French Muslims turn to Mecca-Cola

[rodbarnett]

A French Muslim businessman has launched a 'committed' rival to Coke, called Mecca-Cola, and pledges proceeds to the Palestinians and peace organisations. Laurence Frost reports.

"Don't Drink Stupid, Drink Committed," reads the slogan French entrepreneur Tawfik Mathlouthi has stamped on every bottle of his Mecca-Cola, a copy and rival of Coca-Cola which is finding huge appeal among Muslims in France and increasingly abroad.
He has publicly undertaken to send proceeds from the sales of the drink to to peace organisations and a fund for the benefit of Palestinian children.

Shopkeepers in Saint Denis, a Paris suburb with a large North African immigrant population, say the stuff is now flying off their shelves.

"Since I started selling Mecca-Cola, consumption of Coca-Cola has fallen 80 percent," said Tahar Montathel, owner of the Golden Croissant bakery on the suburb's Avenue de la Republique.

"People are attracted by the idea of supporting the Palestinians."

Coca-Cola itself has played down the threat posed by Mecca-Cola and a growing number of imitators such as Muslim Up, which made its first appearance in French shops early March.

http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=58&story_id=576

[The Backlash Cometh]

1. This is what, inevitably, is going to happen now that politics has crossed

over from religion to products. Support your own. This should make Republicans shake in their boots, given the trends in demographics. Once a corporation commits to a party, entrepreneurs will be providing competing choices for consumers of the alternate party. And if the buyers belong to a growing demographic i.e. not white, well..., you do the math.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

2. I too have a pecking order for purchases

1. Brazilian/small-company
2. Brazilian/large-company
3. Foreign-except-US-and-China
4. US
5. China

Does that make me an extremist zealot? It's not like I go around carrying placards and screaming anti-American slogans, I just quietly walk a few more paces to the next store, and casually mention my shopping patterns sometimes when it's the subject of the conversation.

BTW, It irks me to no end that, in some product categories, EVERY FRIKKIN' THING is "made in China".

BTW II: I successfully steered my wife away from McDonald's.