Mecca Cola vs. Coke

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Mecca-Cola is a cola-flavoured carbonated beverage. The flagship product of the Mecca Cola World Company, it is marketed as an alternative to U.S. brands such as Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola to pro-Muslim consumers. The product's name contains the traditional Latin-alphabet transliteration of مكة المكرمة (Makkah al-Mukarramah, or "Mecca"), the holiest city of Islam located in Saudi Arabia.

 

It was launched in France, in November 2002, by Tawfik Mathlouthi, as a means of aiding Palestinians and expressing his political standpoint against US policy in the Middle East the company tapped into demand for alternative products in European countries. He had been inspired by a popular Iranian soft drink, Zam Zam Cola, which was already successful in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, and in fact only decided to launch his own brand when he was unable to agree on terms for a distribution contract with Zam Zam. Mecca-Cola sold two million bottles in the first 15 days of operation.

 

Mecca-Cola is now sold in the Arab World as well as in certain regions of Europe. It has also been bought and consumed in certain parts of Western India. Although the product was created in France, the company is currently based in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Part of its corporate philosophy is its pledge to donate 10% of its profits to fund humanitarian projects (such as schools) in Palestine, and another 10% to charities in the countries in which the drink is sold — particularly (to quote its website), "associations who work towards peace in the world and especially for peace in the conflict between Palestinians and fascist Zionist apartheid". This activist stance is reflected in the company slogan, which appears on all its products: "Shake your Conscience." Every can also has the request that people avoid mixing the drink with alcohol. Last year, the company produced 1.38 million litres.

 

Company Mission Statement

 

Mecca-Cola specificity, a new business culture

 

Following the example of business activities started by charitable associations - « the charity-business » - we considered the idea of launching a new concept, namely that of putting the economy to work in the interest of ideology.

 

« Moslem and Arab Capital » being mainly in the form imposed by the most fierce materialistic capitalism, and often illegal and born of corruption, refuses, for fear of bringing ruin upon itself, to support the actions engaged. Because of this, militant people who are experiencing financial difficulties have no other alternative than to create profit-making activities to enable them to achieve their objectives, even though they did not start out as either traders or capitalists.

 

One of the perversions of capitalism lies in the generation within oneself of the most brutal and the most inhumane part of oneself.

 

The spirit which governed the creation of Mecca-Cola was to create a profit-making business which would help to relieve human suffering where action is still possible. The most intolerable and the most immediate suffering is that of the Palestinian people.

 

The Palestinian people are experiencing indifference and general complicity, these being the most wretched and the most contemptible acts of apartheid and Zionist fascism. But, as we are profoundly Moslem in spirit and in training, we can only adhere to our precepts, namely, give back the good that we have received in greater measure, but also spread good around oneself. It is for this reason that we have opted for the distribution of a share of the dividends in countries which have so generously welcomed us, and in the populations amongst whom we live.

 

In addition to several different presentations of its cola, the company also sells a range of fruit-flavoured soft drinks under the Mecca-Cola name. The company was the sponsor of — and Mecca-Cola the official drink of — the October 2003 Summit of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), held in Malaysia.

 

In a BBC documentary produced in 2003, Qibla Cola's Zafer Iqbal and Mecca Cola's Mathlouthi are shown promoting their "Message in a Bottle".

 

By May 2005 Mecca Cola was on sale in fifty-six countries, and was the second most popular soft drink in France.

 

http://www.mecca-cola.com/

 

Mecca-Cola World FZCO

PO BOX 18 687 - Dubai

United Arab Emirates

Tel : + 971 4 887 33 88

Fax : + 971 4 887 33 99