|
|
| Тема |
 Cola 'wars' come to Baghdad |
|
| Автор | Яcтpeб (Нерегистриран) | |
| Публикувано | 06.07.05 13:53 |
|
|
|
И въпреки всичко, демокрацията възтержествува!
Да живее демокрацията на Кока-Кола'та!
Cola 'wars' come to Baghdad
Coca-Cola has returned to Iraq after an absence of nearly four decades, triggering a cola war in a lucrative but potentially hostile market.
Coke ended its 37-year exile last week by setting up a joint-venture bottling company to compete with Pepsi for 26 million consumers.
The upsides for Coke include a thirst-inducing climate and burgeoning Islamic conservatism which has banned beer and other alcoholic drinks in much of the country.
The downsides, besides Pepsi's head start, are a raging insurgency and banditry which threaten supply routes, and a perception that Coca-Cola is linked to Israel and "American Zionists."
Coke withdrew from Iraq in 1968 when the Arab League declared a boycott because of business ties to Israel, leaving Pepsi to dominate the Middle East market for soft drinks. The boycott ended in 1991, but sanctions and wars kept Coke out of Iraq.
After a trickle of Coca-Cola imports from neighbouring countries, the company is attempting a proper comeback by launching a joint venture with a Turkish company, Efes Invest, and its Iraqi partner HMBS, which will reportedly bottle the Coke in Dubai and distribute it across Iraq.
"A local bottling company will employ local people to do this," a Coca-Cola spokesman said on Monday. "This happens in most of the 200 countries in which we operate around the world, despite the perception of us as an American company."
The response in Baghdad on Monday was mixed. One drink wholesaler, Abbas Salih, said the initiative was doomed. "Coca-Cola does business with those who are shooting our brothers in Palestine," he said. "How can we drink it?"
Abu Ream, a shop owner in Baghdad, repeated a widespread conspiracy theory: "If you hold up a Coke can to the mirror, the writing says 'No Allah'," Ream said. "Or maybe 'No Mohammad'. I cannot remember which."
Coca-Cola denies any political or religious bias. "The myth is indeed sometimes perpetuated, but has no truth to it," the spokesman said. "We are a local business that employs local people ... Our Palestinian bottler employs 250 Palestinians."
Source: China Daily
| |
| |
| 
|
|
