-♻RetweetCola Jihad
Wed, Oct 16, 2002 at 5:57:22 pm PDT
Come on. Admit it. You’ve been breathlessly waiting for more information about Zam Zam Cola, the “slightly sickly” Islamic carbonated beverage guaranteed to contain no pork whatsoever.
Turns out we have a cola jihad going on.
Ten million bottles of Zam Zam have been exported to Saudi Arabia and Gulf countries in the past four months and the Iranians are working overtime to churn out enough of their cola to slake the thirsts of the two million Muslims expected in Saudi Arabia for the annual pilgrimage to Mecca.
This cola has been so successful that others are racing to get in on the act. Tawfiq Mathlouthi, a French Muslim entrepreneur, will launch Mecca Cola in Paris next month. No superstar is being paid millions to sing its jingle but there will be an advertising campaign promising that 10 per cent of the profits will go to a Palestinian children’s charity.
Mathlouthi admits he has taken the idea from the producers of Zam Zam but says he has had inquiries from interested parties in Belgium and the Netherlands. He has high hopes that British Muslims may acquire a taste for it as well.
What’s that smell? Perhaps my nose is deceiving me, but I could swear I caught a faint whiff of capitalism.
Mr Mathlouthi said his Mecca Cola would “answer the needs of world citizens by contributing to the fight against American imperialism and the fascism of the Zionist entity”. The advertising men promise to come up with a snappier slogan.
Yes, well. Whatever works with the target audience.
Mecca Cola has a tough competitor in Zam Zam, however, which is already recognized as the Islamic cola juggernaut.
The cola is named after the waters that flow from the Zamzam holy spring in Mecca. It exceeded all expectations by selling four million cans in its first week. After the success of its original cola, Zam Zam now comes in other flavours such as orange, lemon and lime.
The company, which also produces non-alcoholic “Islamic beer”, has a long pedigree in Iran, where it was founded in 1954 and today has 47 per cent of the domestic market. For many years it was the Iranian partner of Pepsi-Cola until their contract was ended after the 1979 revolution.
Zam Zam was taken over by the Foundation of the Dispossessed, a powerful state charity run by clerics, and today it employs more than 7,000 people in its 17 factories in Iran. They are now planning to build factories in the Persian Gulf.
Its cola is already exported to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Kuwait, Afghanistan and Iraq, and the company says it will soon ship its drinks to Lebanon, Syria and Denmark — its first European client. Mr Kheiry rattled off the inquiries he has handled in recent weeks from France, Canada, Norway, the Netherlands Germany, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Bangladesh and several countries in Africa who fancy a taste of Zam Zam. “After Arab countries in the region started boycotting some American goods, including Coca-Cola, demand for Zam Zam really took off,” Mr Kheiri said.
Frank says:
