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Arabs responds with mecca cola { December 31 2002 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/31/international/europe/31FRAN.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/31/international/europe/31FRAN.html
December 31, 2002
They Choke on Coke, but Savor Mecca-Cola
By JOHN TAGLIABUE
PARIS, Dec. 30 — The idea, says Tawfik Mathlouthi, who runs a radio station for France's Muslim minority, came to him in the shower: to create a competing product to Coke that would satisfy the needs of Arab speakers in Europe and elsewhere for soft drinks, while providing jobs and economic growth.
"My son adores McDonald's and Coke," Mr. Mathlouthi, 46, the father of two young boys, acknowledged in an interview. His 10-year-old was chagrined when his father urged him not to patronize American brands. "He said to me, `Papa, I agree not to drink Coke, but you have to give me something.' That's how the idea was born."
In November, after months of preparation, Mr. Mathlouthi came out with Mecca-Cola. Borne aloft by Muslims in France desirous of boycotting American brands, to protest policies in the Middle East, the company he created delivered more than a million bottles by early December.
Now, orders for the liter-and-a-half bottles with labels whose bright red and sweeping white script evoke those of Coke are pouring in from around the world — from Britain, Belgium and Germany — together with bids from companies wanting to become local distributors.
"We've had requests from California, Florida, New York," said Louiza Chennoub, the company's marketing director. "Apparently there's a lot of interest on college campuses."
The biggest boost for Mecca-Cola, says Mr. Mathlouthi, a French citizen who immigrated from his native Tunisia in 1977, would be war in Iraq. "If there's a war," he said, "you'd have an extraordinary flare-up of Mecca-Cola."
In recent years, calls for Arab boycotts of American brands — from Coke to McDonald's, Kentucky Fried Chicken and even detergents by companies like Procter & Gamble — have multiplied, as leaders across the Middle East try to protest American policies, most notably support of Israel against the Palestinians.
Sometimes, the appeals have taken bizarre turns. In Egypt, a recent leaflet campaign accused Procter & Gamble of naming Ariel, as the detergent Tide is known in Northern Europe and the Middle East, to honor Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
The boycotts can buoy local competitors. In the United Arab Emirates, a regional drink called Star Cola has seen sales explode. In Iran, Zam Zam Cola, which replaced Pepsi there when the revolutionary government of Ayatollah Khomeini drove out American businesses, is struggling to satisfy demand — to the point that when Mr. Mathlouthi approached it as a possible supplier for Mecca-Cola, the Iranians turned him away.
In four months this past summer, Zam Zam delivered more than 10 million bottles to sweltering Saudi Arabia after a Saudi boycott of Coke and Pepsi.
Mecca's sales are going so well that new flavors will come out in January, including lemon and coffee flavored beverages. Mr. Mathlouthi and friendly investors plan a chain of fried chicken restaurants called Hallal Fried Chicken, or HFC, with negotiations under way to open the first outlet in March, probably in Egypt.
"We're creating work," Mr. Mathlouthi said, "and we're fulfilling a political objective."
A blurb on Mecca-Cola's label announces that 10 percent of the profit on every bottle is donated to a Palestinian children's fund; a further 10 percent goes to a local charity. Mr. Mathlouthi said South African officials had also contacted him, desirous of channeling the additional 10 percent to groups that work with AIDS-infected children.
But Mr. Mathlouthi has taken pains to produce a product that sells on its taste, rather than a customer's sense of solidarity with a political cause. The company worked with local food chemists in France to produce a formula remarkably similar to Coke's, though with less sugar. Consumers concur that it tastes exactly like Coke.
"It's doing well, a lot of people are asking for it," said Ahmed Segheir, 41, who owns a bakery in the heavily Muslim Saint Denis area of Paris. Mr. Segheir displays Mecca-Cola in his store window, but also sells Coke from a dispenser inside, both at the same price, about $1.70 a bottle.
Coke acknowledges that the Arab boycott has hurt. Singling out North and West Africa, most notably Morocco and Egypt, the president of Coca-Cola Africa, Alexander B. Cummings Jr., told analysts in October that "our business in these countries has been hurt by the boycotting of American brands."
Another Coke executive, asked about Mecca-Cola, said simply, "We are aware of Mecca, and we have felt the impact of the boycott of American goods."
Asked whether Coke contemplated legal action because of Mecca's similar label, he replied: "Our lawyers are aware of it, absolutely. But I don't believe there's a decision to take legal action."
Although Mecca-Cola started its sales campaign in mom-and-pop stores in largely Muslim neighborhoods, it quickly drew the attention of big supermarket chains in France, like Auchan, which recently stocked two of its markets in northern Paris with Mecca-Cola.
Mr. Mathlouthi, who visits the United States regularly, says that he is a great admirer of the American way of doing business, and indeed that his company reflects the American spirit of competition.
"I am influenced by the United States and its dynamism," he said. "But I have the right to refuse the dictates of American policy, like any American who opposes the administration's policies."
Mr. Mathlouthi makes no bones of his distaste for Israel, which he simply calls "the Zionist entity."
"Some choose violence; I am against it," he said, adding that "the Arabs have behaved like imbeciles." "We have to bring the United States to be a partner, and not a guardian," he said. "America is the foster parent of the Arab world, and the Arab peoples are like minors under the guardianship of the United States."
"Even friends have their dignity, and we want to remain friends with America," he said. "But with America the open society, with civil culture, that gives a chance to everyone."
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