I have long used as a hypothetical example of a product whose production would be a waste of resources “chocolate-covered pickles.” I use this example in class, and I use it in my book Globalization. Pickles are fabu; chocolate is tasty – but the combination seems to be so hideous that “chocolate-covered pickles” works as a great example of an easy-to-produce product that the market will never supply. Or so I thought. (HT Phil Murray)
Never, ever underestimate the creativity of entrepreneurs, the diversity of consumer tastes, or the limits of your own knowledge of what you ‘know’ about what other people find pleasure in.
