They say necessity is the mother of invention – but sometimes, a craving does the trick. That is how the now-viral Dubai chocolate came to be. Focused on satisfying her pregnancy cravings, Sarah Hamouda, a British-Egyptian living in Dubai, created the chocolate bar with unique flavours in 2021. A year later, she and her husband started developing the bar commercially for their homegrown business, Fix Chocolates.

However, it was only in December 2023 that the product took off when TikTok influencer Maria Vehara’s video trying out the chocolate went viral. The video (it now has over 122 million views) amassed over 30,000 orders after going up. Although Hamouda’s product is still only available in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, it topped Deliveroo’s global table of most popular orders last year and is still selling out.

Although the original product was dubbed ‘Can’t Get Knafeh of it’, cleverly integrating knafeh (a cheese-based dessert popular in Mediterranean cuisine) as part of the product name, the term ‘Dubai Chocolate’ quickly caught on owing to netizens’ knack for naming trends and products that are easy to remember. Other chocolate brands – including Lindt and Lidl – were quick to jump on the bandwagon and a sea of copycats emerged, offering their own versions of the now widely sought Dubai Chocolate. The frenzy skyrocketed to unprecedented heights with retailers placing a two-bar limit for customers and the pistachio market posting a global shortage.

Dubai Chocolate is a classic example of creating an immersive experience – where a seemingly regular product was portrayed by an influencer as a ‘satisfying’ indulgence, feeding into the ‘satisfying videos’ category. The reason the video stood out can be attributed to various factors, including the ASMR feel, which offers a stronger sensory experience than any review video can offer. However, the standout feature of the chocolate bar is the product quality itself – which brought together a crunchy chocolate shell covering rich, creamy and gooey pistachio paste. Reviewers have commented on the overall texture of the chocolate and its strong flavour from the first bite, reinforcing the fact that marketing alone does not cut it for a product unless its quality is substantiated.

Dubai chocolate may have blown up thanks to social media, but what has kept people hooked is how hard it is to get your hands on it. The original ‘Can’t Get Knafeh of It’ bar drops just twice a day – at two p.m. and five p.m. – and only through Deliveroo in the UAE. That’s it. Fix makes about 500 bars daily, and they are gone in minutes. The scarcity is not just about supply – it’s part of the appeal. People want it more because they know they might miss it. Classic FOMO.

Part of the buzz is baked into the name. People associate Dubai with excess – gold-topped desserts, towering hotels, flashy cars and malls that feel like movie sets. The same over-the-top vibe adds to giving Dubai chocolate the exclusivity it has garnered.

Brands in Pakistan could take a page from the Dubai chocolate playbook by realising that people don’t just buy products – they buy stories and moments. It’s not about adding glitter or slapping a buzzword on the packaging; it’s about creating something people want to talk about, chase after, and maybe even miss out on. However, that doesn’t mean every campaign for every product needs to have an over-the-top hype phase. Recognise whether the product allows for an exciting sensory experience, the level of involvement the product offers, and whether it has the potential to interest people.

The Dubai chocolate trend is not just about a sweet tooth – it is a lesson in how desire is built. It shows us that when you mix a clear story, a little mystery, and a product that delivers, people don’t just buy it – they obsess over it too. In a market full of noise, the brands that win are the ones that know how to make people feel something.

Alyan Khan-Yusufzai is an advertising practitioner with over a decade of experience in multiple regional markets.