Queuing for a bit of chocolate? Much ado about "Dubai" chocolate

by Prof. Dr. Alfred Hagen Meyer & Lena Orleth I meyer.rechtsanwälte

For weeks, the object of desire has been a confectionery known as ‘Dubai chocolate’. According to the list of ingredients, the popular variety contains milk chocolate coating, Kadayif dough threads, butter, sweetened pistachio cream, sesame paste and chopped pistachios for sprinkling. The social media trend has since spread also to Germany and Switzerland.

Chocolate manufacturer Lindt has now produced 1000 bars of the hyped pistachio variety with angel hair for the first time. Customers in Germany and Switzerland waited for hours in the cold to get their hands on one of the coveted, limited edition chocolates at the proud price of €14.99 per 150g. Those who missed out due to the rush still have the chance to get their hands on the Lindt C2C bars online - but at prices of several hundred euros in some cases.

The recipe was allegedly penned by Sarah Hamouda, who is also the founder of the Dubai-based company Fix Dessert Chocolatier. Despite the market launch of the chocolates in 2022, the five flavours only received ground-breaking media attention through so-called ‘taste tests’ published on social media platforms. One such video posted by the influencer ‘mariavehera257’ on TikTok at the end of 2023, in which she presented and distorted the pistachio variety in her car, contributed significantly to the boom of ‘Dubai chocolate’ and thus to the increase in sales figures for Mrs Hamouda's manufactory mentioned in the video caption. In order to emphasise the exclusivity of the chocolates to consumers and thus increase the incentive to buy, the online shop of ‘Fix Dessert Chocolatier’ initially only opened once a day for one minute, during which consumers had to place their order.

The greater the demand for the luxury product ‘Dubai chocolate’ became, the more food companies jumped on the hype to capitalise on the boom and the accompanying ‘snob effect’ surrounding the exclusive product. The BILD newspaper, for example, reported on trade mark applications with the suffix ‘Dubai’. The lucrative nature of the sale of the chocolates is also demonstrated by a discovery made by customs officials in Baden-Württemberg - 45 kilograms of Dubai chocolate packed in 243 boxes. The suspect tried to smuggle the bars illegally into Germany by van in order to avoid paying the customs duty of 920 euros and thus increase his profit margin. All kinds of recipes for making this type of chocolate yourself are also going viral. Dr Oetker, for example, published a recipe online for the do-it-yourself production of a ‘Dubai’ chocolate bar using their ingredients.

As a result of the rapid increase in manufacturers and retailers, the exporter of Dubai chocolate ‘Fex’ wants to ban the sale of chocolates that do not originate from Dubai in Germany. However, the justification for this ban seems shaky, as the place where the idea was conceived was Dubai by chance. The indication is therefore at best to be understood as a reference to the consistency and its specific recipe in the sense of a ‘style’.

This is because each of the five original flavours is designed to have a soft, crunchy centre surrounded by chocolate.

In particular, the advertising slogan of the pistachio version of the chocolate - ‘Can`t get knafeh of it’ - refers to the dessert of the same name, ‘Knafeh’ (also known as Kunafa), which is thought to have originated in the city of Nebulus. The filling of the bars is therefore more likely to be understood as an adaptation of the traditional dessert, without any reference to Dubai. The ingredient that characterises the chocolate - angel hair (Greek κανταΐφι, Turkish kadayıf; Serbian кадаиф kadaif) - is also not primarily associated with Dubai.

The term ‘Dubai chocolate’ is therefore merely a generic term, i.e. a designation according to which the respective product has a specific recipe. This means that the term ‘Dubai chocolate’, just like the name ‘Münchner Weißwurst’ or ‘Thüringer Klöße’ (BPatG LMRR 2009, 71 = LRE 59, 358; BGH decision 21 December 2011, I ZB 87/09), is merely a recipe.

Ultimately, the Dubai chocolate is a nice case study for sophisticated marketing and shows how lucratively consumers can be seduced with glamour and exclusivity.

And, the hype holds up a mirror to our own superficiality.

Lena Orleth studies law at the LMU Munich and is a research assistant at meyer.rechtsanwalts GmbH