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Comment by GuiA | Hacker News Reader

Then again, there is the tale of dulce de leche M&M’s - trying to tap into such a market, only for it to fail terribly.

https://mms.fandom.com/wiki/Dulce_de_Leche_Caramel_M%26M%27s

My guess based on what I read from the grandparent post is there was probably some poor product fit. Perhaps we would have done better marketing it towards "gringos"?

From your link:

> In July 2001, Dulce de Leche M&M's were introduced in five markets with large Hispanic populations: Los Angeles, San Diego, Miami, Florida; Mcallen-Brownsville, Texas; and San Antonio, Texas. The flavor never became popular with the Hispanic community, who preferred existing M&M's flavors, and it was discontinued in most areas by early 2003.

Perhaps there is an opportunity in introducing it to people who don't have previous experience with this flavor? Just thinking out loud...

As someone who ate those Dulce de Leche M&Ms, what would've helped is if they were any good or bore any resemblance to the flavor they were named after.

The other issue was that the whole "Dulce de Leche" market became over-saturated. I remember that time - it was like everything was "dulce-this, dulce-that"; heck, I think there were cough-lozenges in that flavor.

This nails the issue. It's why flaming hot Cheetos were successful but Dulce de Leche weren't.

Don't make something meant to be something else explicitly. Make something that has the same meaning (or in this case flavor) as something else but make it its own thing for its own sake.

also, chocolate is a heavy part of mexican cuisine.. so it's not 'foreign' to start with..

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