What Does Cajeta Mean To You?

Hershey’s new line of candy launched under the moniker of “La Dulceria Thaila” is now out and available at a vending machine near you. Thalia is a very well known Mexican star, roughly the Hispanic equivalent of Britney Spears.

In one of the ads, Thalia appears in this month’s People en Espanol touting Hershey’s new candy line with a headline that says, “Sabor a chocolate blanco con cajeta.” (The taste of white chocolate and condensed milk.) To 60% of the US Hispanic market the word “cajeta,” loosely translated, means “condensed milk,” which is extremely sweet and sinfully delicious. But to the rest of the Hispanic consumers in the United States it either means nothing or, in the worst of a Marketer’s nightmare, it means something that does not belong on a candy wrapper.

“This is obviously the work of someone who did not do their homework and is trying to get a two-for-one by using the same creative, and packaging, here and in Mexico, a big mistake for this product,” stated Jose Cancela, Principal of Hispanic USA Inc., a consulting firm which specializes in helping corporate America understand the growing Hispanic market.

Mr. Cancela goes on to explain that while he knows that true cajeta is made with goats milk, the taste of cajeta made with leche condensada (condensed milk) is unnoticeable to the consumer markets. Not to mention that the words “Made with real Goat Milk” would not make consumers race to the nearest supermarket.

“If Hershey or its agency would have paid attention, they would have clearly seen that the right way to introduce this flavor would have been a la Hagen Daz, which just a few years ago rolled it out nationally under the banner understood by all US Hispanics, Dulce De Leche, not cajeta,” Mr. Cancela went on to state.
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