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Mecca-Cola I don’t know what to make of this, but it is surely interesting. The story, in case this link to it goes dead for some reason or another, is that some French-based (it would seem) Muslim entrepreneurs have contrived something called “Mecca-Cola”. It presumably tastes pretty much like the usual Clona-Cola stuff, but it has an Islamic spin to its marketing.
I’ve just caught a British Channel 5 TV report about this, and they made it look as if the “average Muslim” is all for it. And the sales pitch C5 were reportng was: buy Mecca-Cola and demonstrate against the USA and its vicious anti-Muslim war, a troubling combination of messages.
I don’t know if this is us infecting them or them infecting us, or what the hell is going on here, beyond the obvious of some people trying to make lots of money. Is Mecca-Cola making its way in the USA? Comments anyone?
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i think i’m for it, so long as the profits go towards something good and not just to make a few muslim folks rich.
coke sucks anyway. what name could they make with pepsi? Musli? Mussi? bleh.
Enjoy: mecca cola with rum and a ham sandwich.
How about Sunni Delight?
I think this is a great idea–any kind of peaceful protest should be encouraged.
Think about it–which would you rather French Muslims did to protest? Drink a different brand of cola, or burn synagogues? Seems like a pretty clear choice to me…
kaiser: Why would it be bad if it were “just” making a few forks rich (muslim or not)? The (potential) problem is with the sales pitch, not the capitalism.
all: This appears to be only in France (for now). Here is one of the stories which come up on a google search.
It’s not in Normal, IL. If it were, I’d probably buy it to put rum in, as suggested above 😉
Personally, I see no problem in this, marketing or otherwise. It’s all in the spirit of capitalism, which, btw, the owner is in favor of. He seems nonviolent, which is more than you can say for Arafat et. al.
Here’s a NY Times article about it.
Seems a brilliant bussiness initiative, and an equally brilliant publicity stunt. Real enterpreneurship, capitalist money making behind a veneer of politically correct speach which is a vehicle for generating profits. Free enterprise at it’s best.
Next come Jihad Jeens.
Sorry, Jihad Jeans.
The purpose of this boycott is to protest US government policy regarding Israel by ‘punishing’ an American business. Of course, if the boycott is really successful, layoffs may occur at overseas bottling plants, thus putting locals out of jobs. Oh well, that’s capitalism. I just hope that those charitable contributions to Palestinian children don’t involve the families of suicide bombers, but I bet they do.
Mmm, Mecca-cola: tastes like Shiite.
While we’re on the subject, anyone remember Arafat crisps?
And to think that some of my misspent youth took place in Mecca Ballrooms! As far as I recall few of the girls wore burqas.
Nope. Haven’t seen Mecca Cola anywhere here in Indiana yet. But, if I ever do see a Mecca Cola machine on US soil, I’m gonna stick Canadian quarters in it so it’ll never work again.
Mecca Cola is just a cheap knock off Zam-Zam cola which is a cheap knock off of Coca Cola. Little Green Footballs was all ove this several months ago. Here are a couple of links to start with. Here is the first link talking about Mecca Cola.
In truth this is not such a bad plan. Remember Austin Powers, the scene where the henchbaddies are trying to point out to Dr Evil that there’s no point ransoming the world for $1M, since Evil Oil makes many times that much a day… now imagine the same scene but give them turbans….
Mecca-Cola issues a fatwa of flavor in your mouth!
And, the bottles can be recycled… as firebombs to be hurled at the fascist zionist oppressors.
Ellie mentions the possibility of overseas bottling plants being closed – would that include the one in Ramallah?
Thant would be ironic – a French protest against Isreal leading to the loss of a whole lot of Palestinian jobs. Unlikely maybe, but not altogether unrealistic.
Is that what’s meant by unintended consequences?
“Sorry, Jihad Jeans.”
Do they come with the Gelignite/nails mixture already in the pockets?
Some years ago there was a controversy about the use of the name Mecca as in Mecca Dance Halls. The use of the name of the holy city to sell a soft drink may be criticized by some Muslim clerics.
yeah, i was thinking that myself. the glory of mocking this very symbol of american finance capitalism might be outweighed by the fact that they’re using the holiest site in Islam to market a soft drink. if they’d called it ‘bearded cola – the wisest soft drink in the middle east’ it might have been better.
next they should manufacture cologne and perfume and have a go at Calvin Klein. they could call the women’s stuff ‘veiled threat’. – i quite like that 🙂
How about a copy of American non-alocholic beer? They could call it Mullah Lite.
If they make a commercial for Mecca Cola, they could use an old Coke theme song. All together, now, “It’s the rial thing …”
See this and this.
I am Muslim, Saudi Arabian, and yes, I don’t think it’s right using the name Mecca (or Makkah) to make a personal profit (would Catholics like it if someone sold, lets say, Vatican-Cola, I’m not being sarcastic, I really wonder), I personally think it’s just a sales pitch to feed on the minds of the ignorant, which is just my personal opinion.
But anyway, the principle behind selling the product seems to be sound. Apparently, he (the owner) agrees with the boycotting of US products, so why not give the Muslim people an alternative to one of the boycotted products? That’s what he-apparently-is doing. Plus, he’s putting away 10% of the company’s profit for charity in Palestine.
I say apparently because, initially, Muslims boycotting American products (or American business) is to prevent these businesses from making a profit out of Muslim wallets. So the company makes a profit, it pays tax, which in turn pays (or at least helps to pay) for the continuation of the “unfair” policies in the Middle-East. So, if the owner of the Mecca-Cola business finds ways to distribute his product in the USA, then that distribution will have all the above included (i.e. Distribute = business, business => tax, tax => paying for the very thing he’s, apparently, against).
In short, if he does distribute his product in the USA, then he will find himself in contradiction (hopefully).
I am not judging his intentions, but I am skeptical. Besides, I read somewhere that he is in fact, all for doing business in the USA.
At least as a peaceful muslim who lives in North America, I find it a way to protest against Bush administartions’ double standards in the world and unconditionally backing Israel’s violent policies. Face it what options do we hve at the moment in the way of making ourselves heard? The media..? you know the story about them…
please advice me the addresses of zam zam cola.
thanks and best regards
Where can you get mecca cola from in London? Is it in supermarkets?
TT
What a contridiction! mecca cola trying to run the american multinationals out of the middle east, Coca cola employs people in their bottling factories there and mecca cola wants to force them out. Guess where mecca colas looking to set up their bottling plant? Birmingham! woulnt it make more sense to build their plant in the middle east where they claim to be helping out?
Well, what you saw maybe the tip of the iceberg, you never know how far or diverse the reactions maybe against the US multi-standard policies, especially against Muslims, for example, why is bush just trying so hard to invade Iraq? Do Americans need Iraqi oil that bad?
I’m not a racist and I do not have any kind of discrimination against any community, after all, everybody is doing business. But the main problem is that when business gets mixed up with politics!
plzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
export this in pakistan
we want to leave pepsi & coca cola
so plz plz plz send it to pakistan
Its great to see an alternative to american goods.Maybe this will get the ball rolling to many more ideas which will hurt the americans where it hurts the most, their pocket. American support for Israel’s brutal policies has assured i can never go back to a peaceful Israel. Alternatives to KFC and Mcdonalds please