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Mecca-Cola

Type	Cola
Manufacturer	Mecca Cola World Company
Country of origin	France
Introduced	November 2002
Related products	Coca-Cola, Zam Zam Cola, Qibla Cola

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 "Mecca", the holiest city of Islam located in Saudi Arabia.

[edit] Details

Mecca-Cola was launched in France, in November 2002, by Tawfik Mathlouthi, as a means of aiding Palestinians by tapping into demand for alternative products in European countries. He had been inspired by a popular Iranian soft drink, Zam Zam Cola and only decided to launch his own brand when he was unable to agree on terms for a distribution contract with Zam Zam. ^[1]

Mecca-Cola is now sold in some parts of the Arab World as well as in certain regions of Europe. It has also been bought and consumed in certain parts of the United States, Britain, India and Canada. 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) and militant activities (such as rocket launches and suicide bombing) in the Palestinian territories, 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.

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".

[edit] International distribution

Mecca Cola is now distributed in 64 countries across the world.^[2] Distribution in each country started on a unique date. A partial list of countries where it is distributed is as follows:

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Islamic cola 'selling well in Saudi' BBC News - August 21, 2002

[edit] External links

• Mecca-Cola