, for what it’s worth. It just sounds healthier.
Updated logo to show Lenny & Larry with muscles. Again, I don’t know that this is necessarily negative, but it sure is amusing. The previous logo was just their crazy faces, so if you want to re-position yourself as a protein company, you might as well make them buff.

That’s already a lot to point towards, but the marketing fun doesn’t stop there.

But wait, there’s more!

Their product photos & marketing materials take full advantage of the fact that these cookies give you energy.

They tout “carb energy” and “anytime fuel,” but what exactly does that mean?

It means that when you eat something with carbs, it gives you energy. That’s it.

That’s true for Oreos, Chips Ahoy, Biscoff, and Lenny & Larry’s. Carbs = energy.

Again, I’d like to emphasize that this type of marketing wouldn’t bother me for a normal protein cookie. If Quest wants to tout that their protein cookies will give you energy and help you build muscle, I’ll fully get on board.

But when your cookie contains 440 calories, that’s when I take issue.

Most people live by the “ divide by 10” rule, meaning if a product has 200 calories, you divide by 10, and you should look for 20 grams of protein.

That works for many protein bars, but most protein snacks these days are a little lower than that. I’d go as far as allowing a “ divide by 20” rule, so a 200-calorie bar should contain at least 10 grams of protein.

If you apply that rule to Lenny & Larry’s, the cookie should contain 22 grams of protein at a minimum to be an acceptable source of protein.

Instead, that’s how much sugar is in the cookie.

And that’s why I take so much issue with the protein positioning.

PS: if you want to easily figure out if something is a good source of protein, I built a Protein Quality Calculator you can use here (link).

I searched far and wide to find another product containing exactly 440 calories to be able to make a clean comparison, and I finally found it with Annie’s Bagel Bites.

Of course, if you’re craving a cookie, you’re not going to turn around and eat bagel bites instead, but this gives us an apples-to-apples (or cookies-to-pizza) comparison.

The truth is, Lenny & Larry’s isn’t a bad product.

Let me clarify: I do think the cookies taste bad.

But I’m not trying to say that these cookies are a horrible product or shouldn’t exist.

Clearly, there is a market for these cookies and the other Lenny & Larry’s products. They check boxes that other products might not: the sodium is relatively low, they do contain more protein and fiber than regular cookies, they’re vegan, non-GMO, etc.

If you buy these cookies, I’m not trying to imply that you’re doing something wrong. You’re not.

But these cookies are the perfect example of a company taking full advantage of the protein craze we’re seeing right now.

They’ve taken a product that was already stretching the limits of what should be considered a good source of protein, and they have rebranded it to outright call it a protein cookie.

Technically, yes, it is a protein cookie because it contains protein.

And that’s exactly what is wrong with the market today, because simply containing protein in any amount with no other qualifiers is enough to be a protein product.

I hope that someday we will see some tighter regulations on that, but today is not that day.

The self-promotion corner:

Do you want a protein cookie that’s actually worth it?

Years ago, my content heavily revolved around high-protein recipes, and one of my long-time favorites was always my giant protein cookie. I originally made this recipe largely thanks to the existence of the Complete Cookie.

True story: A protein cookie company launched by stealing this exact recipe. Ah well.

Here is the comparison I made many moons ago to show how it compares to Lenny & Larry’s, although they have since reformulated a tiny bit so the macros aren’t quite the same.

If you want to make the cookie, it’s a free recipe you can get over on my blog!

Giant Protein Cookie